cybergibbons
April 15th, 2006, 11:04
This place has almost been done to death at night, so we decided to go in the day.
We'd made an aborted attempt about a year ago - access was only by boat, and no one had left a boat lying around.
So we went back yesterday. The place is as amazing as everyone says, but I was surprised by the amount of details we found that hasn't been mentioned in other posts (though Paulo999, on the same day we went, picked up on some of them).
On our previous visit we had explored the building on the pontoon, so we skipped that this time round.
Despite the fact it was the daytime, there were very few people around. A tractor was working in the grounds, but because of the loud diesel engine, we got plenty of opportunity to get out of the way.
I decided to handhold the camera at high ISO so that I didn't hold up the other non-photographers on the trip - I know how annoying that is. I'm not going to put all the photos here, only ones I can make comments on that haven't really been said before. Look at the whole set of 60 on flickr instead (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cybergibbons/sets/72057594107271287/).
Well, the main event, the dome:
http://static.flickr.com/49/128626184_5a783be794_b.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/56/128626586_e3e1b93580_b.jpg
I was surprised at how thick the glass was - other posts had made me believe it was almost normal window glass.
http://static.flickr.com/52/128619311_d1405cea3f_b.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/51/128627539_a319c84045_b.jpg
You can't actually see the dome or tunnel under the water in the daytime. It would be lovely sitting on the island with a barbecue, some beers and floodlights in the dome.
http://static.flickr.com/53/128625758_ff71cb8023.jpg
No one had really mentioned this valve or chamber before. It's a very big gate valve, with a pressure guage reading up to 140psi on it. The spindle is lubricated, and some of the bolts covered in blue paint, which is generally tamper proofing for potable water. The chamber contains other pipes. Unfortunately, I couldn't squeeze in the gap around the valve, and we couldn't get the manhole cover up. It didn't look like it lead anywhere, there was just a small wet sump in the floor.
We also noticed the breaker box and sockets in the entrance to the ballroom, but there is no power to them (the test button on the ELCB didn't operate). A shame, as bringing several large but lightweight floods would make the nighttime dome shot a lot better.
http://static.flickr.com/44/128628476_3dcb4736d5.jpg
This strange little building contained a small pool of water, and appeared to fill from somewhere and then drain into the lake. The stonework on it is very nice.
http://static.flickr.com/52/128628748_b31a171a77.jpg
Open, untouched, and less than three hours later other explorers would come here. This is in the normal boathouse.
http://static.flickr.com/55/128628859_5b146bcafe.jpg
Underneath this boathouse is a boat and these gates.
We walked the rest of the perimeter of the lake. We found a large bore blue plastic pipe leading to a small shed with a pump. It appears to be a way of both adding and removing water from the lake.
Next was the underground boathouse. I know the underwater dome is spectacular, but I can understand why. The boathouse is really, really strange.
http://static.flickr.com/47/128630874_08499e54bd.jpg
We cleared the top of the lightwell so that it served it's purpose. It works really quite well, you don't need a torch until you reach the stairs in the spiral. The person who build these places loved using natural light, even 40 foot underground.
http://static.flickr.com/52/128629369_294976a4d4.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/52/128629583_c7d022ba6a.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/53/128629204_51924db052.jpg
The main chamber of the boathouse had small alcoves. In one of them, someone had started trying to dig into the ground, which was exposed. Were there plans to expand the place?
Another strange thing were these white dead fish - they were spread over the floor of the boathouse, and were almost calcified.
I don't know if anyone else had noticed, but where the steps end and you are at the entrance to the other low chamber, if you look up, there is a small arch on the roof which leads back the way you came. I don't know if it was just a remnant of the construction method, but if anyone has a collapsing ladder, it might be worth looking at.
http://static.flickr.com/56/128624204_8992dc43c0.jpg
As the spiral descends into the ground, it intersects this tree trunk. How has this happened? Surely a tree wouldn't grow like that? You wouldn't just cut it in half and then build the spiral either (and if they had, I would have expected it to rot). Really strange.
Anyway, the full set of photos is on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cybergibbons/sets/72057594107271287/).
I have to say I think I enjoyed this place better by day than night.
We'd made an aborted attempt about a year ago - access was only by boat, and no one had left a boat lying around.
So we went back yesterday. The place is as amazing as everyone says, but I was surprised by the amount of details we found that hasn't been mentioned in other posts (though Paulo999, on the same day we went, picked up on some of them).
On our previous visit we had explored the building on the pontoon, so we skipped that this time round.
Despite the fact it was the daytime, there were very few people around. A tractor was working in the grounds, but because of the loud diesel engine, we got plenty of opportunity to get out of the way.
I decided to handhold the camera at high ISO so that I didn't hold up the other non-photographers on the trip - I know how annoying that is. I'm not going to put all the photos here, only ones I can make comments on that haven't really been said before. Look at the whole set of 60 on flickr instead (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cybergibbons/sets/72057594107271287/).
Well, the main event, the dome:
http://static.flickr.com/49/128626184_5a783be794_b.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/56/128626586_e3e1b93580_b.jpg
I was surprised at how thick the glass was - other posts had made me believe it was almost normal window glass.
http://static.flickr.com/52/128619311_d1405cea3f_b.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/51/128627539_a319c84045_b.jpg
You can't actually see the dome or tunnel under the water in the daytime. It would be lovely sitting on the island with a barbecue, some beers and floodlights in the dome.
http://static.flickr.com/53/128625758_ff71cb8023.jpg
No one had really mentioned this valve or chamber before. It's a very big gate valve, with a pressure guage reading up to 140psi on it. The spindle is lubricated, and some of the bolts covered in blue paint, which is generally tamper proofing for potable water. The chamber contains other pipes. Unfortunately, I couldn't squeeze in the gap around the valve, and we couldn't get the manhole cover up. It didn't look like it lead anywhere, there was just a small wet sump in the floor.
We also noticed the breaker box and sockets in the entrance to the ballroom, but there is no power to them (the test button on the ELCB didn't operate). A shame, as bringing several large but lightweight floods would make the nighttime dome shot a lot better.
http://static.flickr.com/44/128628476_3dcb4736d5.jpg
This strange little building contained a small pool of water, and appeared to fill from somewhere and then drain into the lake. The stonework on it is very nice.
http://static.flickr.com/52/128628748_b31a171a77.jpg
Open, untouched, and less than three hours later other explorers would come here. This is in the normal boathouse.
http://static.flickr.com/55/128628859_5b146bcafe.jpg
Underneath this boathouse is a boat and these gates.
We walked the rest of the perimeter of the lake. We found a large bore blue plastic pipe leading to a small shed with a pump. It appears to be a way of both adding and removing water from the lake.
Next was the underground boathouse. I know the underwater dome is spectacular, but I can understand why. The boathouse is really, really strange.
http://static.flickr.com/47/128630874_08499e54bd.jpg
We cleared the top of the lightwell so that it served it's purpose. It works really quite well, you don't need a torch until you reach the stairs in the spiral. The person who build these places loved using natural light, even 40 foot underground.
http://static.flickr.com/52/128629369_294976a4d4.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/52/128629583_c7d022ba6a.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/53/128629204_51924db052.jpg
The main chamber of the boathouse had small alcoves. In one of them, someone had started trying to dig into the ground, which was exposed. Were there plans to expand the place?
Another strange thing were these white dead fish - they were spread over the floor of the boathouse, and were almost calcified.
I don't know if anyone else had noticed, but where the steps end and you are at the entrance to the other low chamber, if you look up, there is a small arch on the roof which leads back the way you came. I don't know if it was just a remnant of the construction method, but if anyone has a collapsing ladder, it might be worth looking at.
http://static.flickr.com/56/128624204_8992dc43c0.jpg
As the spiral descends into the ground, it intersects this tree trunk. How has this happened? Surely a tree wouldn't grow like that? You wouldn't just cut it in half and then build the spiral either (and if they had, I would have expected it to rot). Really strange.
Anyway, the full set of photos is on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cybergibbons/sets/72057594107271287/).
I have to say I think I enjoyed this place better by day than night.