28th Oct

Tuesday 28^th Jenolan Caves

Early start (about 0730) we joined the morning peak hour traffic out of Sydney enroute to Jenolan Caves by way of the Blue Mountains and pleased we weren’t towing the caravan. Fortunately as we passed by major suburbs traffic density started to reduce allowing our travelling speed to increase gradually up to the signed limits. It is only about 180 kls to Jenolan Caves but with heavy traffic and extensive roadworks on the moutains it seemed to take a long time to get there. Mind you the road from the highway down into the caves locality isn’t conducive to high speed travel, in fact several sections are only one way, so sensible driving is necessary.

We booked on two guided tours both 1½ hours each the second starting ½ hr after the first one’s finishing time allowing time to grab some lunch.

Lucas Cave was the first one we toured it is 860m long and you negotiate 910 steps doesn’t sound much if you say it quickly, ask Nancy about them. As the brochure says. “An awe inspiring cave containing the highest and largest chambers. One large chamber is called the Cathedral where weddings have taken place and operas have been held. Nancy particularly wanted to do this cave as her eldest sister Betty also sang in it many years ago.

Being a largish group we were a little slow going through the Lucas cave and when we eventually emerged there wasn’t enough time to grab lunch before our next tour started, which really didn’t worry us at that stage.

Orient Cave was our next tour another 1.5 hrs, the length of this cave is 470m and better still only 358 steps (I’m sure Nancy was counting them). According to the glossy, the ‘Orient’ is one of the world’s most beautiful caves. ‘A dazzling visual impact which is just overwhelming – rich crystal decorations beautifully illuminated by the latest technology lighting.’

It is all it is cracked up to be and we all were in awe of its natural beauty. At each observation point in the cave the guide would turn on individual spotlights to emphasise a particular highlight, he would then talk about it and then repeat the process with other highlights eventually turning them all on together. It was all quite breath taking and we were so pleased we had toured the other cave first and had unknowingly left the best to last.

Emerging from this tour once again we were well behind schedule and discovered the lunchtime hot food was off so we settled for tea and coffee and decide to get a meal on the way back through the Blue Mountains at one of the numerous little cafes that dot the region.

Nancy decide she wanted a wood fired Pizza - we diverted off the highway so many times into villages sure we would find something but to no avail. Would you believe it once the main tourist run is over the places close down. So we continued on home and had a light meal in the caravan. – Another fabulous and rewarding day.