The original documentary of the 1988 Pannikin Plains Expedition, Nullarbor Dreaming, is now available on YouTube:
A team of international cave divers set out on an amazing adventure to explore the mysterious subterranean waters of Pannikin Plains Cave on the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia. Their epic underwater exploration nearly ends in tragedy when a rare cyclonic storm hit the area and a deluge of rain results in a flash flood that funnels water into the cave causing the entrance to collapse blocking the main route out of the cave. Fifteen team members are trapped below ground. This documentary is a graphic account of the expedition and their escape.
In the excerpt below from an Australian Geographic podcast, Ron Allum gives some insights into the 1988 Pannikin Plains Cave expedition where a massive storm with torrential rain and flooding caused tons of boulders and dirt to collapse in the cave entrance trapping the crew of divers underground:
Sophie's Sister is a novel written by Nina Paine. Cave diving on Australia's Nullarbor Plain features in the story.
Sophie doesn’t know there’s a dead girl in her head, and that the dead girl is her twin sister, Georgia.
When faced with a ‘sliding doors’ moment – the opportunity to travel across
Australia with freelance photographer Clinton West who is on assignment at Cocklebiddy
Cave, on the Nullarbor Plain – she turns it down. Georgia on the other hand, who didn’t
survive their mother’s pregnancy but who lives on as a voice in Sophie’s head, is angry and
frustrated with Sophie’s boring life so decides to break free and go without her.
Travel across this incredible country with Georgia as she learns more about her
sister, and life, than she anticipated. Through the extreme sport of cave diving, and the
force of Mother Nature, Sophie’s Sister explores the fine line between life and death. It uses
the extraordinarily beautiful, dramatic and dangerous landscape of coastal and inland
Australia as its canvas. It also explores the expectations we place on ourselves and others
when it comes to excitement and contentment. Dreams don’t have to be big. The small ones
mean just as much.
Sophie's Sister is available from all the usual online bookstores.
Report of a National Geographic funded cave diving research & mapping expedition investigating Christmas Island submarine caves. The team included Australian cave divers Craig Challen, John Dalla-Zuanna and Ken Smith.
The Cave Divers Association of Australia (CDAA) is looking to further increase cave diving access to Tank Cave, site of two cave diving deaths in 2011.
In an email to association members, the National Committee have asked members to consider allowing Cave rated divers access to the site. Currently, only Advanced Cave trained members can dive in Tank Cave.
Tank Cave, located in the lower south east of South Australia, has long been considered the jewel in the crown of sites whose sole diving access is through the CDAA. The site was purchased by the association in 2010 for a sum well above land value. In 2011, two cave divers, trained to the highest level within the association (Advanced Cave), died in separate diving incidents in the cave. Full accident analyses have yet to be published. Since these incidents, the association has twice eased access restrictions to dive the cave by allowing the site to be used for training dives and easing the Tank Cave dive familiarisation schedule.
A simulated operation to extract an injured diver through a sump in Imperial Cave at Jenolan, NSW. Rescuers are from the VRA Cave Rescue Squad and SUSS.
A book by the world-renowned cave diver, the late Sheck Exley. A compilation of case studies of accidents that occurred in the USA and how to learn from them.
Sophie doesn’t know there’s a dead girl in her head, and that the dead girl is her twin sister, Georgia.
