JENOLAN CAVES

Visited the Jenolan Caves on Tuesday. It is just under 3 hours drive from Sydney - probably longer if I was driving! We went over the Blue Mountains where I did not see any signs of the dreadful fires which hit the area a few months ago.  Then it was over the Great Dividing Range and down a very winding road to  the caves. They reckon the caves are 340 million years old - the oldest in the world. They are quite spectacular and well worth the drive. The caves are formed by underground rivers eroding the rock.  The Aborigines have used the caves for thousands of years and thought that a huge snake lived there. You can see what looks like a giant snake or eel coiled round the roof.  Then the first settlers used to shelter in the Grand Arch which is a huge cavern and the entrance to the caves, unaware of what lay beneath them. We saw stalactites,  stalagmites and helictites and strange shapes called speleothems or cave forms. Leo can look them up and learn about them. He will be amazed. The caves are also full of fossils and skeletal remains.  We had to bend down almost double in some places to get through the passages and there were loads of steps to climb!  The guide switched off the lights at one point at it was really scary.  Imagine crawling around with just a candle! The under water river forms  a lake outside the caves.  It is bright blue because of the light refracting on the limestone deposits.  I was delighted to see a platypus swimming in the lake- in the wild and not in the aquarium - a magic moment!  We walked round the lake but it was very hot , 41c, so we didn't go too far.  On the way home I saw a baby kangaroo or it may have been a wallaby in the lay-by at the side of the road.  I think it must have been lost because they are nocturnal and it looked a bit bewildered.

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