Jenolan Caves

Deep in the Blue Mountains is a place where the magic is underground. It is a cave. But not just one. Literally hundreds of them. Embedded in limestone, connnected to each other by narrow passages and an underground river, they form the system known as Jenolan Caves. They are among the oldest caves in the world -- more than 340 million years old.

The first surprise that you get on arrival is that the main road goes right into a giant cavern, and through it! It is a natural tunnel called Grand Arch. After you've passed it you see a few pretty buildings, the big one is Jenolan Caves House, a hotel built in 1898 in Tudor style. This is where I slept for the night.

Tourism at the caves has started soon after they were discovered in the 1800s. Today there are more than 10 different guided tours you can book, each going into different sections of the caves. I arrived in the evening and decided to do one tour at night and one more tour the next morning.

What shall I say? The caves are amazing. To me, places like these are like cathedrals. Cold, still, old, mystical and awe-inspiring. Structures of stalactites, stalagmites, columns, straws, flowstone, and my favourite: those beautiful "shawls" that look like drapery hanging down -- or sometimes like bacon. They are only 5 mm thin (the width of a drop of water) and translucent. The material is calcite, dissolved from the rocks by rain water and deposited at the ceilings, walls and cave floors in layers upon layers, millenia after millenia. Pure calcite is white; the pink-orange-brown colours are caused by iron oxide.

Unfortunately the caves have suffered destruction from tourism. Especially the early visitors would with no hesitation break off whatever structures they could reach to take home a souvenir. The damage they have done, especially knowing how slow these crystals grow and how rare they are, is unbelievable. And all this despite the fact that the caves were officially "protected area" since 1866. In the interest of making the caves easily and safely accessible for visitors, they have poured tons after tons of concrete in, chiseled rock away to cut deep pathways, and of course installed electric lights. Today, 250,000 visitors come every year.

This giant cave opening is of a cave called "The Devil's Coach House". Compare the size of the path and the street lamp to get an idea how big it is. The ceiling must be 30 metres high.

It was an unforgettable trip. Now I'm back home, tomorrow I'll relax and let the impressions sink in.