Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Caves Part 2


After Day 1 of cave adventuring we stopped along the road to take some photos in the picturesque setting. Every time we leave Sydney I am amazed at how the scenery changes, here in the Blue Mountains it looks like Tuscany.



This is Australia.

And for comparison sake, this one is Tuscany.

Similar, no?

For Day 2 of our cave adventure we vowed to make it to the caves for the 10am River tour since we'd missed it the day before. Along the way as we're driving through the fog (yes, foggy again in Katoomba!) the fog cleared for a few minutes just in time to see 2 kangaroos....BOXING! Yes, I actually saw kangaroos boxing in the wild. I'll just go ahead and mark that one down as a life experience one rarely gets the opportunity to...well to experience.

Moving on.

We got going early and made it there about 9:40am and while I was waiting in the ticket office for Dom to park the car (like the retard that I am I forgot my money in the car and thus couldn't even be useful by buying tickets, so I waited) a couple came in inquiring about the Ribbon tour and wanting to know if it was suitable for their 3 year old. I had no idea what the Ribbon tour was and honestly didn't care but the lady had such an annoying voice that I couldn't help but overhear. APPARENTLY THERE WAS A SPECIAL TOUR! One that gets booked out months in advance and only 8 people can participate in and they only do it once a week. And just because I was eavesdropping I found out that there were exactly 2 spots open still!

See, there was a reason I forgot my money in the car, it was so i could eavesdrop!

Anyway, we managed to snag the last 2 spots for the special Ribbon tour and once again put off River tour until later in the day. We eventually managed to do the elusive River tour that we'd traveled all this way for and honestly it was my favorite, but Ribbon tour was very cool too.

The reason Ribbon is "special", it's very small and as you will see, very up close and personal with the cave.



This was one of the most amazing things EVER. This is a tin can that was put there 74 years ago, as drinking water when they were rooting through the caves with candlelight, 74 years is all it took to look like that, it is now one with the caves as water continues to drop into it and minerals build up around it. So crazy to actually watch the cave grow and change before your eyes.

Ribbon tour again so special because you get so close to everything.


And for me, the highlight, finally, the river!



If you're ever in Sydney for an extended period of time I highly recommend going to the Jenolan Caves. They blew my mind. I had only seen such things on the Travel Channel and feel blessed to have been able to experience something like this in person.

Anyone know of any other Caves around the world? This was such a good experience for me I think I would go out of my way to find other caves to visit.

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