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Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
VIC Buffalo	(General)	(General)	(General)	[ Mt Buffalo Guide \| Images ]

Topic Date User

Off Topic: Mt Buffalo Underground River 28-Jan-2014 At 9:07:40 AM shiltz

Message

I've been through the underground river a few times over the years. This time we had the kids so we only went into the second alcove to show them the glow.worms. Not long after coming out a fella walks down from the exit with two tourists, all clad in proper caving attire. He proceeds to rant:
a) it is "illegal" to go in there without a guide
b) people get lost and injured in there all the time
c) he personally has had to haul 3 people out over the past few months, one who was stuck in there for 2 days and will probably "nver walk again"
d) if we get stuck we'll be charged "8 grand" if he has to rescue us

Personally I would have responded a lot better to a few probing questions from this bloke such as: "have you been in a cave before", "have you been in this one before", "do you have a head torch", "the water is higher than normal", etc. As it was he just really p#ssed me off by ranting in front of the kids.

The signs did not state it was illegal and it hasn't been in the past to my knowledge. Obviously you need to be aware of water levels, take your time and avoid disturbng the glow worm colony. And we weren't planning to take the kids right through in any case.

So does anyone know the real story: is it illegal now without a guide? do they really have to drag injured tourists out on a regular basis?