Princess Margaret Rose Cave...

No girlie road trip is complete without being a Terry Tourist, so after a quick lunch at Warrnambool, where this groovy painting was on this otherwise non-descript building, we meandered on to the Princess Margaret Rose Cave in Mumbannar near the Victoria/South Australia border.

Ngatanwarr (Welcome) mural by Matt Adnate. "Preserve past, embrace tomorrow."

This limestone cave is located in the Lower Glenelg National Park and was first explored in the mid 1930s before being opened for public tours in the 1940s. The cave was formed by water seeping through the limestone, and water erosion from the Glenelg River which followed a fault line above the cave system.

Princess Margaret Rose Cave

The cave is full of stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, shawls, blankets, pillars, helectites and bacons. Yes, bacons. It's a thing; look it up. There's signs of bushfire, where grey ash has mixed with water and found its way into the cave, as well as earth movement evidenced by cracks in some of the formations.  Trees above have sent their roots down in search of water, lots of which will drip on your head or down your back if you stop long enough to look at anything closely.

Access is by way of guided tour, which takes about 40-45 minutes and is ample time to have a look around. There's plenty to see without getting 'cave fatigue' and yes, there's bloody steps! Don't panic though - there's less than 100 so your faithful old wobbler scribe didn't have to stop even once!