Australia 2008 – Jenolan Caves
It was suggested we visit the Jenolan Caves by an attendant at Echo Point, so we did. The entrance to the parking and hotel is through the cave above. I can’t say I have ever driven through a natural cave. A bit narrow, but high enough for a bus to get through.
The cave system is varied. Some, like the one above, are huge caverns with multiple trails up the sides and routes through the rock to get to different vantage points. You can see the walking path at the bottom to get an idea of the scale.
The photo above is a bit surreal and I couldn’t help but include it. Take a close look at the stairs visible at both the top and bottom of the photograph. Yes, they are part of the same path.
To access the smaller caves we purchased a guided tour. They are very sterilized, like the Waitomo caves in New Zealand, with good lighting, railings, and cement stairs to provide the utmost security and spelunking safety. They even went so far as to carve a tunnel straight through the mountain to access the cave so no one was inconvenienced too much by walking over the hill.
To be fair, the tour took us down into some spectacular caves with cool mineral formations
We liked it so much went back to the Jenolan Caves the next day to do our self-guided tour that was included with our tour purchase. If we had more time we would have tried some of there more adventurous (helmet required) tours.
Even outside the caves there is stuff to see.