Jenolyn Caves – 20 % off coupon
Blue Mountain World Heritage Area.
Kanagra – Boyd National Park.
Anybody who reads this and visits Jenolyn Caves can get a 20% discount as a friend referral.
Quote: STMG. If you want to book ahead call 1300 76 3311
This will give you a 20% discount on entry.
YHA members only receive a 10% discount.
Another tip. If you plan to complete more than one tour do a short tour first. Once you have completed the first tour Jenolyn Caves gives a 50% discount on all subsequent tours taken for 12 months.
Overnight it continued to rain – sometimes heavy other times just a light shower. Fog obscured the trees but obliterated the mountains. Fortunately Jenolyn Caves was a short drive north.
Cresting a rise a highway sign warned of a narrow road. Caravans and buses were not recommended. I had seen this sign many times. Most of the time a caravan could have made the trip without a problem and often log trucks made the drive more interesting. Something was different today. A sign restricting speed to 40 km/hr. The road narrowed to 1 ½ lanes. Sharp hairpin corners required using the full road to make the turn – leaving almost no room to spare. I quickly dropped into a limestone gorge.
At the bottom, a small community – Jenolyn Caves – filled the space. A historic resort. A stone lodge built in the 1800’s. Renovations and additions over the first century extended the original building. Today it is a four star resort with restaurant, café, and gift shop. On the hillside a variety of other accommodation is available.
Jenolyn Caves have a claim to fame – the oldest caves on Earth. Problem is I was at Cradle of Mankind in South Africa earlier this year. They also claimed to be the oldest cave system.
Just down from the resort is the Grand Archway. A natural tunnel through the limestone. The only place where a major highway passes through such a large, natural tunnel. The Grand Archway is also the natural entrance to many of the caves.
Over the years I had heard about the caves. I still was not prepared for what I found. It was not one cave tour but 11 tours being offered. How do I choose? I was only going to be there one day I decided to take one of the longer tours – also more expensive. I ventured deep underground on the River Tour. As the name suggests part of the tour follows a river. As far as the cave goes it was one of the later caves to be explored. The river flowed into a Reflection Pool. There was no ledge to get around. Eventually enough supplies were available to construct crude raft. The barrels were lashed together with rope. The brave explorer ventured onto the water. Halfway across the lake the raft split. The captain was swimming among the pieces. The ships engineer ashore laughing. During another visit a better raft was built, allowing more of the cave to be explored. Relics of the early spelunkers apparent throughout the caves. Rusted and broken ladders remained in some of the crawlways. Sooty stains on the cave walls. A chiseled engraving at the deepest point “J.C. Wilbur and J.C. Edwards 11/9/1905.” Somebody had been here 102 years ago.
After finishing the tour I couldn’t resist staying longer. The Temple of Baal tour was starting in a few minutes. I signed up. I had heard that it was one of the more spectacular tours. I expected another walk through long limestone corridors. Originally the Temple of Baal tour was an all day adventure. It was deep in the mountain through several other chambers. Last century somebody developed a plan – open a new entry to the caves. Engineers skilled in blasting granite were employed to create the tunnel. The first charge was set and ignited. The mountain rocked and limestone flew from the mountainside. Windows were knocked out of the buildings on the other side of the valley. The engineers skilled in blasting granite had not taken into account the softer limestone substrate. Using dynamite in quantities for granite created an explosion they had not expected.
It had been a long day of spelunking. Wilber and Edwards were exhausted. They were ready to turn around when one of them decided to look around a massive rock. “You have to see this. Do you have a flare?” Early exploration was done by candle light. Only small portions of the cave could be seen by candlelight. When they needed more light a magnesium flare was burned. Magnesium burns with a brilliant but short lived burst of light. After a flare was burned the spelunkers were blinded for as long as twenty minutes while their eyes readjusted to the darkness of a candle. Burning the flare, an enormous chamber was briefly illuminated. A 20 meter tall shawl – the angel Gabriel; two alters – the alter of Baal and the alter to God. A chamber, perhaps the most impressive they had been in, had just been discovered.
Wilbur (it may have been Edwards) had a death sentence. He had been diagnosed with tuberculosis. Doctors said he had just months to live. He left the city for the mountains to enjoy his last few days alive. His destination was Jenolyn Caves. He soon started exploring the caves. His health improved. He was later named the first ranger at the caves. For more than 30 years he explored and led tours through the caves. He had been a very simple man – poorly educated – but with a keen intellect. He was fond of Bible stories. Many of the caves he explored reminded him of tales from the Bible. In the River Cave there was the chamber of Queen Ester. The Temple of Baal chamber reminded him of the story in 1 Kings of the two alters on Mount Carmel – one to Baal the other to God. Dissent separated the Israelites. A growing number had lost faith in the God who brought them out of Egypt and were worshiping the gods of their neighbors. The prophet Elijah had come to King Ahab with a message. It is time to set the record straight about the true god. Two alters are on the mountain. One to the people’s gods, the other to the God. Let us establish a test. We will prepare a sacrifice and place it on the alter. When the gods are called upon only will be blessed. The true god would be the god which when called upon smote the alter with fire from heaven. The people called upon their gods all day long – nothing happened. They danced about the alter, called to their god, smote themselves – still nothing. As evening approached Elijah had the poorly cared for alter of God cleared and rebuilt. After the exhausting day, the people stood in silence as Elijah called upon God. Immediately fire from heaven struck the alter consuming the sacrifice – a bullock. The true God has spoken with fire to the nation of Israel reminding them to whom they should worship.
It was early evening when I left the Temple of Baal. I decided to return to Kanagra-Boyd National Park for the evening, this time to sleep in the Dancing Floor Cave – a shelter from the continuing rain.
Waterfalls poured over the caves lip all night. Rain was still falling in the morning as I left. I returned to Jenolyn Cave. I was hoping to visit Ribbon Cave. Ribbon Cave is perhaps the most intimate of the cave tours. The formations are small and can be viewed closely – a photographers dream. Unfortunately it was Friday and the next Ribbon Cave tour was on Sunday.
Instead I took the self-guided walking tour of Nettle Cave. Nettle Cave was one of the first caves explored and for many years one of the world’s most famous. Nettle Cave is not subterranean. Instead it is lit by natural light. Some of the first photographic plates of columns, stalagmites and stalactites came from Nettle Cave. Without the advent of photographic flash photography it had been impossible to take photographs in subterranean caves. Nettle Cave changed this. The other caves were spectacular but Nettle Cave has the most unique feature – the Craybacks. Smooth green structures formed like the back of a crayfish decorated one of he balconies. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that the structures were identified. Stromatolites. I had visited other stromatolite sites but they have always been underwater – in high saline environments. The Nettle Cave stromatolites are very different. They are growing in the atmosphere in the moist, but freshwater, atmosphere of the cave.
The highlight of my Jenolyn Cave visit – a shower. There is a shower at the upper parking lot. It is there for the spelunkers who arrive on the weekends to explore the undeveloped caves and those who take the Adventure Tours then find themselves slipping into a particularly muddy hole.
By early afternoon I was satisfied with my visit to Jenolyn Caves. I headed north to Lithgow. As I entered town there were police lights flashing. An officer standing in the road waving cars to the shoulder. I was one of the randomly selected passersby. The breathalyzer. Australians must start their weekend celebrations early.
By evening I was entering Gardens of Stone National Park. A small sign caught my attention. I turned around to make sure. Mt. Arlie – you are welcome to camp here. Please take your rubbish with you. I moved in.
