Introduction

Pines cave is a very popular cave among cave divers in the Mount Gambier region. Being a dual rated cave, it is one of the few sites were Cave and Advanced Cave (AC) certified divers can share their underwater adventures. Access is granted by booking via Forestry website.

The cave offers navigation and swim-throughs challenges for the Cave rated divers and it is often used as a training camp for those aiming to pass the CDAA Advanced Cave training. The Back Passage and the TV Room are probably the busiest parts of the cave whenener there are Cave rated divers around.

As an AC diver, one will probably spend time exploring the Wedge and the White Rooms or following the stablished line to the Dark Room and venturing in the real complex dive to get to the Bunyip’s Tunnel or the Crazy Czech Room (CCR). For years, divers have tried to find the elusive extension from the Dark Room, but only in 2002, two visiting divers (from Czech Republic), found their way from the Dark Room to the Surprise Tunnel. This granted them the nickname of ‘Crazy Czechs’. The last room found on this extension was named after them as the ‘Crazy Czech Room’ (CCR). The CCR is a massive 20m wide room at the ‘end of the line’ varying from 14-5m depth. Getting there requires a good level of planning. Divers have to ascend from 34m (Surprise Tunnel) to 14m depth (CCR) and the only way out of it is making the same journey back.

Line Survey and Photogrammetry

Multiple line surveys have been conducted in Pines Cave, as a training ground or intended to publish maps of the cave. Some really good maps with contour lines showing depth of the features have been available through the CDAA page. Even though maps were available, the information that generated those maps was not. The wombats started surveying the Pines Cave in 2020, around the time Josh (Grubby) got his first MNemoV1. The survey showed what was expected, a multi-layered site from the large surface lake. We called it an ‘onion like’ shape. One doesn’t have to go far into Pines Cave to find excitement. The AC section at the bottom of the main cavern zone named White Room is a silt nightmare. Surveying areas like the White Room to its furtherest point had challenges of its own. In one bold dive, Josh pushed his GoPro selfie stick through a very tinny gap at the end of the White Room. Will and Josh made their way to the Wedge Room to confirm the two rooms were ‘connected’. This idea came after checking that the depths and position of both rooms were matching from the survey data.

You can check more information about line survey in our Post Page: Making Sense with the MNemo

After tackling Iddlebiddy’s model. The Wombats felt it was time to engage in a larger and more complex project and produce a full model of Pines Cave. The learnings from Allendale (as a ‘larger’ room) and Iddlebiddy (as a tunnel like with small and silty restrictions) were key to develop the planning of data acquisition to build the model. The unexpected challenge at Pines was the natural light in the Cavern Zone. A few extra scans were required to overcome this issue. Once surface lake scan was ‘tamed’, Will was able to join the surface scans (drone imagery) with the the cave. It is a pretty powerful tool to have geo-referenced drone images that can be dropped into the software and produce an accurate location of the entry point of the caves. In Pines case, the ‘car park’, the road and the surface lake (including staircase and water), were fundamental to confirm scale and accuracy of the surface model. Once surface is in position and at scale, the cave model was tied to the surface model via the only object that figure in both models: the staircase. This guaranteed that the cave model was in the right scale, position and orientation.

Further Exploration

If you have been following us in the social media and in the blog, you will be aware that the Wombats have recently extended the full lenght of the Pines Cave by a few hundred metres. A new model has been prepared and the updated map of Pines Cave is available at the end of this page.

The extension is reached after navigating a complex ‘maze’ from the GADI Gap restriction to the Beaver Hole restriction. Please check access requirements in the Forestry and CDAA webpages. Although not yet found, we believe that this extension may lead to the elusive connection between Pines and Stinging Nettle Caves.

Models and Maps

The media we have produced so far for Pines Cave can be found in the below links. The ConstruktReality model is shared with the intent to allow you to navigate yourself inside the cave as a ‘dive-through’. If you’d prefer to be taken on a guided tour, the Sketchfab model is your tool. Some fixed waypoints have been marked to guide and help you gain knowledge and understand of the cave. If you just want to enjoy a swim through withouth the hussle of moving a single muscle, have a look at the YouTube video (at the bottom of this page).

The map below has been shared with the CDAA other divers that have requested a copy from us. Reach out if you’d like a high definition of the map.