Day 45 / 2016 - Jenolan Caves and Katoomba

When travelling a question we always ask ourselves is should we leave the caravan in a central location and do day trips to each of the attractions or should we tow it with us. Most times leaving the van in a central place and visit attractions in a day works well but sometimes the attractions require more than a day to visit and if it is in a direction we are not travelling is it worth leaving the van behind and book a motel?

Visiting Jenolan Caves and Katoomba was one of those occasions to take in both areas require more than a day. One option was to packup the van and head up into the mountains basing ourselves in Katoomba and visiting Jenolan for a day trip. Problem was we wern't continuing on in that direction and would have to come back the same way. When stopping at a location you normally allow 3 nights, first day to get there and setup, second day to look around, Third day to finish looking around next day packing up and head off.

Our other option was to Drive up the first day and see the first areas attraction, book one night in a motel then next day finish off the second areas attractions and drive back. A hotel room is more expensive but fuel is a bit cheaper as we are not towing a van. Also we only needed one night of accomodation and not three. Besides when you live in a caravan its nice to have a breakaway just like you would at home.

Leaving Sydney we headed towards Richmond through Annes old stomping grounds. She said some things had change but some were still the same. Heading up Bells Line of Road into the blue mountains the drive was quite scenic with mountain roads intermixed with valleys. Comming out at Mt Victoria we turned right and headed further west along the Great Western Hwy. There are a lot of road works going on here, the road should be greatly improved once finished. Turning left we headed towards Jenolan about 10 Km out the road becomes narrow as you desend into Jenolan itself. It is a two way road but between 11:45 amd 13:15 every day it becomes a one way heading down. This allows all the buses to come down without passing traffic coming backup.

When you arrive a Jenolan you drive right through the middle of a big arse cave and come out at Caves House where the main parking area is. There are about 12 separate caves to visit and cost approx between $30.00 and $40.00 per person per cave. They do offer a 50% discount on the next cave you purchase a ticket for. Each cave takes between 1 to 2 hours to go through. We chose the Chiffley cave mainly because the tour time suited us. Our guide took us through explaining all about the cave and the caves formations. The cave was well lit with lots of incidental lighting and has good walking paths. Although it can be steep in sections especially the steps no one seem to have any problems. There were some narrow and low tunnels where you would have to walk doubled over or sideways through. The first half of the cave was not active and the formations were quite dull the reason given is there is quite a lot of air movement. The second half of the cave the air was still and the formations were actively growing, glinting in the artificial light. Returning outside you could feel you had been exerting yourself I would think 2 cave visits in one day would be enough if you give yourself the whole day there. It is one of those places you could come back time and again.

Returning the way we come we headed towards Katoomba along the Great Western Hwy. Arriving there we booked into the Great Western Alpine motor Inn. The Manager was a character and I thought could talk the leg off a chair. The Motel was nothing to look out from the outside but the rooms were recently redecorated and clean. The double glazing on the windows definately kept the road noise down. That evening we took a drive to Leura and along the cliff top drive back to Katoomba stopping at Echo Point which looks over the Tree Sisters rock formations. From there you can walk to the Three Sisters climb down a steep set of steps cross the bridge and sit under them. Finishing here we returned to our hoel room for the night.

Next day we booked out and headed over to Scenic World which is the main attraction in Katoomba. Scenic World has been running for around 100 years and there are 4 attractions you can participate in. The Skyway, Cableway, Railway and Walkway. There is a once only daily cost of $35.00 per adult which allows you to ride each attraction as often as you want. We got there early which was a smart idea as it gets quite busy around 12pm when all the buses from the city show up.

The Skyway is a cable car which takes you from one cliff point to another. There is a great view of the Blue mountains and valley and you can stand on a glass floor as you pass over the deepest point of 240 Metres. Once you reach the other end there are a number of walks you can do before returning back on the Skyway to the main centre.

Next we took the Railway which is promoted as the steepest railway in the world. You ride the train which runs down a railway line at an angle of 52 degrees. Anne wanted to sit in the front so you got a great view of the egdge of the cliff and thin air before you went over. Fortunately the train doesn't travel at roller coaster speeds so its not as frighning as it drops over the edge  to the valley floor below. You can tilt the seats back to give you a milder sensation of going over the edge or foward to 62 degrees which they call the cliff hanger for obvious reasons. The railway was originally used to get miners down and coal back up when coal mining was done there. We walked the 3 Km boardwalk on valley floor passing through the rain forest below before returning via the railway back to the main centre.

At this point we were glad we had started early because the line for the Skyway which we had done earlier was half a mile long. We stopped for a coffee before proceeding to our last attraction the Cableway. This is a big cable car which goes over the edge and drops 250 metres again to the valley floor below. From here you can once again walk the Boardwalk but decided against it as we had already done this instead opting to return back to the main centre once again. The place was really starting to get busy so finished off our day there and returned via Penrith to Lane Cove.