Chelsea Stokes Task 1

Autobiographical writing by Chelsea Stokes (The Caves & Chelsea just didn't mix)

I could hear the dry soil crunch beneath my feet, I could see the mounts of rust on the old and tiny door, I could hear the birds tweeting high above the treetops, as I guided myself inside the cave I could feel the damp ancient rocks on my fingertips, and I could smell the fear coming from my own breathe...I could feel the terror building up inside of me...like a construction site hammering and building bigger and bigger, it was unbearable; I knew I was claustrophobic but had a determined mind to conquer this Dreadful phobia.

As I entered the cave, it was whole different scenery; the area around me was now limited, no turning back. It was pitch black in there except for the occasional line of sunlight peeping through a crack. It really was an amazing thing to see because the light shone as you would see the rays of sunlight reaching down in the ocean water. Everyone also had their torches that all shone in different places at once it looked pretty awesome. Our extremely enthusiastic leader wanted to try something new so she gave us all a coloured glow stick that connected like a bracelet around your wrist. My glow stick was a violet purple; at one stage it was so dark that all you could see were all the different coloured bracelets crawling in the cave. 

Then we came to a spot in the cave were the roof was only 30cm of the ground, I’m claustrophobic so this was terrifying for me...The fear built up again, this time as quick as a flash, it hit me so fast. All I have to do is tuck my head down along with the rest of my body, crawl through and then we are in bigger space again it was that easy! I also had a big, white, bulky safety had on my head so the space felt incredibly smaller. Eventually I realised it’s only going to take 3 seconds and then I’ve finished part one so I just ducked my head then the rest of my body, slided through as fast as possible and then as soon as I was out from under it I sprung straight back up just like an elastic band.

We had just been told we had finished section one and now it was time for section 2 but firstly we took a little break to breathe some fresh air because it was sticking hot in the cave as there was no cool air coming in. As I was breathing the new clean air before my next rush of fear I noticed my hands knees were black from the dirty mud I was crawling on, “I call dibs on the first shower!” I stated to my roommates. One of the weirdest things was that we were under rocks and sand and we hadn’t seen any creatures yet...

As we started crawling again the roof was less than a metre of the ground but for some weird reason I wasn’t scared. Then SUDDENLY something very minuscule leaped right in front of me. At the time I had a heart attack because I was not expecting anything at all. But quick as a flash, my flashlight shone on the little creature, once I saw it I was stunned by what was before my eyes. It was a pale green colour, it had 4 incy little legs, the whole thing was about the size of my fingernail and it was as cute as a button. I hadn’t seen many of these in real life before! It was a miniature Frog.

A frog in a cave, yes it does sound a bit funny. A couple of minutes later we stopped somewhere in the cave were I found another creature. This one was much larger, Much Darker Green, longer legs and higher at jumping. It was another Frog quadruple the size of the other one, but it leaped away before anyone else got to see it.

My experience of this cave was amazing and I’d like to do it again sometime. In the end my determined mind set on a goal and I managed to achieve it. Caving is still quite frightening but I still love doing it for the experience and fun I get out of it.

Written by Chelsea Stokes