My Underwater World (2024) Movie Script
1
People have this fear
about the dark and about caves...
..and about being underwater
and underground.
But if they could see what I see,
the beauty of these places...
I think they'd overcome that fear
and love it like I do.
Most people know me
as Dr Richard Harris...
and for my involvement
in the Thai cave rescue of 2018.
But to my mates, I'm 'Harry'
and I was diving long before
that life-changing rescue.
I started carrying a camera
when I started diving...
..when I was just 15 years old.
I'm 59 now and I've been diving with
a camera of some kind ever since.
People always say to me,
"Why do you do it? Why cave diving?"
Well, when you're underwater,
it's peaceful.
It's like entering a different world.
There's adventure there too,
the challenge of it,
the reward of discovering something
completely new, unseen by human eyes
and I want to share with people
what it's like
in those underwater worlds...
the beauty and fragility of
the water systems hidden beneath us.
On this trip,
we're heading to the Limestone Coast
in south-east Australia
with my diving buddy Ken.
Thanks, Harry.
That should be right.
Beautiful day.
I've got far too much junk as usual.
Let's not have a look at
what you've got.
Ken and I have been
diving together for years.
Alright. Well, maybe drop it all down
here first.
He's somewhat of an expert
in the field,
having first dived in the south-east
at least 30 years ago.
The soft stuff that we can...
And he's got a great sense of humour
and like me, he's always up
for some discovery,
so we're hoping to find something new
on this trip.
Oh, I told you,
I've got some new fins for you, Ken.
Well, that's right.
Yeah, I know you hate my fins.
Well, I mean, they're photogenic
for my filming.
Yeah, sure.
But...
I've had very much criticism about
these fins over the years, so...
The Limestone Coast is famed
for its food and wine
but for me, it's a place
of sinkholes, deep caves
and millennia-old mysteries...
Might put the heavy one in first.
..like the bones of megafauna hidden
deep within submerged cave systems.
I thought we'd just have a quick look
at the map.
I know you've been down here
a million times. Sure.
But I've got a cunning plan
for this trip. Uh-huh.
I've been a bit obsessed
with the water...
Yeah.
..and its journey.
So let's trace the journey, really
following where the water goes.
Yep.
First, we head to Naracoorte
and then we'll be travelling
on the surface from there
to the bottom of the Limestone Coast,
to the ocean.
Underneath us, the water will be
travelling in the same direction
following the same path,
except underground, a hidden aquifer.
The aquifer is the water
that's flowing through
rocks and cracks beneath,
through the limestone
and so, these caves in the region
can be described
like windows into the aquifer.
It becomes visible to us
in these little pockets.
On the way, why don't we stop in
at Naracoorte,
where you've been many, many times...
Been there many times
over the years, yeah.
You can show me around,
have a look at the dry caves.
And what I really want to see
is the megafauna.
'Cause I've never been in there.
Right.
As we travel, the land slopes down
towards the ocean
and gets closer and closer
to the aquifer,
so as we travel south
from Naracoorte,
that sloping landscape means
these caves eventually meet
with the groundwater
and then finally,
around Mount Gambier,
we can see the water
and we can dive within it.
Alright. I think it's time to go.
We tend to travel overseas
long distances
thinking we'll find something more
spectacular than we have at home
but often the best things
are by your own backdoor.
And when did you first come down here
cave diving?
'77 was my very first diving trip.
I remember diving down the chasm
in Piccaninnie Ponds...
Yeah.
..thinking,
"This is pretty wonderful.
"I need to be a cave driver."
So, that was 1977, yes?
Yeah.
So...
How old are you, Ken?
I'm not gonna reveal
that information.
The Dukes Highway.
Yeah.
We're really just about to arrive
in limestone country.
Oh.
We're just about to get
on top of the water
and then the water will truly be
underneath the road
and the further down we get, the more
and more cave development we'll see
and the more chance of us
actually getting into the caves
and into the water itself, which for
cave divers is what it's all about.
That's great.
Naracoorte's an interesting place.
They discovered the first
full skeleton of the thylacoleo
in the early '70s.
The thylacoleo would sit in a tree
and then it would actually drop down
on the animal and chew it to death.
It's like the original drop bear.
Maybe it is like the drop bear,
yeah.
The World Heritage-listed
Naracoorte Caves...
is a collection of dry caves
containing fossils
that span across ice ages...
the arrival of humans
and the extinction
of the giant megafauna.
Each bone inside these caves
is like a reminder
of the unsuspecting creatures
that have fallen into
these hidden openings over time.
The limestone has been carved out
through the passage of water
and it really helps you imagine
how the landscape was formed.
For megafauna species
such as Thylacoleo carnifex,
the marsupial lion...
..or zygomaturus,
a giant wombat-like marsupial
that lived amongst the swamps...
..the remaining fossils
paint a picture
of an ancient and wild Australia.
Entering these caves is a little like
going back into another time
and seeing for ourselves
the secrets of our past.
The main interest I think
for us will be Victoria Cave.
And that's where we have
the bone deposits.
Shall we head off?
Yep.
Let's go.
By our old friend there,
the diprotodon.
Yeah.
Just a little wombat.
Yes. That's right.
After you, Ken.
Thank you very much.
This will be interesting, won't it?
I might leave the door open
so we don't get locked in.
Exactly.
Lovely formation, isn't it?
We've got a little pool of water
here too, which is beautiful.
There's some fantastic
helictite there.
That's beautiful.
We're in a cave here that's about
1.3 or 1.4 million years old.
Yeah.
And I think at one stage
this cave was underwater
and when it was underwater,
the formation started to dissolve
and that's left it
with a very rough appearance.
We're at the kind of northern end of
the groundwater, of the aquifer...
Mm-hm.
..and the water-table
is quite a long way below us...
Yes.
..because the land is sloping slowly
towards the ocean.
Yep.
But as we go south,
we're gonna hit spots
where we can easily come down a hole
like this and get into the water.
Get into the water. That's right.
So, when we talk about the Limestone
Coast, we are literally in it, Ken.
We're in the limestone.
It's all those bodies
of dead sea creatures,
all stacked up
to form calcium carbonate.
Looking at the ceiling here,
this is classic example of how
all of this limestone's been made.
Mmm.
You can see the marine life
that turned into calcium carbonate.
All the shells are right there
in the rock. It's brilliant.
20 million years ago, that would've
been the sea floor, you know,
with shells falling
onto the sea floor.
And now we're looking at it
from the other direction.
Here we are, Ken.
Victoria Fossil Cave.
It's amazing, isn't it?
It really is amazing.
Look at the...
I mean, this field of bones.
Yeah.
You know, as a doctor,
I'm recognising bones
but these are huge, some of these,
and there's just...
So many of them.
..bits and pieces from all different
animals, you can tell here.
Yeah. But so just so many bones
in one place.
It's just astonishing, isn't it?
Clearly, this cave was a trap for
animals at one stage in its history.
But I love those vertebra
across there, the zygomaturus.
I mean, you can imagine the animal
almost lying there.
It's remarkable.
If I understand correctly,
some of these animals were alive
just 40,000 years ago, which is
in Indigenous human history...
Yes.
..in this country,
so there's this overlap
between Aboriginal people
and these animals.
It's just like looking through the
pages of a history book, isn't it?
Well, I'm really excited to go down
to Tank Cave now having seen this
and dive, which is our more
natural environment, Ken...
It is.
..underwater...
and go and have a look at some bones
in a flooded cave.
A most interesting place.
It's really unusual.
Only cave divers
will ever see those.
Unless you're a cave diver,
you can't see what we're going
to see in the next few days.
I mean, how cool is it
just to be down here
going cave diving for a weekend,
four-and-a-half hours
from Adelaide...
I'm in one of the premier cave-diving
locations in the world.
The opportunity
for genuine original exploration
still exists on this planet
and by and large, the only place
to do that is in caves
and that's what brings me back
every single time.
People drive past and they'd have
no idea what is beneath their feet.
There are kilometres
of some of the most pristine
water-filled tunnels in the country.
But it's likely this whole area
is like Swiss cheese.
For every entrance, who knows,
maybe there's 50 or 100 different
caves we don't know exist.
When this place
was first discovered,
there was literally a water tank
concealing the access into this cave
and the original explorers
had to kind of dig their way in
and then crawl through this
very low tunnel down to the water
and slide in.
This is the entrance to Tank Cave.
Don't drop the key.
That's the secret.
I'm always excited to be diving here.
I love this place so much.
Under this small metal hatch
is nearly 10km of some of Australia's
best cave-diving tunnel.
This is private property.
It's owned by the Cave Divers
Association of Australia.
Hey.
I'll get the ladder,
if you like, Harry.
You have to be at the highest level
of cave-diving training
to be allowed access into this cave
because it's a complex maze cave.
It's literally lots of junctions,
plenty of opportunities to get lost,
have navigational errors.
Just getting into the cave, you know,
you've gotta have
your wits about you.
There's a very steep ladder.
It's slippery, it's wet.
You know,
you've just gotta be careful
because there's plenty of
opportunities to hurt yourself.
People often think cave diving
is a high-adrenaline sport.
In actual fact,
it's the opposite of that.
The hard work is carrying the gear
and getting set up
before you go diving.
Right, so we're gonna get
some gear in now.
It's safe if you get it right.
You have to make sure
your equipment's all set up properly
and you've got all the stuff
you need
and the dive is planned properly.
Alright, Kenny, do you want to head
down and I'll pass you some tanks?
Tanks down, yeah.
Yep.
There's recently been a discovery
in this very cave.
OK. All clear.
Alright, cylinder coming.
A guy called Ryan has found a room
full of fossil bones, megafauna.
All the stuff that's fascinating
up at Naracoorte
is right here in this cave as well.
Up rope.
Ken and I are gonna go and visit it
for the first time
and we're gonna try and film
the bones.
Diving with a camera
actually adds quite a bit of
difficulty to the dive.
As soon as we go down that hole
and along, zero light at all.
It's pitch-dark,
so all the light that you'll see
on the footage, hopefully,
will come from artificial lighting.
When I'm getting ready for a dive,
I'm always fairly in the zone.
I'm sort of thinking about the dive,
making sure the equipment's
well prepared.
I'm not nervous
but I'm kind of careful,
in a careful frame of mind
'cause you can't afford to make
mistakes in this environment.
It's a bit obsessive at this point.
It's almost choreographed,
the same routine every time,
everything in the same order to make
sure everything's in its place
and everything's prepared.
I'll go ahead.
Yep.
We'll swim down to here.
We'll turn around.
I'll go first
and so, when we get to the bone room,
you're gonna be lighting
the bone field for me. Yeah.
When you get to this T-junction,
it gets really flat and tight
from that point on
and then you're around a boulder
and up at the same time,
so it's quite a curly, tricky
restriction through here.
This is the first time on this trip
we're going into the aquifer.
We can literally drop through a hole
into the groundwater
beneath our feet.
The water's just metres
from the surface.
It's important that you've really got
the diving down pat
before you take a camera with you
because it can distract you
from some of the hazards.
For all the beauty
of these underwater worlds,
you have to make sure you stay
vigilant when you're diving.
Diving with a trusted friend like Ken
is really important...
someone you know who is completely
unflappable underwater,
who'll be there for you
if you have a problem,
because you can't afford to make
mistakes in this environment.
You can see throughout the cave
there are lines everywhere
to try and outline the tracks and
paths through this maze of tunnels
and you can use them to navigate
and make sure you don't get lost,
because, of course, getting lost
in a complex cave like this
can be very dangerous.
Unlike diving in the open ocean,
we can't simply retreat
to the surface in an emergency,
so everything we do, the way we move,
how we mount our equipment,
it's a vital part of staying alive
in these caves.
But it's always worth it
to see something new
and the prospect of seeing the bones
keeps pushing me forward.
The thing about the bones
in this cave
is that they're in quite a distance,
in a very inaccessible part
of the cave, so it's a risky dive.
It's a long way from home
and it's tight and narrow
and restricted
near the entrance to the bone room.
We've had to get special permission
to go in there.
Some of these passages are so tight
that I have to push this camera
in front of me
so that I can squeeze through
after it.
Ken's behind me,
so it's difficult to go backwards.
I have to try and work out
whether I can go ahead
or try and reverse
and get out safely.
It's a really scary moment
when you ask yourself...
"Am I stuck?"
I've been trapped before.
When your equipment snags on a rock
or you misjudge
the size of a crevice,
a lot of things go through your mind.
That's when you really become aware
of just how far from the surface
you are.
But you have to keep your cool.
And with a shimmy, I manage
to squeeze through once more.
With experience, you learn
how small a space you can fit into
but sometimes you push
a little too hard
and that really gets the heart racing
every single time.
Having come through the other side,
we encounter a deep crevice.
These are the bones
we've been looking for...
the reminders of an ancient history
of megafauna
from tens of thousands
of years before...
and seen only by a handful of people
on this planet.
The moment of discovery
is indescribable.
They've existed hidden away here
for thousands of years
before being uncovered again.
When people question why do I feel
the need to dive caves...
well, it's moments like this
that just say it all.
They're so fragile, so precious.
You know, they could be disturbed
or damaged
by a fin kick or a careless diver
and this is on my mind as I try
and hold my camera steady underwater.
Bringing back video will help people
recognise the importance of the bones
and hopefully means other divers
won't feel the need
to attempt to dive themselves
and potentially damage the site.
It's been a tough and extended dive
to reach this spot,
over an hour and a half, in fact...
so we've only got time
for a quick look...
'cause we've still got to make it
back to the surface.
It's beautiful here. I just love it.
There aren't many places in the world
that you can see something
like we just saw in Tank Cave.
Makes me wonder just how many more
caves and artefacts are hidden,
undiscovered, just beneath us.
This is such lush countryside.
And do you know why?
It's all because of the water,
all because of the rainfall
down here.
After rain,
when the water enters the ground,
it takes about 400 years for it
to make its journey to the coast.
As it passes through the limestone,
it's like a filter,
which is why the water we see
in the caves is so crystal-clear.
The limestone country,
the ground's porous,
which provides a good water supply
for the town.
But you've gotta be fairly careful
with contamination of the aquifer.
You don't want to do that because
it's the town's water supply.
And that's one of the things that
really interests me about this area
and one of the reasons
that we're visiting, in a way,
is to look at some of the threats
to the groundwater
because there's a lot of pressure
on the water-table now
and we know that
when the water-table falls,
salt water can come in from the ocean
and affect especially those coastal
spring areas like Ewens Ponds,
which are iconic tourist attractions.
We're on our way
to Kilsby Sinkhole now.
It's a very well-known dive site.
We're just passing through
Mount Gambier,
the biggest city
here in the south-east.
All around the city, you can see
how a wild, volcanic land
carved out what we see today...
lakes forged in volcanic eruptions...
towering, dormant volcanoes...
and deep, cavernous sinkholes
running throughout the city itself.
When I was a kid, I remember
coming here and wondering...
you know, presumably,
if there's a volcano,
that means it's come from
the centre of the earth
and therefore the Blue Lake
would be bottomless.
Yes.
And even then, as a little explorer,
I wondered about diving in there
and maybe, you know, swimming
to the bottom of the Blue Lake.
The water changes to
a beautiful blue colour in summer
due to a layer that forms about 30m
down and reflects the sunshine up.
If look across the water,
you can see the original limestone
which once would've been
a limestone plain, of course.
And the volcanic eruption punched
right through the limestone...
..blew all this ash out...
..and put volcanic rock, or lava,
on top of the limestone...
and then, on top of that,
there's ash as well.
So, all these hills
are entirely material
that's come out of the volcano.
This Limestone Coast
is all just riddled with cavities
and nooks and crannies.
Yes. This is not a stagnant pool.
It's actually a window
into the aquifer, you know.
At this point,
the aquifer is visible, you know.
We can see the water, but we can
imagine the same matter of water
all around us
through this entire area.
You can see why people flock
to this as a tourist destination -
a volcano right in the middle
of the city of Mount Gambier.
Still hope there might be a little
crack or a crevice down there
that we haven't seen yet which might
take me to the centre of the earth.
If I keep digging, I'll come out
in about New York, I've worked out.
- Hey, Jo.
- Hello. How are you?
Great. Good to see you again.
Good to see you.
Ken.
It's been a while.
Yes.
Nice to see you.
Yeah, good to see you too.
So, what have you guys been up to?
Kilsby Sinkhole is one of the most
well-known sinkholes in the region.
It takes your breath away
that here in the middle of this
paddock is a vast natural wonder.
This place has gone from a place
that cave divers like Ken and I
will come and visit
to this kind of amazing enterprise
which offers so many opportunities
for everyone, not just cave divers.
On the land of
fifth-generation farmer Graham Kilsby
and his partner Jo,
the sinkhole was once used
by the military for testing
but it now attracts divers
from all over the world.
Just seeing people's faces when
they come and have a look at it,
they're just overwhelmed
that this can actually even be here
and this is the only sinkhole
in Australia
that if you've got
your open-water certification,
you can dive it with a guide.
Graham and I are very passionate
about looking after this site
because if you don't care for it,
then, you know, there's nothing.
And as we know, there's fauna in the
sites that are unique to this area.
Yeah.
And it's been like this forever,
so let's keep it that way.
It's extraordinary.
It just defies comprehension,
you know.
You associate diving with the beach
and the ocean
but here we are in the middle
of rural South Australia
and we're about to witness, I think,
one of the most incredible
natural wonders
of not just this area but the world.
Air is warmth
but air is also buoyancy,
so you need a lot of extra weight
to dive in cold water
with thicker suits on.
This actual suit's quite old
but I have a very strong
emotional attachment to it.
It's kept me alive
for some exciting dives,
so even though it's well past
and it's like grandpa's axe
and it's got its tenth set
of new seals on it,
lots of patches and fixes
including this huge hole that I got
in a cave in Tasmania...
I think you might have to go on...
Like an old friend.
The important thing
is to look graceful at all times.
This cave in particular
brings back memories for me
because I first dived here
almost exactly 30 years ago.
I did actually take video
in this cave 30 years ago.
Had one of the early
underwater video camera systems,
which I think cost me
about ten times more
than a GoPro would cost now
for one-tenth of the video quality.
It shows not only us diving
but also some of
the Defence equipment
that was in the cave at that stage,
which is quite fascinating.
But what the Kilsby family have done
is opened up this wonderful cave
to not just cave divers.
You've got snorkellers
and open-water divers
and even people
who don't dive at all,
which I think
is actually quite important
because they are beautiful places
and fragile places
and the more people
who see beautiful caves,
the more the public are likely to
feel that they should be conserved,
which is a topic
that's very close to my heart.
Honestly,
every time I put my head underwater
and I can breathe through these
things, I just think it's amazing.
I still get the buzz that I got
when I was 15 years old
when I started doing it.
It's just extraordinary.
You'll never see anything like it
in the ocean.
It's just unique
to this freshwater site.
Even with this sort of ambient light,
you can just make out the archway
that forms the passage
that is the true underground section
of the cave.
At certain times of day, you look
back and the opening to the sinkhole
allows a huge shaft of sunlight
that pierces through the water.
It's otherworldly.
The water can be so clear,
you can look up from down at 40m
and see the clouds moving overhead.
Once you get in the water,
you suddenly get this sense
of wonderful relaxation.
You're very relaxed and calm.
In a way,
it's almost like meditation.
I sometimes describe it
as floating through
a wonderful museum or art gallery
full of magnificent abstract
sculptures created by nature
over 20,000 years
and in some cases, you're the first
person to actually see it.
It's actually very exciting.
Ken and I are scientists
at heart.
In Kilsby's, we've done mapping,
we've looked at the water quality
and we've searched for
interesting new organisms.
On this dive, now we've found
what we're looking for.
You have to look carefully,
but there's life in these caves.
Stygofauna.
Tiny, fascinating,
otherworldly creatures
that have lived here
for thousands of years.
They've evolved to live in caves.
They almost look alien.
Caves can be so isolated,
they contain creatures that are
entirely unique to each site.
We monitor them because they're also
a great indication
of the health of the water system
and they may represent new species.
I'm passionate about preserving
these magical places.
You have to think about everything.
In some cases, even the bubbles
we produce as divers
can potentially change
these sensitive ecosystems.
It would be so easy for one of these
unique species to become extinct
if the water quality
is interfered with.
We rely on these hidden waterways
for agriculture, for our towns,
for our drinking water,
so there's a risk there
if we don't find a balance.
And the more I see,
the more I understand the fragility
of these rich aquatic worlds
and how important it is
to take care of them.
I guess one of the things
I've started to realise
through my years of exploring
this countryside
and in particular this privilege
of being able to dive down
into the groundwater itself,
I've started to wonder about,
you know,
the impact we are having
on this landscape
and seeing how fragile the
environment is that we're looking at,
looking at all this interesting
biology and hydrology
and science around the caves.
To me, it's starting to pose
more questions than I have answers
and I feel like I'm just starting
this journey of discovery.
Right.
On the track into Ewens Ponds, Ken.
It's such a beautiful day.
We're booked in for a quick dive
and I'm gonna meet up with Uncle Ken,
start to really find out
some of the history of this place.
We're at Ewens Ponds, which is near
the end of the water's journey.
It's a collection
of freshwater ponds,
where the water bubbles up through
the sand and flows out to the ocean.
The water filters up
through the limestone
to create
this crystal-clear visibility
that makes perfect conditions
for a dive.
The area itself has been home
to the Buandig people
for tens of thousands of years.
In living history,
First Nations people
have walked alongside the megafauna.
They've witnessed volcanic eruptions
as they shaped the land
and they've passed down the stories
to their descendants,
like local Buandig elder
Uncle Ken and his kids.
- G'day, guys.
- There he is.
How are you?
It is good to catch up.
Are you well?
Yeah.
Hey, you've brought
my two favourite blokes.
Lincoln, how are you?
Flynn, how are you?
G'day, Harry.
Good to see you.
Yeah.
I'd like to welcome you properly
to our Buandig country.
So, what I said there is g'day
in our Buandig language.
And when we talk about our country,
reeds and rushes,
it's really about cherish and enjoy
our country
because that's what it's here for.
We care for it
and we love our country.
Beautiful. Thank you, Ken.
Thank you.
Have you guys all been here before?
Yep.
Yep? Have you been for a swim here?
Nope.
Not yet.
I hope you've brought your wetsuit.
We often talk about
people, the reeds and rushes,
and where we are standing here now,
we're sort of looking into
this ancient landscape
that's been here
for as long as I can remember.
We're so close to the water here.
We've got reflections,
we've got sounds, we've got birds.
This particular area here
of Ewens Ponds,
it's just a whole kaleidoscope
of beautiful, fantastic life
and we just love it.
Ken and I stopped at the Blue Lake
on the way down
and, of course, we know
the geological history of that site
but, I mean, it must make you feel
incredibly proud of your heritage
to know that your direct ancestors
were not only there
to witness these volcanic eruptions
but also before that
to see the megafauna
parading around this place.
You're right.
To have these stories
about the sea-level rise
or about the eruptions
of volcanoes...
Apparently, it was very, very scary
for our Buandig people.
They talked about that
for centuries.
As we understand it
through our storytelling,
the bunyip bird, or the bittern...
warned them
that something was about to happen.
Sure as eggs, whoosh, up she went.
It blew the whole Blue Lake open.
So that was about 5,000 years ago
and that's certainly within
our time span of storytelling.
Look at the grebe.
Very nice place.
The water looks very cold.
So clear.
We are very fortunate
to still have those stories
and we keep telling these stories
to our children, our grandchildren.
We keep the dream alive
because it's special.
I first came down here as a kid
and in our family, we were told,
"Don't you go into that black hole."
You know, "The bunyip will get you."
We were scared bejesus
about going in here. No way.
According to Buandig culture,
the bunyip inhabited the swamps,
rivers and waterholes
and they would prey
on unsuspecting people,
women and children,
from the water's edge.
The bunyip saw a hunter and his wife
on the bank,
so he went up and took her
while the hunter was away
and when the hunter came back
looking for his wife,
she screamed, "I'm over here!"
And the bunyip ran and the hunter
chased him with sticks and stones
till he wounded him
and he retreated all the way
into the reeds and the rushes
at the end of the creek
and the hunter left him there
so he wouldn't come back.
I think you've got your own idea
about what that bunyip
might have been, haven't you?
Yeah.
I read in a book once
the bunyip was inspired by
the megafauna,
particularly the diprotodon,
because the diprotodon,
even though being distantly related
to the wombat,
looked a lot like
a giant, big, like, wombat
the size of a horse...
Mmm.
..or like a stallion.
And it would be nearly invisible
at night-time.
Coupled with the bittern's calls,
it would sound very ferocious.
You know, it's wonderful to hear
this young scientist
who's kind of putting
all the cultures together
and re-interpreting...
Yeah. Yeah.
..to make it all kind of accessible
to all of us, I think.
Yeah. Yeah.
Seeing these kids reminds me
how the passion first began for me...
that curiosity and love
for the natural world.
I kind of am greatly troubled
or worried
about what might happen
to these places
because of the impact
of contemporary man,
so I want to kind of understand
what it means to you
and what's at risk, what's at stake.
In recent times, we're aware now
that some of our vegetation here
is not as good as it was
when we were kids.
It is of concern to our mob,
our people and our children
and our grandchildren.
We'd like to think that this will be
unchanged in their lifetime
as well as ours.
It's our duty of care.
As custodians and carers
of this country,
we'd like to think
that it's nicely looked after.
Ever since I was young,
diving in this place,
I've dreamt of being able to share
the incredible things I saw
in these underwater worlds
with others,
but it's turned into something
more than that -
a deeper connection
and a desire to keep learning
how we can better understand
and preserve it.
For me, this place is just a place
where I come and literally
immerse myself in these waters
and kind of soak
in this pristine environment.
I just love being here
on the water's edge.
The light off the water, the reeds,
the birds,
it's just serenity.
This same water was underground
just metres away
and now it's at the surface.
These ponds feel sort of hidden away
in the bush
and it can seem almost as if there's
not a lot to see from the surface.
But it's a very different picture
underwater.
When I talk about
these underwater worlds,
this place feels
particularly magical.
A current pulls you gently
between the connected ponds.
Each are full of colour and life,
fish and other critters,
as well as the amazing
aquatic plants,
so it's a very different perspective
to cave diving
and much more accessible to divers
without cave expertise.
These pockets of the natural world
in a transformed landscape
feel like a rare treasure
and something to hold onto.
I want anyone
that sees the natural world
and all its history
and mysterious wonder
to see that it comes with
a responsibility to protect it.
As divers, we leave a cave
with a clearer path
for those who follow behind us.
To explore is to leave a legacy
for those who come after.
At my feet, these bubbling springs
on the beach here
is where the water is emerging
after its journey from 200km
to the north up around Bordertown.
It's gone all the way through
the limestone, under the ground
and it comes out at this place
on the beach
at the southern end
of the Limestone Coast.
This water has travelled
for 400 years from north to south
and now it's kind of escaping.
It's bubbling up through this sand
and now it's... maybe it's just
at the start of its journey.
It's going out to sea
and it'll dissipate out there
and become
part of the bigger ecosystem.
It's been great travelling
with my old mate Ken.
What's really gratifying is seeing
the next generation of curious minds,
the next generation of explorers.
These lads, they are so curious
and so passionate already
at their young age.
I've learned about the diprotodon.
It's probably the real bunyip.
The Limestone Coast
of South Australia,
with its unique geological story,
is a place full of adventure
and hidden beauty
but many don't think
of the rich aquatic worlds
hidden beneath our feet
or of the impact that we can have
on that underground aquifer.
I want to share the beauty
of this part of the world.
It's in my backyard
and hopefully you can take away
the shared vision
of what this beautiful country
means to me
and what we should all be
so proud of.
Captioned by AI-Media
ai-media. tv
People have this fear
about the dark and about caves...
..and about being underwater
and underground.
But if they could see what I see,
the beauty of these places...
I think they'd overcome that fear
and love it like I do.
Most people know me
as Dr Richard Harris...
and for my involvement
in the Thai cave rescue of 2018.
But to my mates, I'm 'Harry'
and I was diving long before
that life-changing rescue.
I started carrying a camera
when I started diving...
..when I was just 15 years old.
I'm 59 now and I've been diving with
a camera of some kind ever since.
People always say to me,
"Why do you do it? Why cave diving?"
Well, when you're underwater,
it's peaceful.
It's like entering a different world.
There's adventure there too,
the challenge of it,
the reward of discovering something
completely new, unseen by human eyes
and I want to share with people
what it's like
in those underwater worlds...
the beauty and fragility of
the water systems hidden beneath us.
On this trip,
we're heading to the Limestone Coast
in south-east Australia
with my diving buddy Ken.
Thanks, Harry.
That should be right.
Beautiful day.
I've got far too much junk as usual.
Let's not have a look at
what you've got.
Ken and I have been
diving together for years.
Alright. Well, maybe drop it all down
here first.
He's somewhat of an expert
in the field,
having first dived in the south-east
at least 30 years ago.
The soft stuff that we can...
And he's got a great sense of humour
and like me, he's always up
for some discovery,
so we're hoping to find something new
on this trip.
Oh, I told you,
I've got some new fins for you, Ken.
Well, that's right.
Yeah, I know you hate my fins.
Well, I mean, they're photogenic
for my filming.
Yeah, sure.
But...
I've had very much criticism about
these fins over the years, so...
The Limestone Coast is famed
for its food and wine
but for me, it's a place
of sinkholes, deep caves
and millennia-old mysteries...
Might put the heavy one in first.
..like the bones of megafauna hidden
deep within submerged cave systems.
I thought we'd just have a quick look
at the map.
I know you've been down here
a million times. Sure.
But I've got a cunning plan
for this trip. Uh-huh.
I've been a bit obsessed
with the water...
Yeah.
..and its journey.
So let's trace the journey, really
following where the water goes.
Yep.
First, we head to Naracoorte
and then we'll be travelling
on the surface from there
to the bottom of the Limestone Coast,
to the ocean.
Underneath us, the water will be
travelling in the same direction
following the same path,
except underground, a hidden aquifer.
The aquifer is the water
that's flowing through
rocks and cracks beneath,
through the limestone
and so, these caves in the region
can be described
like windows into the aquifer.
It becomes visible to us
in these little pockets.
On the way, why don't we stop in
at Naracoorte,
where you've been many, many times...
Been there many times
over the years, yeah.
You can show me around,
have a look at the dry caves.
And what I really want to see
is the megafauna.
'Cause I've never been in there.
Right.
As we travel, the land slopes down
towards the ocean
and gets closer and closer
to the aquifer,
so as we travel south
from Naracoorte,
that sloping landscape means
these caves eventually meet
with the groundwater
and then finally,
around Mount Gambier,
we can see the water
and we can dive within it.
Alright. I think it's time to go.
We tend to travel overseas
long distances
thinking we'll find something more
spectacular than we have at home
but often the best things
are by your own backdoor.
And when did you first come down here
cave diving?
'77 was my very first diving trip.
I remember diving down the chasm
in Piccaninnie Ponds...
Yeah.
..thinking,
"This is pretty wonderful.
"I need to be a cave driver."
So, that was 1977, yes?
Yeah.
So...
How old are you, Ken?
I'm not gonna reveal
that information.
The Dukes Highway.
Yeah.
We're really just about to arrive
in limestone country.
Oh.
We're just about to get
on top of the water
and then the water will truly be
underneath the road
and the further down we get, the more
and more cave development we'll see
and the more chance of us
actually getting into the caves
and into the water itself, which for
cave divers is what it's all about.
That's great.
Naracoorte's an interesting place.
They discovered the first
full skeleton of the thylacoleo
in the early '70s.
The thylacoleo would sit in a tree
and then it would actually drop down
on the animal and chew it to death.
It's like the original drop bear.
Maybe it is like the drop bear,
yeah.
The World Heritage-listed
Naracoorte Caves...
is a collection of dry caves
containing fossils
that span across ice ages...
the arrival of humans
and the extinction
of the giant megafauna.
Each bone inside these caves
is like a reminder
of the unsuspecting creatures
that have fallen into
these hidden openings over time.
The limestone has been carved out
through the passage of water
and it really helps you imagine
how the landscape was formed.
For megafauna species
such as Thylacoleo carnifex,
the marsupial lion...
..or zygomaturus,
a giant wombat-like marsupial
that lived amongst the swamps...
..the remaining fossils
paint a picture
of an ancient and wild Australia.
Entering these caves is a little like
going back into another time
and seeing for ourselves
the secrets of our past.
The main interest I think
for us will be Victoria Cave.
And that's where we have
the bone deposits.
Shall we head off?
Yep.
Let's go.
By our old friend there,
the diprotodon.
Yeah.
Just a little wombat.
Yes. That's right.
After you, Ken.
Thank you very much.
This will be interesting, won't it?
I might leave the door open
so we don't get locked in.
Exactly.
Lovely formation, isn't it?
We've got a little pool of water
here too, which is beautiful.
There's some fantastic
helictite there.
That's beautiful.
We're in a cave here that's about
1.3 or 1.4 million years old.
Yeah.
And I think at one stage
this cave was underwater
and when it was underwater,
the formation started to dissolve
and that's left it
with a very rough appearance.
We're at the kind of northern end of
the groundwater, of the aquifer...
Mm-hm.
..and the water-table
is quite a long way below us...
Yes.
..because the land is sloping slowly
towards the ocean.
Yep.
But as we go south,
we're gonna hit spots
where we can easily come down a hole
like this and get into the water.
Get into the water. That's right.
So, when we talk about the Limestone
Coast, we are literally in it, Ken.
We're in the limestone.
It's all those bodies
of dead sea creatures,
all stacked up
to form calcium carbonate.
Looking at the ceiling here,
this is classic example of how
all of this limestone's been made.
Mmm.
You can see the marine life
that turned into calcium carbonate.
All the shells are right there
in the rock. It's brilliant.
20 million years ago, that would've
been the sea floor, you know,
with shells falling
onto the sea floor.
And now we're looking at it
from the other direction.
Here we are, Ken.
Victoria Fossil Cave.
It's amazing, isn't it?
It really is amazing.
Look at the...
I mean, this field of bones.
Yeah.
You know, as a doctor,
I'm recognising bones
but these are huge, some of these,
and there's just...
So many of them.
..bits and pieces from all different
animals, you can tell here.
Yeah. But so just so many bones
in one place.
It's just astonishing, isn't it?
Clearly, this cave was a trap for
animals at one stage in its history.
But I love those vertebra
across there, the zygomaturus.
I mean, you can imagine the animal
almost lying there.
It's remarkable.
If I understand correctly,
some of these animals were alive
just 40,000 years ago, which is
in Indigenous human history...
Yes.
..in this country,
so there's this overlap
between Aboriginal people
and these animals.
It's just like looking through the
pages of a history book, isn't it?
Well, I'm really excited to go down
to Tank Cave now having seen this
and dive, which is our more
natural environment, Ken...
It is.
..underwater...
and go and have a look at some bones
in a flooded cave.
A most interesting place.
It's really unusual.
Only cave divers
will ever see those.
Unless you're a cave diver,
you can't see what we're going
to see in the next few days.
I mean, how cool is it
just to be down here
going cave diving for a weekend,
four-and-a-half hours
from Adelaide...
I'm in one of the premier cave-diving
locations in the world.
The opportunity
for genuine original exploration
still exists on this planet
and by and large, the only place
to do that is in caves
and that's what brings me back
every single time.
People drive past and they'd have
no idea what is beneath their feet.
There are kilometres
of some of the most pristine
water-filled tunnels in the country.
But it's likely this whole area
is like Swiss cheese.
For every entrance, who knows,
maybe there's 50 or 100 different
caves we don't know exist.
When this place
was first discovered,
there was literally a water tank
concealing the access into this cave
and the original explorers
had to kind of dig their way in
and then crawl through this
very low tunnel down to the water
and slide in.
This is the entrance to Tank Cave.
Don't drop the key.
That's the secret.
I'm always excited to be diving here.
I love this place so much.
Under this small metal hatch
is nearly 10km of some of Australia's
best cave-diving tunnel.
This is private property.
It's owned by the Cave Divers
Association of Australia.
Hey.
I'll get the ladder,
if you like, Harry.
You have to be at the highest level
of cave-diving training
to be allowed access into this cave
because it's a complex maze cave.
It's literally lots of junctions,
plenty of opportunities to get lost,
have navigational errors.
Just getting into the cave, you know,
you've gotta have
your wits about you.
There's a very steep ladder.
It's slippery, it's wet.
You know,
you've just gotta be careful
because there's plenty of
opportunities to hurt yourself.
People often think cave diving
is a high-adrenaline sport.
In actual fact,
it's the opposite of that.
The hard work is carrying the gear
and getting set up
before you go diving.
Right, so we're gonna get
some gear in now.
It's safe if you get it right.
You have to make sure
your equipment's all set up properly
and you've got all the stuff
you need
and the dive is planned properly.
Alright, Kenny, do you want to head
down and I'll pass you some tanks?
Tanks down, yeah.
Yep.
There's recently been a discovery
in this very cave.
OK. All clear.
Alright, cylinder coming.
A guy called Ryan has found a room
full of fossil bones, megafauna.
All the stuff that's fascinating
up at Naracoorte
is right here in this cave as well.
Up rope.
Ken and I are gonna go and visit it
for the first time
and we're gonna try and film
the bones.
Diving with a camera
actually adds quite a bit of
difficulty to the dive.
As soon as we go down that hole
and along, zero light at all.
It's pitch-dark,
so all the light that you'll see
on the footage, hopefully,
will come from artificial lighting.
When I'm getting ready for a dive,
I'm always fairly in the zone.
I'm sort of thinking about the dive,
making sure the equipment's
well prepared.
I'm not nervous
but I'm kind of careful,
in a careful frame of mind
'cause you can't afford to make
mistakes in this environment.
It's a bit obsessive at this point.
It's almost choreographed,
the same routine every time,
everything in the same order to make
sure everything's in its place
and everything's prepared.
I'll go ahead.
Yep.
We'll swim down to here.
We'll turn around.
I'll go first
and so, when we get to the bone room,
you're gonna be lighting
the bone field for me. Yeah.
When you get to this T-junction,
it gets really flat and tight
from that point on
and then you're around a boulder
and up at the same time,
so it's quite a curly, tricky
restriction through here.
This is the first time on this trip
we're going into the aquifer.
We can literally drop through a hole
into the groundwater
beneath our feet.
The water's just metres
from the surface.
It's important that you've really got
the diving down pat
before you take a camera with you
because it can distract you
from some of the hazards.
For all the beauty
of these underwater worlds,
you have to make sure you stay
vigilant when you're diving.
Diving with a trusted friend like Ken
is really important...
someone you know who is completely
unflappable underwater,
who'll be there for you
if you have a problem,
because you can't afford to make
mistakes in this environment.
You can see throughout the cave
there are lines everywhere
to try and outline the tracks and
paths through this maze of tunnels
and you can use them to navigate
and make sure you don't get lost,
because, of course, getting lost
in a complex cave like this
can be very dangerous.
Unlike diving in the open ocean,
we can't simply retreat
to the surface in an emergency,
so everything we do, the way we move,
how we mount our equipment,
it's a vital part of staying alive
in these caves.
But it's always worth it
to see something new
and the prospect of seeing the bones
keeps pushing me forward.
The thing about the bones
in this cave
is that they're in quite a distance,
in a very inaccessible part
of the cave, so it's a risky dive.
It's a long way from home
and it's tight and narrow
and restricted
near the entrance to the bone room.
We've had to get special permission
to go in there.
Some of these passages are so tight
that I have to push this camera
in front of me
so that I can squeeze through
after it.
Ken's behind me,
so it's difficult to go backwards.
I have to try and work out
whether I can go ahead
or try and reverse
and get out safely.
It's a really scary moment
when you ask yourself...
"Am I stuck?"
I've been trapped before.
When your equipment snags on a rock
or you misjudge
the size of a crevice,
a lot of things go through your mind.
That's when you really become aware
of just how far from the surface
you are.
But you have to keep your cool.
And with a shimmy, I manage
to squeeze through once more.
With experience, you learn
how small a space you can fit into
but sometimes you push
a little too hard
and that really gets the heart racing
every single time.
Having come through the other side,
we encounter a deep crevice.
These are the bones
we've been looking for...
the reminders of an ancient history
of megafauna
from tens of thousands
of years before...
and seen only by a handful of people
on this planet.
The moment of discovery
is indescribable.
They've existed hidden away here
for thousands of years
before being uncovered again.
When people question why do I feel
the need to dive caves...
well, it's moments like this
that just say it all.
They're so fragile, so precious.
You know, they could be disturbed
or damaged
by a fin kick or a careless diver
and this is on my mind as I try
and hold my camera steady underwater.
Bringing back video will help people
recognise the importance of the bones
and hopefully means other divers
won't feel the need
to attempt to dive themselves
and potentially damage the site.
It's been a tough and extended dive
to reach this spot,
over an hour and a half, in fact...
so we've only got time
for a quick look...
'cause we've still got to make it
back to the surface.
It's beautiful here. I just love it.
There aren't many places in the world
that you can see something
like we just saw in Tank Cave.
Makes me wonder just how many more
caves and artefacts are hidden,
undiscovered, just beneath us.
This is such lush countryside.
And do you know why?
It's all because of the water,
all because of the rainfall
down here.
After rain,
when the water enters the ground,
it takes about 400 years for it
to make its journey to the coast.
As it passes through the limestone,
it's like a filter,
which is why the water we see
in the caves is so crystal-clear.
The limestone country,
the ground's porous,
which provides a good water supply
for the town.
But you've gotta be fairly careful
with contamination of the aquifer.
You don't want to do that because
it's the town's water supply.
And that's one of the things that
really interests me about this area
and one of the reasons
that we're visiting, in a way,
is to look at some of the threats
to the groundwater
because there's a lot of pressure
on the water-table now
and we know that
when the water-table falls,
salt water can come in from the ocean
and affect especially those coastal
spring areas like Ewens Ponds,
which are iconic tourist attractions.
We're on our way
to Kilsby Sinkhole now.
It's a very well-known dive site.
We're just passing through
Mount Gambier,
the biggest city
here in the south-east.
All around the city, you can see
how a wild, volcanic land
carved out what we see today...
lakes forged in volcanic eruptions...
towering, dormant volcanoes...
and deep, cavernous sinkholes
running throughout the city itself.
When I was a kid, I remember
coming here and wondering...
you know, presumably,
if there's a volcano,
that means it's come from
the centre of the earth
and therefore the Blue Lake
would be bottomless.
Yes.
And even then, as a little explorer,
I wondered about diving in there
and maybe, you know, swimming
to the bottom of the Blue Lake.
The water changes to
a beautiful blue colour in summer
due to a layer that forms about 30m
down and reflects the sunshine up.
If look across the water,
you can see the original limestone
which once would've been
a limestone plain, of course.
And the volcanic eruption punched
right through the limestone...
..blew all this ash out...
..and put volcanic rock, or lava,
on top of the limestone...
and then, on top of that,
there's ash as well.
So, all these hills
are entirely material
that's come out of the volcano.
This Limestone Coast
is all just riddled with cavities
and nooks and crannies.
Yes. This is not a stagnant pool.
It's actually a window
into the aquifer, you know.
At this point,
the aquifer is visible, you know.
We can see the water, but we can
imagine the same matter of water
all around us
through this entire area.
You can see why people flock
to this as a tourist destination -
a volcano right in the middle
of the city of Mount Gambier.
Still hope there might be a little
crack or a crevice down there
that we haven't seen yet which might
take me to the centre of the earth.
If I keep digging, I'll come out
in about New York, I've worked out.
- Hey, Jo.
- Hello. How are you?
Great. Good to see you again.
Good to see you.
Ken.
It's been a while.
Yes.
Nice to see you.
Yeah, good to see you too.
So, what have you guys been up to?
Kilsby Sinkhole is one of the most
well-known sinkholes in the region.
It takes your breath away
that here in the middle of this
paddock is a vast natural wonder.
This place has gone from a place
that cave divers like Ken and I
will come and visit
to this kind of amazing enterprise
which offers so many opportunities
for everyone, not just cave divers.
On the land of
fifth-generation farmer Graham Kilsby
and his partner Jo,
the sinkhole was once used
by the military for testing
but it now attracts divers
from all over the world.
Just seeing people's faces when
they come and have a look at it,
they're just overwhelmed
that this can actually even be here
and this is the only sinkhole
in Australia
that if you've got
your open-water certification,
you can dive it with a guide.
Graham and I are very passionate
about looking after this site
because if you don't care for it,
then, you know, there's nothing.
And as we know, there's fauna in the
sites that are unique to this area.
Yeah.
And it's been like this forever,
so let's keep it that way.
It's extraordinary.
It just defies comprehension,
you know.
You associate diving with the beach
and the ocean
but here we are in the middle
of rural South Australia
and we're about to witness, I think,
one of the most incredible
natural wonders
of not just this area but the world.
Air is warmth
but air is also buoyancy,
so you need a lot of extra weight
to dive in cold water
with thicker suits on.
This actual suit's quite old
but I have a very strong
emotional attachment to it.
It's kept me alive
for some exciting dives,
so even though it's well past
and it's like grandpa's axe
and it's got its tenth set
of new seals on it,
lots of patches and fixes
including this huge hole that I got
in a cave in Tasmania...
I think you might have to go on...
Like an old friend.
The important thing
is to look graceful at all times.
This cave in particular
brings back memories for me
because I first dived here
almost exactly 30 years ago.
I did actually take video
in this cave 30 years ago.
Had one of the early
underwater video camera systems,
which I think cost me
about ten times more
than a GoPro would cost now
for one-tenth of the video quality.
It shows not only us diving
but also some of
the Defence equipment
that was in the cave at that stage,
which is quite fascinating.
But what the Kilsby family have done
is opened up this wonderful cave
to not just cave divers.
You've got snorkellers
and open-water divers
and even people
who don't dive at all,
which I think
is actually quite important
because they are beautiful places
and fragile places
and the more people
who see beautiful caves,
the more the public are likely to
feel that they should be conserved,
which is a topic
that's very close to my heart.
Honestly,
every time I put my head underwater
and I can breathe through these
things, I just think it's amazing.
I still get the buzz that I got
when I was 15 years old
when I started doing it.
It's just extraordinary.
You'll never see anything like it
in the ocean.
It's just unique
to this freshwater site.
Even with this sort of ambient light,
you can just make out the archway
that forms the passage
that is the true underground section
of the cave.
At certain times of day, you look
back and the opening to the sinkhole
allows a huge shaft of sunlight
that pierces through the water.
It's otherworldly.
The water can be so clear,
you can look up from down at 40m
and see the clouds moving overhead.
Once you get in the water,
you suddenly get this sense
of wonderful relaxation.
You're very relaxed and calm.
In a way,
it's almost like meditation.
I sometimes describe it
as floating through
a wonderful museum or art gallery
full of magnificent abstract
sculptures created by nature
over 20,000 years
and in some cases, you're the first
person to actually see it.
It's actually very exciting.
Ken and I are scientists
at heart.
In Kilsby's, we've done mapping,
we've looked at the water quality
and we've searched for
interesting new organisms.
On this dive, now we've found
what we're looking for.
You have to look carefully,
but there's life in these caves.
Stygofauna.
Tiny, fascinating,
otherworldly creatures
that have lived here
for thousands of years.
They've evolved to live in caves.
They almost look alien.
Caves can be so isolated,
they contain creatures that are
entirely unique to each site.
We monitor them because they're also
a great indication
of the health of the water system
and they may represent new species.
I'm passionate about preserving
these magical places.
You have to think about everything.
In some cases, even the bubbles
we produce as divers
can potentially change
these sensitive ecosystems.
It would be so easy for one of these
unique species to become extinct
if the water quality
is interfered with.
We rely on these hidden waterways
for agriculture, for our towns,
for our drinking water,
so there's a risk there
if we don't find a balance.
And the more I see,
the more I understand the fragility
of these rich aquatic worlds
and how important it is
to take care of them.
I guess one of the things
I've started to realise
through my years of exploring
this countryside
and in particular this privilege
of being able to dive down
into the groundwater itself,
I've started to wonder about,
you know,
the impact we are having
on this landscape
and seeing how fragile the
environment is that we're looking at,
looking at all this interesting
biology and hydrology
and science around the caves.
To me, it's starting to pose
more questions than I have answers
and I feel like I'm just starting
this journey of discovery.
Right.
On the track into Ewens Ponds, Ken.
It's such a beautiful day.
We're booked in for a quick dive
and I'm gonna meet up with Uncle Ken,
start to really find out
some of the history of this place.
We're at Ewens Ponds, which is near
the end of the water's journey.
It's a collection
of freshwater ponds,
where the water bubbles up through
the sand and flows out to the ocean.
The water filters up
through the limestone
to create
this crystal-clear visibility
that makes perfect conditions
for a dive.
The area itself has been home
to the Buandig people
for tens of thousands of years.
In living history,
First Nations people
have walked alongside the megafauna.
They've witnessed volcanic eruptions
as they shaped the land
and they've passed down the stories
to their descendants,
like local Buandig elder
Uncle Ken and his kids.
- G'day, guys.
- There he is.
How are you?
It is good to catch up.
Are you well?
Yeah.
Hey, you've brought
my two favourite blokes.
Lincoln, how are you?
Flynn, how are you?
G'day, Harry.
Good to see you.
Yeah.
I'd like to welcome you properly
to our Buandig country.
So, what I said there is g'day
in our Buandig language.
And when we talk about our country,
reeds and rushes,
it's really about cherish and enjoy
our country
because that's what it's here for.
We care for it
and we love our country.
Beautiful. Thank you, Ken.
Thank you.
Have you guys all been here before?
Yep.
Yep? Have you been for a swim here?
Nope.
Not yet.
I hope you've brought your wetsuit.
We often talk about
people, the reeds and rushes,
and where we are standing here now,
we're sort of looking into
this ancient landscape
that's been here
for as long as I can remember.
We're so close to the water here.
We've got reflections,
we've got sounds, we've got birds.
This particular area here
of Ewens Ponds,
it's just a whole kaleidoscope
of beautiful, fantastic life
and we just love it.
Ken and I stopped at the Blue Lake
on the way down
and, of course, we know
the geological history of that site
but, I mean, it must make you feel
incredibly proud of your heritage
to know that your direct ancestors
were not only there
to witness these volcanic eruptions
but also before that
to see the megafauna
parading around this place.
You're right.
To have these stories
about the sea-level rise
or about the eruptions
of volcanoes...
Apparently, it was very, very scary
for our Buandig people.
They talked about that
for centuries.
As we understand it
through our storytelling,
the bunyip bird, or the bittern...
warned them
that something was about to happen.
Sure as eggs, whoosh, up she went.
It blew the whole Blue Lake open.
So that was about 5,000 years ago
and that's certainly within
our time span of storytelling.
Look at the grebe.
Very nice place.
The water looks very cold.
So clear.
We are very fortunate
to still have those stories
and we keep telling these stories
to our children, our grandchildren.
We keep the dream alive
because it's special.
I first came down here as a kid
and in our family, we were told,
"Don't you go into that black hole."
You know, "The bunyip will get you."
We were scared bejesus
about going in here. No way.
According to Buandig culture,
the bunyip inhabited the swamps,
rivers and waterholes
and they would prey
on unsuspecting people,
women and children,
from the water's edge.
The bunyip saw a hunter and his wife
on the bank,
so he went up and took her
while the hunter was away
and when the hunter came back
looking for his wife,
she screamed, "I'm over here!"
And the bunyip ran and the hunter
chased him with sticks and stones
till he wounded him
and he retreated all the way
into the reeds and the rushes
at the end of the creek
and the hunter left him there
so he wouldn't come back.
I think you've got your own idea
about what that bunyip
might have been, haven't you?
Yeah.
I read in a book once
the bunyip was inspired by
the megafauna,
particularly the diprotodon,
because the diprotodon,
even though being distantly related
to the wombat,
looked a lot like
a giant, big, like, wombat
the size of a horse...
Mmm.
..or like a stallion.
And it would be nearly invisible
at night-time.
Coupled with the bittern's calls,
it would sound very ferocious.
You know, it's wonderful to hear
this young scientist
who's kind of putting
all the cultures together
and re-interpreting...
Yeah. Yeah.
..to make it all kind of accessible
to all of us, I think.
Yeah. Yeah.
Seeing these kids reminds me
how the passion first began for me...
that curiosity and love
for the natural world.
I kind of am greatly troubled
or worried
about what might happen
to these places
because of the impact
of contemporary man,
so I want to kind of understand
what it means to you
and what's at risk, what's at stake.
In recent times, we're aware now
that some of our vegetation here
is not as good as it was
when we were kids.
It is of concern to our mob,
our people and our children
and our grandchildren.
We'd like to think that this will be
unchanged in their lifetime
as well as ours.
It's our duty of care.
As custodians and carers
of this country,
we'd like to think
that it's nicely looked after.
Ever since I was young,
diving in this place,
I've dreamt of being able to share
the incredible things I saw
in these underwater worlds
with others,
but it's turned into something
more than that -
a deeper connection
and a desire to keep learning
how we can better understand
and preserve it.
For me, this place is just a place
where I come and literally
immerse myself in these waters
and kind of soak
in this pristine environment.
I just love being here
on the water's edge.
The light off the water, the reeds,
the birds,
it's just serenity.
This same water was underground
just metres away
and now it's at the surface.
These ponds feel sort of hidden away
in the bush
and it can seem almost as if there's
not a lot to see from the surface.
But it's a very different picture
underwater.
When I talk about
these underwater worlds,
this place feels
particularly magical.
A current pulls you gently
between the connected ponds.
Each are full of colour and life,
fish and other critters,
as well as the amazing
aquatic plants,
so it's a very different perspective
to cave diving
and much more accessible to divers
without cave expertise.
These pockets of the natural world
in a transformed landscape
feel like a rare treasure
and something to hold onto.
I want anyone
that sees the natural world
and all its history
and mysterious wonder
to see that it comes with
a responsibility to protect it.
As divers, we leave a cave
with a clearer path
for those who follow behind us.
To explore is to leave a legacy
for those who come after.
At my feet, these bubbling springs
on the beach here
is where the water is emerging
after its journey from 200km
to the north up around Bordertown.
It's gone all the way through
the limestone, under the ground
and it comes out at this place
on the beach
at the southern end
of the Limestone Coast.
This water has travelled
for 400 years from north to south
and now it's kind of escaping.
It's bubbling up through this sand
and now it's... maybe it's just
at the start of its journey.
It's going out to sea
and it'll dissipate out there
and become
part of the bigger ecosystem.
It's been great travelling
with my old mate Ken.
What's really gratifying is seeing
the next generation of curious minds,
the next generation of explorers.
These lads, they are so curious
and so passionate already
at their young age.
I've learned about the diprotodon.
It's probably the real bunyip.
The Limestone Coast
of South Australia,
with its unique geological story,
is a place full of adventure
and hidden beauty
but many don't think
of the rich aquatic worlds
hidden beneath our feet
or of the impact that we can have
on that underground aquifer.
I want to share the beauty
of this part of the world.
It's in my backyard
and hopefully you can take away
the shared vision
of what this beautiful country
means to me
and what we should all be
so proud of.
Captioned by AI-Media
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