We slept in this morning. Chiropractic adjustments always assist in a better sleep. When we opened our eyes we were amazed to see it was already 9:30am.

The temperature is 21 degrees and slightly humid as we had a shower of rain overnight and the clouds are still around. It is expected to reach 26 degrees before cooling down again. The swimming pool next door to the caravan park opened yesterday, and although I thought it too cold for swimming, it was amazing to hear the sounds of all the kids who disagreed.

We left Moora at 10:44 to return to Jingemia Cave and do the walk there. We passed one stumpy on the road and were very lucky to find a Golden Silk Orb-Weaver while walking the path at Jingemia.

The Golden Silk Orb-Weavers are noted for the impressive webs they weave. They are widespread in warmer regions throughout the world.

Spiderlings can be carried by the wind over long distances, and each year a small number of females are found in New Zealand where they are not a native species, having been blown across the Tasman Sea.

The spider is named for the yellow colour of the spider silk used in the construction of their webs. The threads shine like gold in the sunlight.

Experimental evidence suggests that the silk’s colour may serve a dual purpose: sunlit webs ensnare bees who are attracted to the bright yellow strands, and the yellow blends into background foliage and acts as camouflage.

Jingemia Cave is a distinctive natural feature in a band of low rocky hills that extend between Carnamah and Moora. The hills are outcroppings of chert and very old rock types that formed between 2.5 billion and 542 million years ago.

Known as Noondine Chert, this geological formation is significant in the region for having unique plants that only grow in association with chert.

The formation also influences an aquifer that supplies groundwater to local towns and is a source of mineral silica.

In 1912, West Australia Government geologist, Harry Woodward, explored the Noondine Hills as part of a state-wide geological survey. In his report he described ‘the striking spectacle’ of a sheer rock face 70 feet hugh, forming an amphitheatre pierced at its base by a large cavern called Jingemia, and Aboriginal name signifying ‘Devil’s Abode’.

Another cave about four and a half miles south, on land belonging to the Benedictines of New Norcia, had been called Devil’s Hole by Bishop Salvado.

Devil’s Hole, Jingemia Cave and the Noondine Hills are a ‘karst’ landform that contains an underground system of fractures and voids. These have formed where water has dissolved the softer rock.

Jingemia Cave was exposed when the roof of one of the voids collapsed.

Harry Woodward also found deposits of guano in Jingemia Cave which were subsequently mined for agricultural use.

The Jingemia Cave also has its own wattle, Acacia Aristulata.

On the way back to Moora, our shortest excursion in a long while at 102 kilometres, we passed by two farms on opposite sides of the road with diametrically opposed names: Happy Valley and Heartbreak Ridge.