Ngilgi Cave

Margaret River to Busselton, Day 3, Wednesday 29 November 1979. I had breakfast in the old dining room again. Then I got ready and set off. This was to be a long day but I had the new bike and felt able to do more. I was intending to go back to Busselton but had decided to explore a bit further south and get off the main road when heading north again, using minor roads to see a bit more of the country.

I set off down Wallcliffe Road, turned left into Station Street, rode past the old train station and turned left into Clarke Street, then right into Boodjidup Road. This goes down at an angle until it joins Caves Road.  … Read more

Margaret River to Busselton, day 5, Friday 1 December 1978.   The day was cloudy and windy with westerly winds and showers. I felt a bit depressed – I didn’t see any spooks or anything, but that old hotel had a bad feeling about it, or so it seemed at the time. I had a full breakfast in the old dining room, got packed up and paid. I queried the cost of breakfast, for which they charged you for each bite, almost. The hotel was run by the Auto Motels chain in those days.

I got going at mid-morning. I was intending to go back to Busselton eventually but in the blithe unworried way I still had in those days I thought it would be fun to take a detour through Yallingup and see the Yallingup cave (now called the Ngilgi cave), perhaps swim at the famous beach.  ... Read more

Ngilgi Cave, previously known as Yallingup Cave, is a Karst cave to the north east of Yallingup, in the south west of Western Australia. It was discovered by Edward Dawson in 1899 when searching for stray horses. It was originally named Yallingup Cave for the nearby town of Yallingup but later renamed to acknowledge the cave’s part in Australian Aboriginal mythology. Ngilgi (pronounced Neelgee) was a good spirit who triumphed in battle against an evil spirit Wolgine.