Lap Around Australia Cutta Cutta Caves

Cutta Cutta Caves

Having driven along the highway between Mataranka and Katherine several times before now, we'd seen the signs for Cutta Cutta Caves, but never had the time to stop and have a look.
This time we did. We arrived just on 10am and saw the guided tour departing into the distance as we arrived. The tours are run on the hour every hour and it is the only safe way to see the caves.

We parted with the $23/head (no concessions) and awaited our tour while people straggled into the ranger station and also paid their money. Leigh (the guide who took our tour group through the caves) was a born and bred Northern Territorian. A bit rough around the edges, but when she warmed up had a cheeky sense of humour and obviously knew her stuff. Initially she delivered her spiel in a very robotic, rehearsed manner....but when she'd settled into her groove was able to answer random questions knowledgably.

The limestone Karst caves were somewhat similar to the Cammoo Caves in Rockhampton that I'd explored as a kid. There were all the rock formations such as stalactites, stalagmites, columns, flows etc that you'd expect and these were well presented and lit by internal lighting as we went through. Most of the walkways were easy to access, but there were a couple of sections that required you to duck and weave and even squeeze through sections of stalactites and stalagmites.

We saw some snakes up high on the rock ledges. The guide didn't seem to concerned about them dropping down and biting anyone. We didn't see any of the resident ghost bats however as being a warmish day they'd retreated further into the cave to an area inaccessible to tourists.
Whilst John and I enjoyed the tour. If you've already seen this type of cave before it didn't really offer anything new.