World-class sinkholes attract divers to South Australian farms 🕳️ | Wild Rides Ep 4 | ABC Australia
Trevor Ashby's property south of Mount Gambier looks like a typical dairy farm from the roadside, but hidden among the cows is a tiny portal into a world-class dive site.
The hole in the ground is so small that equipment and divers have to be lowered in separately.
But below the humble entrance is a huge, seemingly bottomless chamber.
"We've had people who have dived all around the world and have come to here and they just couldn't believe the size of the room that we've got under our feet here in the middle of a cow paddock," cave diving instructor Gary Barclay said.
The Shaft, as it is known, is the darkest and deepest recorded sinkhole in the region, dropping more than 120 metres.
It was discovered by the owner's grandfather when he was ploughing a paddock and the horse put its hoof through the surface.
A pile of rubble 35 metres down was the family's unsuccessful attempt to fill it.
"We really didn't have a clue how big it was underneath. We had no hope of filling it up," Mr Ashby, a third generation farmer, said.
"It looks like an ant hill down there and we've tipped a thousand tonnes of stone down there."
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Пікірлер: 332
Knew exactly what this was within 1 second of randomly coming across it. Thanks Mr. Ballen!
@20FreeWill
2 жыл бұрын
Me too
@ryanbeck8004
Жыл бұрын
Dude that’s so funny. I started scuba diving a few months ago because of the Mr Ballen videos, and want to eventually cave dive. Idk what’s wrong with me lol
@ari.stoner97
Жыл бұрын
@@ryanbeck8004 Same with me. But of course, i'll be sure to respect my limits as I improve. I seek thrill, not death.
5:02 "Caves don't kill people, it is people that make mistakes in them that causes the problem. When things go wrong, it is knowing how to cope and deal with issues underground that gets you back again."
@freds6187
3 жыл бұрын
Common sense
@RayoBeatz
3 жыл бұрын
just don't go in it and you'll be ok.
@EQOAnostalgia
3 жыл бұрын
I mean people don't die in caves when they stay out of caves... ya... ya know what i mean?
@actuallywill
3 жыл бұрын
@@RayoBeatz yeah, and also lets not worry about space. or exploring or oceans. or leaving our houses.
@donnageorge6506
3 жыл бұрын
@@RayoBeatz my thoughts exactly
Incredible find. Absolutely ... can you imagine finding such a jewel in a farm field?
@yzyz7779
2 жыл бұрын
Im just imagine giant encient jaws waiting divers on there
Fascinating story and beautiful caves. Unfortunately the doctor who delivered both of my children and was a very experienced cave diver died in the SA caves.
@HackersSun
Жыл бұрын
_sigh_ so sad... It's a very very very dangerous unforgiving hobby
@type2unsetdiabeetus33
Жыл бұрын
Deon dreyer or David shaw?
Here from Mr.Ballen.
If you are a fan of the strange, dark and mysterious..
@chrishuie1049
3 жыл бұрын
Then you’ve come to the right place
@Isaiah42069
3 жыл бұрын
@Pantoni's Lair give the like button a bag of candy but dont tell them that every other one is a laxative
@davidortiz3094
2 жыл бұрын
I was just about to mention this
Makes me wonder how many more there are in this planet ..im sure the average person has walked over crazy abyss caves and been none the wiser
The pile of stones they tossed into the hole trying to fill it up....ty for the much needed laugh 👍🏽
Amazing that hole in the pasture hasn't widened or eroded. If you fell into that hole at night it would be all over.
@donnageorge6506
3 жыл бұрын
exactly
@johng9461
3 жыл бұрын
Why would it be over? Too cold?
@icebrg.
3 жыл бұрын
@@johng9461 you wouldn’t be able to see
@andyo3637
3 жыл бұрын
@@johng9461 also its like 300 feet deep and you wouldnt be able to climb back up
@FaridShahidinejad
3 жыл бұрын
@@andyo3637 but you could float overnight and scream and yell and hope that the next morning the cows are like Lassie and figure out a way to get a hold of emergency services.
hahahaha...all those stones dropped in trying to fill it. Gotta give them respect for perseverance. I reckon after the first 10 tonnes of stones I'd be thinking maybe it's not working .
@donnageorge6506
3 жыл бұрын
exactly
@RoarTheMighty
3 жыл бұрын
I believe they were stones discovered while plowing the fields. The hole was most likely just a convenient place to dump them. They might have been curious like the man said, but it's not like they bought the rocks.
@darrellgee1823
2 жыл бұрын
I would've just fenced it off and kept it a secret,he's sitting on a goldmine,water cost money now the gov knows,silly man
Here! After watching MrBallen
Mr. Ballen crew :v
Mrballen
@The_Professor..
3 жыл бұрын
Same
@toadfrommario943
3 жыл бұрын
Yep
@synvaVal
3 жыл бұрын
Ikr
@shrutik9673
3 жыл бұрын
Yassss
@jenniferharwood6604
3 жыл бұрын
Mr Ballen is my favourite channel from overseas.
The water below, and the pillars of the earth. Beautiful.
"This hole has killed 16 people "- Mr.Ballen on KZread. Awesome channel to follow
@tiatokkesdal1745
3 жыл бұрын
🙄
@youngdylan5083
3 жыл бұрын
@@tiatokkesdal1745 🧐
@bicyclingbum1551
2 жыл бұрын
its only killed 4
I live 25 minutes from this sinkhole and it’s awesome. I have to go and dive in it soon again.
@joex3539
3 жыл бұрын
can i get ur insta
@wandarask8444
2 жыл бұрын
Beautiful, I live in Melbourne, honestly I didn't even know we had sink holes. Absolutely amazing Be safe if you do . Xxx
@solitudeguard5688
Жыл бұрын
@@joex3539 bro wtf is wrong with you
Just think, during some past droughts, no one knew there was plenty of water just below them.
I grew up 20km out of Mt Gambier and have never heard of these sinkholes!
I’ve been a diver for a little while now and have always sworn off caves due to claustrophobia but this not this I’ll suffer for absolutely beautiful
I would be terrified that the rest of the land will sink too :/
@donnageorge6506
3 жыл бұрын
me too 😱😱😱
Damn, just knowing you could be walking over one of these wherever you may be is a pretty wild fact.
That would be a truly amazing experience!
It’s great to see grazing dairy cows on the field eating real grass
@hadescollectables7196
3 жыл бұрын
Straya
@TheBootyWrangler
2 ай бұрын
Come to Texas 🤣
That is a ginormous deep dark nope.
Have crawled around in the dry versions of these caves, in the same area, drank the blue water, (yes it's blue even underground even when lit up from a torch) laughing at how amazed everyone is. For us locals it's like, oh yeah, caves. Mount Gambier is built on top of this stuff!
Imagine being first in there and not knowing if something was living and swimming around
@T12J7
3 жыл бұрын
yep. I wouldn't have gone there without a harpoon if I would have been the first one.
@orionthehunter217
3 жыл бұрын
These underground caves are devoid of life, not even fish swim there usually. Drowning is the danger.
That pile of stones... great metaphor for humans vs nature.
@randomrazr
3 жыл бұрын
u could probably fill it in...but it would take ALOT of rocks and dirt
I enjoyed the film well enough. No desire to jump in.
Ok I love this lady narrator but why is she literally the ONLY journalist in Australia?!! I never see or hear anyone but her!
@bobbydee668
3 жыл бұрын
Well her voice is very beautiful and soothing to the ear.
@TheMushroomTrap
3 жыл бұрын
In Australia we have one Reporter at a time and they serve a term of up to seven years! It's really quite fascinating.
@Juiced2528
3 жыл бұрын
She is just a paid actress reading lines we don’t actually exist.
@edtheangler4930
3 жыл бұрын
The rest were killed by poisonous animals
Scary to think that little hole opens to so much!
@orionthehunter217
3 жыл бұрын
That's what she said.
2:49, when I try to describe my friends mom to another friend.
Who else is here from MrBallen?
@areebakram6539
2 жыл бұрын
Me
That’s friggin mad,a sink hole. Love it 😍
3:46… smart man
@MikeyGrande
3 жыл бұрын
King
There was an attempt to install pins with a rope trail to help divers through, or cage close the false domes, but it was rejected. the main argument was that it would become too much of an attraction (no thrill) also that the more that are attracted to a "safety mechanism", some might feel too daring and go into stage 3.
Mr Ballen
freediving in kilsby sinkhole is also really nice
@Skatted
3 жыл бұрын
For the 15 seconds I can hold my breath
I need more of sink hole caves. A lot more.
Mr.Ballen roflmao
@mattthambirajahpt286
3 жыл бұрын
Lol yep!!!
@jimbo9084
3 жыл бұрын
Double Yap
@shrutik9673
3 жыл бұрын
Yass yass
@tiatokkesdal1745
3 жыл бұрын
@@stevegwizzle3560 mr Ballen covers these types of stories. It’s not really anything special. Mr. Ballen isn’t anyone special and his content is getting boring. He definitely ran out of cave diving stories, the stories that majority of his viewers liked him for.
@silentbobthemall3712
3 жыл бұрын
@@tiatokkesdal1745 hes not boring, thats for sure
It kills, mrballen
@IrishCaesar
3 жыл бұрын
Inexperience and lack of training kills. Mrballen is dope tho
@orionthehunter217
3 жыл бұрын
@@IrishCaesar Mrballen has plenty of vids about experienced cave divers that made a bad decision. Nobody is perfect, especially when stressed. Seems like it's tempting fate. You can get away with it for a while, like the Christopher Walken character in Deer Hunter, you can keep pulling that trigger and getting away with it, but one day luck may just run out and something serious might go wrong. Don't pretend it isn't risky, even for the pros.
@IrishCaesar
3 жыл бұрын
@@orionthehunter217 that's a long comment. I think you'd like Dive talk, they're a channel here, very good cave diving content
How did the harvester get down if a driver can't get down with his gear on 🤔
This is just so crazy and fascinating
That visitor book has 16 red crosses in it now
@sokol7215
3 жыл бұрын
What happend ?
@babbayagga4330
3 жыл бұрын
@@sokol7215 16 people have died in the cave
@donnageorge6506
3 жыл бұрын
very sad indeed rip all 😢😢😢
@libertyordeaf
2 жыл бұрын
That's not correct. The four victims in 1973 were the only ones to die in the Allendale Shaft. There have been 14 deaths in all Mount Gambier region caves since 1969. The last fatalities were two divers who died in separate incidents at Tank Cave in 2011.
Anyone else wondering how the old harvester got down there? The only access hole can't even fit a diver and equipment down at the same time!
@orionthehunter217
3 жыл бұрын
It looked broken. Probably it was collapsed so as to fit.
I wonder how many of these are hidden around the word. Has modern technology developed a tool to find these holes?
Loved it .I live in mount Gambier 👍👍👍
There's some places we were not meant to go and imo underwater caves is one of them..I'd like to see the inside of a erupting volcano, but that doesn't mean I should throw myself into it to see.
Access to so much freshwater amazing wish I had the property
Amazing down there under a grass pasture
“Look up and see clouds”, Me: you cannot see clouds while you’re diving in a cave lol
I got lost in a normal above ground cave once, and although it was only about 1 or 2 miles long and no alternate paths, I only had my phone as a flashlight and was running down to about 19% battery. I thought I was closer to the exit than I was, and started to get disoriented and claustrophobic. Eventually I stopped moving, turned off my light and sat down to catch my breath since the air is much less underground. The darkness, the silence and the loneliness is enough to make anyone go mad. I didn’t give up there, and regained my energy to push forward stronger than before. Got to the end of the cave where there was sunlight, by that time I was too exhausted to stand. Never felt so happy and relieved to lie in a ditch that happened to be part of the exit.
@thisjustin7492
3 жыл бұрын
I once dug a hole into a sand dune with a buddy, it ended up caving in on half our bodies I was able to wiggle my way out of that cess pool of sand. I remember pulling myself free and seeing my friend, whom was a larger person submerged and kicking his legs. Took me a good minute to dig enough sand away from him to pull him out. We both survived.
@Vladpryde
2 жыл бұрын
Sigh. You fell into a manhole in Sydney, didn't you?
There's not enough money in the world to get me to go in that tunnel. Luckily there are people who do this for fun and record it.
A world beneath a world.
POV : You came here from Mr Ballen of places you shouldn't go and people who went any way.
@metaphysicalgraffiti
3 жыл бұрын
No. I had to block him to get his annoying videos to stop popping up on my recommendations😂
@SophiaMuusa
3 жыл бұрын
@@metaphysicalgraffiti haha your sense of humor 😂 😂
@Payote88
3 жыл бұрын
@@metaphysicalgraffiti you mean you’re not a fan of the strange dark and mysterious delivered in story format? 🤔
@Crazyoldman84
3 жыл бұрын
@@Payote88 he's to scared I think 🤔
@yuridianaortiz
3 жыл бұрын
@@metaphysicalgraffiti it’s okay not everyone can handle strange dark and mysterious delivered in a story format.
Good Video
Imaging running and slipping Into that hole aww man lol
Glad they find happiness in this but you won’t catch me ever doing that
amazing video, I want to visit in the future. I've only done cavern diving in Yucatan region of Mexico.
It's huge and beautiful. I'm guessing my now it's fully explored?
"caves don't normally kill people" is a poor statement. Even a small injury in a cave is significant if it hinders getting out. Mining caves have lots of false floors, holes, and steep banks. People do fine in caves because they comprehend the dangers, mitigate the risks, and have plans in the event of an emergency.
who'd ave thought cows being mere inches from a sinkhole 🤔😲
Hello ABC Australia, hope all is well! I'm considering doing a video soon about a story involving this same spot. Is there any chance I would be able to have permission to use some of the footage of the divers inside the cave to go along with my story?
“Do your cows know they’re on top of the 8th wonder of the world?”
Imagine the ground giving in and the whole farm falling in 😨 Or, getting lost down there and running out of oxygen 😨 The abyss!! 😳
@ajuuu4733
2 жыл бұрын
This is like classic Claustrophobia looks like
@ajuuu4733
2 жыл бұрын
Don't worry
Devils Den in Florida is nice but this one makes it look like a kiddie pool
Cave diving 🦪 one way down ⬇️
That is super cool.
tnx m8 frum Kanada
Mt Gambier is full if limestone caverns...the Little blue is a cavern full of channels
@kaitlynwatts3223
2 жыл бұрын
True there’s hells hole, tank cave, Gouldens, the pines and the sisters are just a few to mention pretty much the whole limestone coast area is riddled with sinkholes and limestone caves from the dormant volcanoes.
I’m one of the few who didn’t came from “Mr. Ballen”. Can someone please reply the video they are referring to so I can watch it? lol 😂
@signeCS
3 жыл бұрын
The video is called "this hole has killed 16 people" from Mr ballen :)
@peatear42
3 жыл бұрын
@@signeCS thank you
IMAGINE GOING IN THERE AND THERES A CRYSTAL THAT GIVES YOU SUPER POWERS!!! OOOOO YEAHHH
Graham Kilsby looks like an Australian John Oliver.
Amazing.
Dude I couldn't imagine.. Falling in a tiny hole and of course you expect your leg to it, the all the sudden your chest deep, then head deep, then the light disappears and you are literally FREE FALLING with nothing around you and then all the sudden you hit the water and it's pitch black... What the fuck would you think happend you know? I wonder how the body would react
@orionthehunter217
3 жыл бұрын
This happens. Kids fall down wells and hikers disappear down crevices in glaciers. One of the scariest ways to go IMO, especially if you survive the initial fall. Terrifying to contemplate.
Wow it's real I heard about it but never thought it was real
He should start his own Nestle Company
@timbuckthe2nd642
2 жыл бұрын
I can see what you were driving at but you shuda said something like: “don’t let nestle find out about this hole” or something. Valiant effort though
Stunning.... so jealous....
Imagine falling in the hole when you're enjoying the day 😦
why dont they put a camera drone in?
WOW! 😯 incredible!
Facinating
how many cows have fallen in?
World class sinkholes - dangerous holes in the ground
These guys need to watch mr ballen,, they'll probaly be on his show
I find these sinkholes and cenotes etc so enticing. But I know it’s soo dangerous to dive them. I would love to do it though.
@losheroes6076
Жыл бұрын
do it
similar to florida wow lol... i mean i live near devils den which is a hole in the ground near cow pastures... and theres other caves and sinkholes on fl that are similar
I want to know how the farmer who discovered this little pocket got his cow’s frontquarters out of the hole.
I just got my open water and can’t wait to get my 40 m so I can sign for cave diving
@Mayusunshine
3 жыл бұрын
Is Aref your first name or last?
Nice!
Are you from Melbourne, Australia? Do you remember the "Cave Clan" I'll bet a lot of those kids went on to experience amazing stuff like this? Sadly I didn't go any further once I was 18 (Became a dad, moved West, then back east) Lost touch with my explorer side. Wish I didn't lose that, coz I would love to explore those watery caverns. But I had some fun times back in the mid to late 90's, especially with my two Foster Bros.
@Whityfisks
3 жыл бұрын
You became a dad at 18?
crazy!!
Amazing
Mrballen sent me here
who else also first read Stinkhole?
"120" eh "meters" ooohhhhh
If the water not used why not put some fish there 😂
@perampokmeme9491
2 ай бұрын
Geniuses
I wonder how much the property will sell for
Thought it title said Inside a Stink Hole......massive let down.
I just want to know how someone squeezed a harvester through a hole the size of a person.
@zk8738
2 жыл бұрын
There’s other sinkholes around the area that are a lot larger at the top to get into that are also on paddocks, they’re just not as big or as well used
05:32 that must be the evidence that Bruce Pascoe relied on for Dark Emu