Highlights

The Bunabie Blowhole is a bucket list attraction located along the Nullarbor, near the Nullarbor Roadhouse in outback South Australia.

Located in Western Australia, Caiguna is the second stop east of Norsemen on the journey across the Nullarbor Plain. ‘Caiguna’ is believed to have derived from an Aboriginal word that means ‘spear track’, pertaining to the speargrass abundant in the area. The townsite was established in 1962 to assist traffic in the Nullarbor plain to make way for the Commonwealth Games.

Aussie travellers, ranging from grey nomads to committed spelunkers keep coming back to this small town because of the Caiguna Blowhole, which is located 5 kilometres west of Caiguna and 10 metres on the Eyre Highway. You can easily spot the Caiguna Blowhole since there’s a visible sign pointing to the area, so don’t miss this oddly interesting road stop.

When caves ‘breathe’, air pressure falls and rises. The periodic reversal of air flow is caused by the pressure equalisation between the underground cavities and the air pressure above the ground, while the speed of breathing is related to the volume of air contained in the cave, as well as the cross-sectional area of a cave’s entrance.

The Caiguna blowhole, just like Nullarbor caves, breathe more vigorously than all the other caves in Australia – in fact, air movement at the cave entrance has been measured to be around 72 kilometres per hour. As you get closer to the blowhole, you can feel the earth breathing through the air currents, which, according to Aboriginal legends, were believed to be the breath of spirits. You will also see that the Caiguna blowhole is connected to a tiny cave that has roughly 1.5 metres clearance. These blowholes on the Nullarbor have been formed by both chemical and physical weathering processes through underground cavities.

Source: "Climb the Blowholes of Caiguna", Dec 10, 2015: Nullarbor Roadhouse website

Activities

• Sight-seeing
• Photography

Facilities

No facilities at the cave. Visit the Nullarbor Roadhouse for the most up to date information before you visit the blowhole.