Open to Newbies!
Tom Elms will be leading an Introductory trip that will be taking place over the weekend of the 6th and 7th of July, 2024.
If you are interested in attending this trip and becoming a member of the caving community, read below. This will provide you the information you’ll need to get started on your first caving adventure.
Trip Details
The upcoming trip on the 6th and 7th of July will be taking place in the Buchan area, located 4.5 – 5 hours east of Melbourne. The township of Buchan is built upon the largest limestone deposit in the state, and the surrounding area is host to the most extensive collection of caves found anywhere in Victoria. This makes it an ideal venue to suit all cave-related endeavours from exploration and mapping to visits and skills development. To maximise the weekend, it is ideal to arrive on Friday night, so that as much time on Saturday and Sunday can be spent underground as possible. The plan in terms of caving is very flexible and will likely depend on the ability and motivation of the group. Saturday morning will involve a ‘warm-up’ cave, where there will be plenty of opportunities to build familiarly and push comfort zones underground. The rest of the weekend will be tailored to whatever everyone is capable or confident enough to do.
Accommodation
We’ll book accommodation for everyone at Homeleigh. Homeleigh is a cavers hostel owned by a cooperative of mostly cavers and ex-cavers. It’s pretty comfy and includes a full kitchen with fridges, stoves, microwaves and a large toilet block with hot showers. You will need your own bedding though, including sheets, blankets, pillow cases, and towels. You don’t need any cooking utensils, just bring food. All the info about Homeleigh can be seen here: http://rimstone.org.au/
Membership
If you are interested in attending this trip, please let the committee know by emailing vsacommittee@caving.org.au The next step will be joining the VSA as an introductory member by filling out the membership form. Being a VSA introductory member ensures that you are covered by insurance for the trip while also supporting the club and it’s members. This needs to happen before you go underground. Introductory membership is $75 per person. This membership will cover you to the next AGM (May), and if you choose to keep caving you can then become an associate member. We will send you our banking and further trip details when you contact us.
We look forward to hearing from you. If you are unable to attend this trip, but are interested in a future trip please let us know also so we can keep you posted about future events.
Thanks,
Tom Elms
VSA President
Rimstone Director