Ambient surroundings have always been important to René. The Dutch call it ‘gezelligheid’. It’s the stuff that makes you feel warm and fuzzy when you walk into someone’s home. You create it with light, sound, furnishings and even smell.

When building The Crystal Caves, Rene incorporated carpet, warm lighting and soft colours. Since then, the serene self-guided tour has been enhanced with the babbling crystal brook and theme music composed by an Australian band.

Kallidad, known for their trademark ‘Day of the Dead’ facepaint, flamenco guitars and mariachi style music was commissioned to write music for The Crystal Caves in 2018.

René’s daughter and manager of The Crystal Caves, Ghis had been a fan of Kallidad for many years and when band member, Jason visited the attraction, a slightly starstruck Ghis invited Jason to create a piece of music just for the caves.

Ghis met the rest of the 3-piece band campside, at Wallaby Creek Festival, and the idea took shape. While Kallidad is renowned for upbeat and highly energetic music, they embraced the challenge of creating a peaceful and inspiring 20-minute piece that didn’t lose the Spanish influence, but also incorporated a strong Australian cultural feel. The band beautifully blended a didgeridoo and some birdsong into the piece.

A second song with a strong rumbling steel drum underpins the fluorescent spheres display.

Hear the whole song crystal caves theme song here: Journey