Spectacular Spelunking

Posted in Camp life

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“Don’t be scared to come along. You will be challenged but you will have everything and everyone around you that you need to support you. You will come back a different person.”

This is what Cave Camp Co-Director, Julia Ayliffe, would like you to know if you’re thinking of joining her on the caving adventure of a lifetime at Chillagoe, approximately 3 hours drive west of Cairns.

And we’re not just talking about a stroll over some rocks.

As Julia describes, this is proper caving with a cave guide who accompanies you through your week of spelunking.

“The main activity we do for the week is caving. We don’t just go in to tourist caves or areas where you can just walk around. It’s full-on caving with helmet lights, crawling, climbing, squeezing and abseiling. We also try and put some other adventure activities in there when we’re not at the caves, like archery and messy outdoor water games.”

But you don’t have to be a seasoned caving veteran to take on Cave Camp. The support you get from the team around you will get you through an amazing week long experience.

“We find self-confidence grows an amazing amount through the week.
At the start of the week, a child will look at a wall and think ‘I can’t do that’ and by the end of the week they zoom up it in 30 seconds.

“Team work is the other amazing growth point of the camp.

“Campers are broken into groups of 5 or 6, with two camp leaders and a cave guide. So to get through the cave each day, they have to work together and they need to support each other physically as well as encouraging each other to get through the cave.”

This phenomenal experience, in its 29th year, attracts campers from all over the state and is strictly capped at 50 after having been expanded recently to accommodate huge interest.

“For kids now, a lot of it is the opportunity to get away from everything and live their lives in a completely different circumstance and location and just focus on something else.

“Every year we have kids fly up from Brisbane as well. A big draw card for them is that it’s just something they can’t do anywhere else.”

If you’d like more information about this incredible adventure, phone 1300 478 753 or visit sucamps.org.au/cave-camp-2016

 

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