The strange storm drain maze hidden underneath Melbourne
Melbourne is home to some of the world’s most scenic tourist attractions: Melbourne Cricket Ground, the Royal Botanic Gardens, and the Melbourne Skydeck. Or, if you’re more inclined to tiny passages underground covered in menacing graffiti and spiders, you could travel to see the maze storm drain. It’s been a favourite spot of urban explorers since a group of teens dubbed the Cave Clan dedicated themselves to recreationally trespassing its winding tunnels in 1986.
Underneath Melbourne’s streets, more than 900 miles of underground tunnels routinely entice explorers not to be put off by signs warning of danger and death ahead, and the Maze Drain is no exception. Among the associated risks of venturing into these storm drains are massive fines, flash floods, and snake and spider bites. As one explorer wrote on a blog about the drains, he found one section was totally infested with funnel-web spiders, famous for a neurotoxic venom that can kill a child in 15 minutes.
Still, the intricacies of the tunnel system still attract hundreds of explorers, to the point there are designated spots the Cave Clan labelled that people go out in search of. The easiest to access is the ANZAC Drain, which the Clan discovered on Australian and New Zealand Army Corps Day in 1987. You enter through a river outflow and keep wading through the dark tunnels until you can hear traffic passing overhead.
Other favourite spots include The Chamber, which, while teeming with cockroaches, has become a sort of urban gallery – and, as many of the tunnels are, is covered in graffiti. The Chamber is also where explorers gather annually to celebrate Melbourne’s draining season – and decorate the tunnel with video projectors and fairy lights.
It’s a departure from its normal look, requiring flashlights and headgear to navigate. As Melbourne’s most complicated storm drain system, the Maze Drain has multiple entrances hidden across the city. The ultra-dedicated prefer the more taxing route of wading through the maze half-submerged in the outflow of the River Yarra. It’s likely that particular groups are also the most keen to make it to such spots as the Skull Chamber and the Pit of Death.
“We heard rushing water up ahead, and following it, eventually the passage fell away before us into a pool of foul, black water perhaps some ten feet below,” wrote an urban explorer on the Pit of Death. “Climbing down was easy enough, save for the minor surprise of finding a huntsman spider asleep on one of the rungs.”
The completionist culture that arises not only encourages people to brave the spiders but also to sign their names on a wall in the Maze Drain, just as the Cave Clan did. The unsuspecting tunnels function almost like a second city underneath Melbourne, and while the air is stale and it’s cramped and inhospitable, the walls are brimming with humour and intrigue that almost serves as evidence that completing the Maze can be done. Yes, you might come across a deadly spider, but you’ll also find the assurance that “MURDOCH DID NOT PAINT THESE DRAINS” plastered on the walls – and that’s got to make you feel some kind of comfort.
