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Caving, Mines and Prospecting
Down in the dirt

There are not too many spots to go caving, but we can go elsewhere and do it anyway.

Caving is dark, dirty, hot and claustrophobic. This is not for wimps.

We sometimes go to the "Bat Caves" - no, not the one with the dude in the rubber suit. - It's just that there are not many caves around, and the locals thought this one was special because it had bats in it. (Yeah, right)

Anyway, it goes for hundreds of metres under the sand-dune country, only about 30kms from Alice.

In Katherine there are lots of sink-holes. some are tourist attractions like CuttaCutta caves, others are not even mapped yet.

At least in Katherine you can throw yourself in the river afterwards to get some of the dirt out of your clothes, eyes and ears.

Arltunga Gold mines

Arltunga is about 100kms East, and was a hip place to be around the turn of the century, if you had a wheelbarrow and a pick, you could walk there from the Alice.(Alice Springs)

The visitor's Centre has like a museum of pictures and stuff.

The rangers explain all about the mining process, and you can have a go at prospecting for gold

The joeys did a mine rescue, where they had to get get someone out of the mine on a makeshift stretcher made of some tent-poles and canvas.Memorable stuff.

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You can still find real gold!

Prospecting

Harts Range is a great place to find garnets.

Years ago, they first thought they had rubies out there, but after the rush everyone calmed down a bit.

 

Good place for a camp, though.

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This page we last updated 2 Nov 2001

Alice Springs Scout Group website
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