Jenolan Caves and a Concert in the Cathedral Cave

Left Manly, having been picked up by Issie  and we set off  to the Blue Mountains about 2 1/2 hours west of Sydney. The eucalyptus trees give off a vapour which surrounds the trees with a bluish tinge, hence the name. As we drove into the mountains I was reminded geographically of an area passed through last summer when driving to the Canadian Rockies. The key difference is the intensity and density  of the Australian Bush. Our route took us around Penrith, Emu Plains, Hazelbrook, Katoomba (yellow balloon) and turned south  at Hartley, through Hampton and down a steep and very narrow road  to the Jenolan Caves (aboriginal for high/big mountain.....the red balloon). They have been around for some 340 million years and are indeed magical, dazzling  and indescribably beautiful containing underground rivers and vast caverns  with massive formations.
www.jenolancaves.org.au

History at Jenolan

For tens of thousands of years, the Jenolan area has been part of the culture of indigenous peoples. This beautiful and mysterious place holds special significance to the Gundungurra people. Their knowledge of the caves go back a long way as there is a dreamtime creation story about how this whole countryside came into being. The story describes an almighty struggle between two ancestral creator spirits: one a giant eel-like creature, Gurangatch an incarnation of the ancestral rainbow serpent; the other, Mirragan a large native cat or quoll (a catlike carnivorous marsupial with short legs and a white spotted coat native to Australian forests).

The first Europeans to make their way across the Blue mountains  arrived in 1813, just 25 years  after the settlement of Sydney. A developing interest in geology and natural science at that time  was in part responsible for an increasing number of visitors. These intrepid visitors would walk or ride to the caves, camp for the night in the "Grand Arch" and crawl into the caves with nothing but candles for illumination.  I found standing in the pitch black darkness  and the silence,  occasionally broken by the sound of dripping water, to be very scary! My greatest fear would have been, having reached a particular  point after crawling through tight spaces as well as  traversing across enormous boulders and rocks,  how on earth do you  find your way back out?  Since 1932 Jenolan's guides and specialist caving clubs have made many more discoveries. Over 300 caves have been documented and more are added each year.

Geology and Cave Formation

The rocky foundation of the area in which the caves have been formed is limestone, formed very slowly through the accumulation of layer upon layer of sediments that have been compressed and compacted in a process called "bedding".  The sediment that makes up Jenolan's limestone consists mostly of the mineral calcite, or calcium carbonate (CC).  CC is made primarily from fragments of seashells and coral, which tells us that the area now known as Jenolan Caves once lay below a warm shallow sea. Fossils of early sea creatures are clearly visible in sections of the limestone, suggesting that the limestone is very old - possibly around 430 million years. The great slow movements of the earth's continental plates  has lifted, tilted and folded the limestone. Such landscapes are known as "karst" and the Jenolan karst landscape is dominated by a band of limestone 9 kms long and 300 metres wide. In karst regions most of the drainage is underground. Streams flowing into the area sink through cracks in the rocks, dissolving the limestone over  time and and travelling through subterranean channels thus creating caves.

It used to be thought that all of this occurred over the last 10-20 thousand years but recent studies by geologists using potassium-argon testing on clay sediments have shown that some of these caves are 340 million years old, placing them among the oldest caves in the world. In the caves there are countless numbers of wondrous shapes on the walls, floor and roof. These are called "speleothems" or cave forms, are incredibly beautiful and the results of the interaction between water, limestone, gravity and time!

Slightly acidic water containing dissolved carbon dioxide seeps down through the limestone. As it moves it dissolves the limestone and then deposits it in the caves as crystal calcite. If the water drips slowly into a cave the crystal is deposited onto the ceiling and a stalactite is formed. Water dripping more rapidly deposits crystals on the floor and a stalagmite begins to grow slowly upward. The two may ultimately join to form a column. It is thought that growth rate may be 3cms in 100years.

The Jenolan Caves  because of some very advanced thinking  have been  protected for the past 140 years by strict conservation laws.

The Concert

On Saturday Issie and I visited the "Lucas" caves and attended a concert in the "Cathedral Cave" given by two musicians, The Paganini Duo  - "wicked violin and sensual guitar".  The quality of the sound was so clear, the acoustics perfect as, although hard rock, the surfaces are so varied that sound was  not bounced about therefore no echo.  No need for microphones etc!  It was a truly unique experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoLj9Q7IK9k&feature=relmfu



The music itself, perhaps not our most favourite but still very enjoyable, included gypsy music from Hungary, Russia, Rumania, Spain and South America. Some pieces were familiar to us.  We were able to speak with the Duo  -  a Polish Hungarian and a German -  later in the hotel over cheese and wine nibbles. Gustav Szelski's  violin was made in 1740  while Georg Merten's guitar was made in Sydney 2008! We also purchased a CD to remind us of such a unique experience.

We stayed in the Jenolan Caves House, an Edwardian building, which offers a range of accommodation.

On Sunday morning I took a second tour and visited the "Temple of Baal" (the god who sacrificed children)!  Once again I was mesmorised with the beauty and the wonders of this particular cave.  Formations from the roof have developed in such a way as to look like an enormous angel flying well above our heads. There are several videos on You Tube if you want to see a little more although none really put over the beauty or the atmosphere of the caves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0ry1YAvVw0&feature=related

The main road down the mountain is closed for certain periods and only open to traffic going in one direction - the road is so narrow and no room for passing places! A good PR ploy???? As we couldn't leave we partook of a light lunch until the road was reopened to allow traffic to ascend back up the mountain. Our lunch companion whilst sitting on the terrace was a Crimson Rosella parrot! We enjoyed his company as I am sure he enjoyed ours!

It is great being driven by someone who knows the area so well and we left the caves in the early afternoon but did in fact drive  a  slightly different route through the most beautiful country passing  Edith, Oberon, Hampton and back to Katoomba our next residential stopover. We booked into "The Three Sisters Motel" for one/maybe 2 nights (voted the best value Australian Motel by the UK Sunday Times and The Australian Herald)?

Old habits die hard and somehow we  managed to fit in a little "window shopping" in Leura, a small town, Kinross size, full of lovely individual little shops. Issie and I both fell in love with "The Hatters".....there may just be a return visit tomorrow!

Note to the Manly Troups - you must visit here...I know you would just love it. Lots to see and do.......more of that tomorrow!