Kelly Hill Caves - Kangaroo Island

Welcome to the underworld of Kangaroo Island. About ninety minutes drive south west of Penneshaw and you can step into a subterranean wonderland which has captivated cavers for decades. Not surprising the first person to discover this amazing network of vast underground chambers did so by accident. He was a farmer who literally rode in having failed to spot one of the many sink holes which fall away beneath the thick scrub on this part of the island. "In 1880 a local stockman called Kelsy was riding his horse called Kelly through the hills here. He was chasing sheep that had strayed from his property and in fact Kelly and Kelsey fell down one of the big sink holes we have around here. Kelsy managed to scramble out but poor old Kelly was left down the bottom of the sink hole. Kelsy went back to his farm to get help and to rescue the horse and when he came back he couldn't find her." Some believe the farmer may have gone back to the wrong hole, others claim the horse was later pulled to safety. And yet another story has it that Kelly the horse wandered off into this labyrinth never to be seen again. Either way these amazing underground caverns now bear the animal's name with Kelly Hills Caves a popular destination for day tourists and the more intrepid adventurers and its been that way since the twenties. "Harold Bell was a local and he first explored Kelly Hill Caves in 1926. He followed the same tour route that we do today and in fact in 1926 he started taking guided tours through here." "So he's the original Kangaroo Island tourist guide?" "Absolutely this was his favourite place the midnight Cavern because it's so highly decorated and he certainly appreciated the special helagtites we have in here."
And special they certainly are, with some defying the laws of nature. "Well that there, that's a classic piece. The fish hook you can see it's actually grown upwards and is defying gravity." How does it do that?" "We really don't know we have a few theories but certainly helagtites are a mystery in the cave."

Harold Bell, seen here under the partial shade of one of his beloved cave entrances, took people down here by candlelight. The smoke stains on the cave ceiling can still be seen to this day and each was given a letter of the alphabet so if separated from this old rusty wire tour, members could still make it home. It's a lot safer now, if you stick to the paths. "But you don't really know how far the caves extend from here do you?" "No, it's certainly possible that they extend all the way to the coast which is about 9 kms from here." That's a staggering thought that this cavernous highway extends all the way to the coast." "Absolutely, certainly Kelly Hill is a maze of caverns and tunnels and all the time we're discovering new areas." And all of this is actually a petrified sand dune which blew onto the Island when the surrounding sea level dropped during the last ice age. For the past five hundred thousand years, water and iron oxide have seeped through to eat away and stain these amazing caverns. The caves are located off the South Coast Road in the Kelly Hill Conservation Park. They're open daily from 10am.

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