A Bit of Local Flavor

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. I’ve been busy this week with analyzing emergence counts, writing my abstract for the Australasian Bat Society Conference in April, and other such things. But before this weekend, when Chris and I are going to Warrnambool, Victoria to do a bat count at Starlight Cave (the only other maternity cave of Southern Bent-wing Bats), I wanted to write about my exciting escapades last weekend!

The fun of the weekend began on Friday night, when Chris and I went to the outdoor movie, “Puss in Boots,” at the Naracoorte Showgrounds. A bunch of families and teens gathered for the evening, and of course there was lots of yummy food and drink, like sausages, donuts, pancakes, hot chocolate, and the BEST chai lattes I’ve ever had (all of which Chris and I got over the course of the evening). Chris and I set up our blanket near the screen and waited until dark for the movie to start. Neither of us had seen the movie before, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I especially loved the part when kitten Puss stepped out from behind his mother’s apron and gave his big, doe-eyed look, which received a collected “Aww” from all the girls in the crowd (I’m guilty too). The movie ended around 10:00pm, when we headed to the newly-opened McDonalds (or Maccas according to Aussies) for milkshakes. I discovered that strawberry might actually be my favorite flavor now!

On Saturday we headed into the Naracoorte town square for the Taste of the Limestone Coast Festival. The festival hosted many booths from local wineries, and of course the chai latte cart was back again! That made my third chai latte for the weekend. Chris and I walked around tasting wines (for $5 we each bought a glass so we could get all the free wine tastes we wanted) and ended up buying two bottles: a Riesling and a sparkling Pinot Gris. Now we have some wine for those special occasions when we have people over (a.k.a. pretty much never).

We left the festival at 3:30pm and went back to the park to volunteer for the “Opera in the Caves” concert. This is an annual event held in Blanche Cave that features young singers (they were in their 20s) from Opera Scholars Australia. Blanche Cave provides a fantastic setting for the performance, as the cathedral ceiling provides such fantastic sound quality that the singers need no amplification. Because the event is organized by the Young at Heart Holidays, Australian Air Holidays, and Seniors Coach Tours, most of the attendees were elderly. Chris and I helped guide them down the stairs into the cave before the event, which earned us free admission. The event was sold out (over 240 people attended) so we had to listen from the entrance stairs, but the sound from there was great and we had an awesome view of the candlelit cave and the stage. The performers sang pieces from classic operas like La Traviata and The Phantom of the Opera. Their voices were amazing and made me quite jealous of their singing talent. 

Beautiful dresses and killer heels. If anyone was going to fall down the stairs, it would be one of the girls in their heels, not one of the elderly attendees.

The beautifully lit cave and the singing group on stage.

After the opera, Chris and I went back into town for some groceries and to take some pictures of the Taste Festival (I had forgotten to while there). While taking pictures we got to witness the end result of the festival: drunken dancing and past-tipsy girls hooting and hollering in the streets (and remember, the drinking age here is 18). Looks like we missed out on the fun!

On Sunday afternoon we attended my very first horse race, complete with betting, fancy fascinators, and lots of alcohol. I donned my nature-themed outfit for the Fashions on the Field competition, and Chris provided moral support by dressing up in his nice suit pants and pinstripe vest.

 

Butterfly belt, bat fascinator, zebra striped purse, bat bracelet, and flower necklace and ring completed my nature theme.

It was a gorgeous day for being outside: partly cloudy, upper 70s, occasional slight breeze. The races were held at the Naracoorte Racecourse, which of course made walking around in heels (albeit quite thick and short heels) a challenge. But if other women could do it and look graceful and elegant, so could I! Our first stop was the Fashions on the Field table, where I registered for the Best Dressed competition and conned Chris into doing the Best Dressed Couple competition with me. We then set up our picnic blanket on the lawn and watched a few races before the fashion competitions began. Chris put a $2 bet on Tonto’s Pride, and I put a $2 bet each on Koban (because he was #3, my lucky number) and Peace An Quiet (because I liked the name). It really is fun to watch horse racing, especially when you have money in the outcome. Chris’s horse came in first, so he won $19. My horses came in second and third, but unfortunately I had stupidly bought “win only” bets and not “place” bets, or something like that. So I didn’t win anything. Bummer. But Chris was kind enough to buy me an ice cream and another of those delicious chai lattes (my fourth of the weekend!) with his winnings.

Go horses, go!

After the excitement of the racing, we gathered for the excitement of the fashion competition. The Best Dressed Couple heat was up first. Of course Chris and I had been the first to register, so we were the first ones called to the stage. When our names were called we walked hand-in-hand up on stage and took our positions. I was actually a bit nervous, and I know Chris was too! When we had registered we were one of only two couples that were going to compete, but by the competition time there were seven couples. Unfortunately we didn’t win, but we did have a great time. Well, at least I did!

Handsome Chris all decked out in his race day finest.

 The Best Dressed Couple competition. Chris and I are at the far end.

The Best Dressed competition was up next. I was #15, so at least I had some time to see what we were supposed to do once we took the stage. Again, I was a bit nervous, like I always get before any public appearance. When my name was called, I took the stage, walked down the runway to center stage, waited while the photographer took my picture, and continued walking to my spot. Of course I ended up at the end of the line again. Ugh. I was within a few meters of the judges, and I could hear them talking about each girl as she took the stage. “Ooh, that’s a nice outfit,” or “No, that’s too gaudy,” were some of the things they said. I tried to tune them out. When they announced the winners, I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t win. The winner was from Melbourne or Adelaide (some far away city) and had been in about four other Fashions on the Field competitions before. I hadn’t expected to win, but of course I was still a bit disappointed. But at least I had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed participating in a local event and getting all dressed up for the day! And now I have an awesome bat fascinator that I can wear with pride (although when I’m not sure).

At the far end of the line.

Watching the winner get her sash. You can see my cool bat fascinator too!

 

Terns, Brits, and Fashion

This past week has been a whirlwind of activity, and it’s only going to get busier! Last Saturday, Chris and I joined Cath for another Fairy Tern survey along the coast. If you remember, this was what I was doing when I fell and hurt my knee back in November, and it was in the same place. I hate to admit it, but I was a bit nervous thinking about the accident and hoping it wouldn’t happen again. Chris and I met Cath at the Canunda National Park station in Southend, South Australia at 10:00am. It was a PERFECT day for a hike along the coast: partly cloudy, about 80°F, with an occasional slight breeze. These surveys are run by the South Australian Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and each team gets a stretch of coast to survey. We got a beautiful 13km stretch along the coastal cliffs and deep blue ocean running beside the park. The route wasn’t difficult, but did have a few hills here and there, and plenty of loose sand to scramble up. We went by the little ditch in which I slipped and twisted my knee last time. I swear it was bigger before!

The infamous ditch that caused all my problems. It doesn’t look that bad in the picture, but it IS bigger in real life!

We saw a tern (but couldn’t identify it to species, as we only glimpsed it), and it was either a Fairy Tern (Sterna nereis nereis; an endangered species) or a Little Tern (Sterna albifrons sinensis). Yay for our good sighting! Cath promised $1 million to whoever saw the first wader, and luckily that was me with a Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus). I doubt I will ever collect on Cath’s promise, but at least I got bragging rights. Along the way we also found patches of Muntries (Kunzea pomifera), a ground-hugging native plant of south east South Australia. The bushes have lovely berries on them that are sweet and slightly salty, kind of like salty strawberries. We collected a bag of them so I could take them home and make jam, although they are still sitting on my table and have probably gone bad by now...Cath also showed us a few more edible plants (real bushtucker!) including Pigface (Carpobrotus rossii), another native plant with very salty fleshy leaves.

 

A breathtaking view.

 

We stopped for lunch on a lovely sandy beach at our halfway point after 2 ½ hours of walking. Unfortunately we were also joined by a band of pesky biting flies, which took every opportunity to attempt to feed from our legs and arms. I shared my Fluffernutter sandwich with Cath, as she loves sweet and salty combinations and was absolutely amazed when I first introduced her to this sandwich a few weeks ago. For those of you who are not familiar with this wonderful culinary creation, a Fluffernutter is peanut butter (for this, regular peanut butter is best, not organic or natural) and marshmallow fluff/cream on bread (preferably white bread). One of the best food combinations ever! After lunch we strolled along the beach to look for more birds, and found a dead prion, a type of seabird. I had never heard of this type of bird, which is similar to a petrel. We’re not sure what it died from, as there were no obvious injuries.

 

The dead prion.

As we continued back, I couldn’t help but admire how blue the ocean was. At one point I was standing on a cliff overlooking a beachy alcove, when I saw what looked like a black garbage bag floating along the shoreline. Then I realized it was moving through the water along the beach. It was a stingray! There were two of them, and it was so neat to see them in the wild. Although not so neat to realize they really do swim right along the shoreline...

My stingray sighting!

Wombat hole. Still no actual wombat sighting...

And wombat poop. They have cubic poop. How cool!

All the crushed shells are there from when the coastal Aborigines used the area as a shelling area.

We finally made it back to the station around 4:45pm, and had a refreshing ice cream on the beach and a quick step into the water (the water is WAY too cold to swim in without a wetsuit, at least in my opinion!). My legs were sore, I had a horrible sunburn on the backs of my legs and also a horrible sock tan, and I felt like I could curl up right there on the beach and sleep for days, but it was an amazing day in an amazing part of South Australia.

Cath and I cooling our feet off in the frigid water after our long hike.

Despite my exhaustion, the weekend had only just begun. On Sunday, the BBC arrived to film their documentary about the influence of size on how animals survive and about the physics of life. They’ve filmed great white sharks, kangaroos, and another animal I can’t remember in Australia, and now they were here to film the bats in the park. Their main focus was on the fact that bats are small and therefore have a high metabolism, and that they also lose a lot of body heat due to their large surface area to volume ratio. The crew also wanted to talk about echolocation and torpor. They were filming two versions of the same documentary, one with the narrator (physicist Professor Brian Cox, who has worked at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland) talking to the camera, and one with interviews of a bat expert (in this case, Steve Bourne). On Sunday night the crew, which consisted of the actor/narrator, the script guy, two sound guys, two cameramen, and the safety officer (I think), set up red lights over the cave entrance to film the emergence. They also interviewed Steve about how Anabats (acoustic detectors that pick up bats’ echolocation calls) work and filmed my thermal imaging cameras at work (no, I was not in the shots). It was a very, very cold night (unusually so for February, which is supposed to be the hottest month of the year here) so the bats came out early and fast, probably because there are fewer insects out when it’s cold and the bats need as much time as possible to get enough food throughout the night. It was amazing to see the bats lit up red against the cave entrance, and to witness all the thought and detail that goes into making a documentary (or any film). At times the “actor,” Brian, acted like a typical actor (like when the script guy was fiddling with something and made a loud “click” while Brian was talking on camera, and Brian snapped, “Could we PLEASE not fiddle with things while I’m talking? It’s been a long day sitting in the car, I’m tired, and I want to get this done.”). Haha, I had to keep myself from laughing out loud at the silliness of it all.

Monday was another day of filming, and again I set up the thermal imaging camera for them to film. I also showed them some recorded video of inside the cave (taken by the infrared cameras), which they also filmed. It was another long night, but I’m glad I got to witness everything that goes into a film production. What a crazy job!

 

Two lights with red filters set up at the cave entrance.

Taking pictures of Brian Cox.

 The cameraman shooting the beginning of the emergence.

I love Brian in the background at the beginning saying, “Could we just have it quiet please. Please, could we have silence, complete silence for five minutes.” And I also love the big microphone that comes into the video.

Now Chris and I are preparing for another crazy weekend. Tonight (Friday) we’re going to the outdoor showing of the movie “Puss in Boots” at the Naracoorte Showgrounds. Then tomorrow we’re heading to the town square for the annual Taste of the Limestone Coast festival. The festival will feature local wineries, local food vendors, art groups, and musicians. In the evening we’re going to the Opera in the Caves, which is put on by an opera singing group and is hosted in the park inside Blanche Cave. Apparently the acoustics are great and the decorations are beautiful. Chris and I are going to volunteer to help the elderly patrons down the stairs into the cave, which will earn us two free seats at the opera. Then on Sunday we’re going to the Mini Jumbuk Naracoorte Cup horse race. There I will make my fashion debut for the Fashions on the Field fashion competition. I’ve decided that I want to participate as much as possible in local events, so I’m going to enter the fashion competition. I hate to admit but I am getting a little nervous, mostly because I don’t know what to expect. Of course I’m not expecting to win, but it will be a blast and I’ll be able to look back and say, “I did that!” I have a $20 blue dress from Target (on sale!), a red butterfly belt, some local jewelry with silver flowers, and a bat fascinator that I bought online on Etsy.com. I’m going with a nature theme to represent the park and the bats. Stay tuned for a recap of the weekend’s adventures!

That will be me up on stage this weekend. Bring it on!

 

Time to Get Fit!

Yesterday Chris and I went to a spin class at the local gym. I’ve wanted to do something active lately, as most of the day is spent sitting on the computer running bat counts, and at night we go sit outside and watch the bats. It’s definitely not the most active job! One of my New Year’s resolutions was to exercise a bit every day, so a few weeks ago Chris and I bought some small hand weights to use at home, and I recently bought a pair of ankle/wrist wrap-around weights to use on my legs. It’s been hard to get motivated to use them, especially when it’s just the two of us. So I decided to also look into fitness classes in town, as I am MUCH more motivated when it’s an actual class and there are other people present.

I found a spin class (on stationary bikes) at the Naracoorte Health and Fitness Centre, which Chris and I went to yesterday (well, more like I dragged him there). We adjusted our bikes and at 5:15pm the instructor came in and began the class. It lasted 45 minutes and the instructor called out directions throughout, like “Now 60 seconds of hard-out pumping, and then 30 seconds of standing!” There was also lots of “Come on, push harder! You can do it!” talk. It was very motivating and definitely made the sweat roll. During one particularly hard part Chris and I exchanged quiet “I love you’s”, which the instructor saw and commented, “That’s too cute you guys.” Haha, I never thought I’d be part of a “cute” couple! The 45 minutes went by quickly and by the end Chris and I were tired and sweaty. A good workout!

Next Tuesday I also start a 9-week “MegaDanz” class in town (this time on my own). It will combine Zumba with other fun dancing/exercise, which I know will be a blast. I miss going out dancing with my friends, and I miss the jazzercise class I took last year at school. Hopefully this will be a good outlet for me to dance and also get a good workout!

Overall, Chris’ and my workout plan is MegaDanz on Tuesdays for me, spin class together on Thursdays, and weight lifting together throughout the week at home. Let the fun begin!

“Kristen, can you buy me this puppy?”

Yesterday Chris and I visited the pet shop in town. I had passed by it several times but never gone in. The signs outside were promising, stating things like “We have puppies!” and “We have kittens!” How could I pass it up? I was definitely not disappointed. There was an adorable black lab/kelpie mix puppy, about 15 kittens, and three ferrets. Heaven on Earth! After oohing and ahhing over them for several minutes, the owner came up and asked us what we were looking to get. Of course I said everything.  :) He realized we were just looking and left us to continue cooing over the animals. Chris made friends with the puppy and asked me, “Can you buy me this puppy?” Oh how I wish! One day we will have cats and dogs and rats galore! But until then we will just have to keep visiting pet shops so I can get my cute animal fix.

You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me

Thursday (January 26) was Australia Day. The date commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet, comprised of eleven British ships carrying 348 free persons and 696 prisoners, at Sydney Cove in 1788. This established British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of the country. To celebrate, Chris and I went to the Naracoorte Australia Day breakfast and celebration, put on by local service clubs and the town council. According to Andrew, the groundskeeper at the park, only bogans (the Australian equivalent of hillbillies and rednecks) and American tourists go to these types of celebrations. Well I AM an American, and I want to get as much of a taste of Australia as I can while I’m here. So despite the fact that the breakfast started at 7:00am (that’s right, 7:00 in the morning, WAY too early for me to even be THINKING about waking up, let alone be dressed and at the town square eating sausage and egg on toast and pretending to be Australian for a day), I dragged my butt out of bed and bit the bullet. 

The celebration started off with a yummy breakfast of sausage and egg on toast, delicious fresh fruit, and coffee. While I am embracing as much Australian culture as I can during my time here, Vegemite remains on my list of Australian things to avoid at all costs. Also on the list are saltwater crocodiles and box jellyfish. Our breakfast was accompanied first by a lovely song on the bagpipes, and then by the beautiful voice of local teenage singer Georgie singing “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen and “Travelling Soldier” by the Dixie Chicks, both of which I absolutely love. I must admit both songs brought tears to my eyes. Georgie followed up with three classic Australian songs:   

"Waltzing Matilda",  "I am Australian"

(which somebody on YouTube commented should be the national anthem, as it actually makes you feel something, whereas the real anthem doesn't), and

"I Still Call Australia Home".

Lots of people joined in singing those three songs, and I could feel the love they have for their country. Georgie’s guitarist then sang a medley of classic Australian songs, accompanied by a man playing spoons. I wish I could play spoons like that!

 Breakfast music on the bagpipes. Despite what my Nana used to say about bagpipes (i.e. that they make a horrific noise like a dying cat) I find them quite beautiful. 

 A guy playing spoons! I want to learn...

The official ceremony kicked off with the singing of the national anthem, for which we were all given a program with the words in it. Apparently most people know the first verse but few know what comes after that. According to advice given to newly-adopted Australian citizens by one of the speakers later in the day, “Don’t bother learning the Aussie anthem, no one knows the words anyway. We all know ‘Australians all let us re-Joyce, for she is young and free duh duh duh wealth duh toil dah dah dah girt by sea hmm hmm hmm hmm Advance Australia Fair.’ That’s it.” How strange! In the US most people know the words to the national anthem (at least in my experience). We also put our hand over our hearts, which Australians don’t do. Don’t get me wrong, Australians are a very proud and patriotic people, but I guess it just doesn’t manifest in quite the same way. During the singing of the national anthem, I ran into the same dilemma I encounter at the beginning of every Girl Guide meeting when the girls do the flag raising ceremony. I feel odd not saluting the flag with everyone else at the meeting, but at the same time I’d feel strange if I did salute it, as I’m not an Australian citizen. While I don’t mean to show any disrespect, I don’t feel it would be “proper” to salute any flag other than the flag of my own country. When it came to singing the Australian national anthem, I decided to stand and listen respectfully instead of singing along (plus I didn’t know the tune anyway).

Another of my favorite parts of the ceremony was the Citizenship Ceremony, during which five people took the oath of citizenship and became Australia’s newest citizens. Australia Day is the most popular day for these ceremonies, and I can understand why! It’s a very patriotic day and lots of people come out to celebrate. There was a mom with her two sons, and the mom looked so proud and happy as she and her kids stepped up to the microphone to take the oath. You could tell by her beaming smile that it was probably one of the proudest moments of her life. One of the other ladies barely spoke English and could barely complete the oath. It’s fantastic that she wants to become a citizen of such a great country as Australia, but at the same time I do feel that anyone wishing to become a citizen of ANY country should learn the predominant language of the country and be able to perform at least basic communication in that language. I definitely think new citizens should also keep their culture’s language and customs and celebrate their roots, but it is also their responsibility to learn their new country’s language. Okay, enough preaching for now.

Decked out in patriotic red, white, and blue. Well, at least one of us is.

After the Naracoorte celebrations, Chris and I headed to the Australia Day barbeque and fair at Kongorong, a small town about 1 ½ hours away. Chris and I kicked off our celebrations by painting little toy boomerangs, which we left to dry in the sun and forgot to pick up when we left. Bummer. We listened to another singing of the national anthem by a teenage girl about 15, during which a gust of wind came along and blew the girl’s dress up, exposing her underwear for all to see. She remained quite poised and continued the song amid quiet chuckles and surreptitious glances. After the formal award ceremonies (for “Australia Day Citizen Award,” “Australia Day Young Citizen Award,” etc.), I asked when the ferret racing was. The flier and internet advertisement had said there would be ferret racing, and I was beyond stoked! I cannot express the depths of my utter disappointment when I asked and was told that the race was cancelled because it was "too hot for the ferrets." Don't ferrets live in the freaking desert?! The funny thing was that I had had a feeling before we left that we’d either miss the race or it would be cancelled. My gut was right. Ah well, I guess that’s just one more thing to add to my “bucket list”: watch ferret racing. 

 One of the old vintage cars at the Kongorong Australia Day barbeque and fair. When I told Chris to do the Vanna White, he had no idea what I was talking about. What a sad life without “Wheel of Fortune”!

After wandering around for a bit and eating pavlova, Chris and I headed to the beach, about a half hour drive from Kongorong. The past week or so has been very hot (upper 90s) and the beach sounded like a perfect idea. Of course on the day we decided to go the temperature had dropped about 20°F and the wind had picked up. It was still a lovely day but way too chilly for lounging on the beach (and DEFINITELY way too chilly for a dip in the already-frigid ocean water). We got fish and chips from a beachfront shop and ate them in the car, and then took a short stroll along the beach. We headed home and continued our “Big Bang Theory” marathon. After many years of my friends telling me how good the show is, I have finally started watching it and I do agree, it’s quite funny.

At the beach on a VERY windy day.

We’ll have to go back on a more beach-appropriate day. Aka any other summer day except the day we went.

I had a fantastic time celebrating Australia Day and partaking in local community events. I love being part of a small community where things like the breakfast and the fair are eagerly anticipated and well-attended. Australians are definitely a proud people who love their country, and who also love to poke fun at themselves. I’ll leave you with two parting thoughts:

The first is the full advice given to the newly-sworn in citizens at the Citizenship Ceremony earlier in the day: "Don't bother learning the Aussie anthem, no one knows the words anyway. We all know 'Australians all let us re-Joyce, for she is young and free duh duh duh duh wealth duh toil dah dah dah girt by sea hmm hmm hmm hmm Advance Australia fair’. And don't call yourself 'Australian', we say ‘Strayan’. S-T-R-A-Y-A-N. And one last thing, you gotta learn this: 'Aussie Aussie Aussie!' (and crowd yells back ‘Oi oi oi!’)."

The second is a song, titled “The Vasectomy Song,” by Aussie country singer-songwriter John Williamson. This song (and many of Williamson’s other songs) epitomizes the Australian attitude and outlook on life. You gotta’ love Australia!: "The Vasectomy Song"

Mission: Find Bats and Clean Ancient Fossils

This past weekend Chris and I had a fun adventure into several of the caves in the nearby area. Steve Bourne took us around to the caves during the day to see if the Southern Bent-wings were using them as day roosts. My nightly emergence counts have shown that the night-to-night numbers fluctuate quite a bit. One night I may count 35,000 bats, the next night 30,000, and the next night 25,000, and then the numbers jump up again. Obviously the bats aren’t dying, so this suggests that the bats are moving around between the maternity colony at Bat Cave and other caves in the area. We had previously thought that once the bats congregate at Bat Cave for the summer breeding season, they stay there until they disperse for the winter. This might not be the case.

Steve took us to three caves, all within a 30 minute drive of the park. Our first stop was an old mining area. We scrambled down the loose gravel slope (the whole while I was thinking, “Please don’t have a repeat of my knee debacle.”) and then up the other side to look for a bed of 1-2 million year old oyster shells that had been uncovered. We couldn’t find the bed, but we did find one lonely oyster shell.

Heading down into the mine.

 The separation in deposits between the old limestone (solid bottom rock) and the Pleistocene Bridgewater Formation that occurred about 12,000-126,000 years ago (the looser rock at top).

 

A 1-2 million year old oyster shell.

We then continued on to our first cave, Joanna Bat Cave. After about 20 minutes of searching in the grassy woodland for the cave entrance, we finally found it and prepared to go in.

Preparing to enter Joanna Bat Cave.

Once inside, we looked up at the ceiling and along the walls for any roosting bats. We also looked for fresh guano. We found a total of four bats. There were a few piles of old guano from when the bats have used the cave during the winter, but there was no fresh guano.

Two of four Southern Bent-wing Bats roosting in Joanna Bat Cave.

Looking up at the bats roosting in the hole.

Our next stop was Robertson Cave, which was a much bigger cave with two main chambers: one close to the entrance hole that was fairly sunlit and another chamber that you had to crawl through a 2-3 meter hole to get into. We found 14 bats, all in the second chamber. People used to mine limestone out of the second chamber through a big hole in the ceiling. Steve and others installed a metal roof to cover the hole in hopes that the bats would begin using the cave as a maternity cave again. Some believe that the cave used to be a maternity cave, although Steve doubts it as there are no huge guano piles that should be present if it used to be a maternity cave. While the bats aren’t using it for that purpose now, they still use the cave as an important over-wintering site. However, once the fence separating the two chambers was installed to keep people out, the numbers of bats using the cave during the winter decreased from 6,000-7,000 to a few hundred. Apparently Southern Bent-wings are very sensitive to gates and obstructions over their cave entrances. 

 

Probably the neatest cave art/graffiti I’ve ever seen.

The third “cave” we visited was actually a side chamber, called Robertson’s Chamber, off the tourist path in Blanche Cave. Bats like to go there after they emerge from Bat Cave in the evening, perhaps to get some water from the wet stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Again, there were no bats there, but Steve informed us that that chamber was where all the sounds from James Cameron’s movie “Sanctum” were recorded. Apparently the movie people contacted Steve asking where there was a cave with good acoustics, and Steve suggested this chamber. So all the footsteps, carabiner clanking, etc. that you hear in that movie were filmed here at Naracoorte Caves National Park. Now I have to go watch the movie!

Our fourth and final cave visit was to Cave Park Cave, at which we had to fight our way through thick, extremely prickly blackberry bushes. Ouch!

 

Watching Cath blaze the way through the prickly blackberry bushes into Cave Park Cave.

We didn’t find any bats inside, but our foray into the prickliness of the blackberries was well rewarded once we came out. Near the cave entrance was a large patch of blackberries, ripe and ready to be picked, and eaten! We spent a few minutes collecting handfuls of the juicy fruit, although mine didn’t last very long. I must say they were hands down the BEST blackberries I’ve ever had. It was a fantastic way to end our fun caving expedition.

A sweet reward!

However, the day was not over yet! We went back to the “Fossil Lab” in the park to help Steve and Cath wash and dry the bags of dirt and fossils they had taken from the cave dig site a few days before. We helped them haul the bags up from the cave into Steve’s car (and despite the fact that the bags are relatively small, the dirt is very compact and quite heavy!), then from Steve’s car to the washing trough. We then dumped each bag into a sifter and washed the dirt out, leaving only the bones/fossils. 

 

The bags of dirt from the cave dig site are dumped into the sifters, which go in the trough full of water.

We then gently shake the sifters to get the dirt out.

After getting most of the dirt out, we take the sifters out of the trough and give the bones a final rinse with the hose, and then we let them dry in the sifters for a few minutes. Once the bones are dry enough, we transfer them into pans to finish drying in the sun. Because it’s been so hot out the bones don’t take long to dry.

One last rinse of the remaining fossils.

The fossils then partially dry in the sun in the sifters before we transfer them to pans to finish drying.

The final step (which Chris and I didn’t help with because the fossils weren’t dry enough by the time we left) is to sort the fossils and identify and catalogue everything. I’m not sure how much help I would have been with that task even if we had helped! So maybe it was a good idea that Chris and I just got to be free manual labor for the day. I got good exercise and got to see another field of science in action!

Sorted and identified fossils.

Parting words of wisdom.