Stellar Stalactites at Jenolan!

This was the day we’d be exploring the much talked about ancient limestone caverns of Jenolan Caves. I’ll relate our experience in the tunnels a little later on. But it was rise-and-shine on our eight day in New South Wales with our first self-prepared breakfast, thanks to my mum at the Workers’ Cottage – our lodge at Old Leura Dairy. Setting the table in our cosy dining room and laying out fresh fruit, toast, jams, butter and muesli, my mum seemed to be on breakfast duty. I wasn’t bullying her; she just happened to be the first one out of bed. Gim Kuan and Tze came over from Buttercup Barn to join us for a meal that would power us to climb the hundreds of steps at the caves later in the morning.

As promised, we went around the premises taking photographs of just about every nook and cranny, the landscape, the architecture, the signages and the gate posts. It was just too pretty to resist and we just want to share as much of the place with you as possible; it would do this B&B grave injustice not to take home lovely memories of our shelter of two nights.

Hopping into our wheels from Hertz, we activated the HertzNeverlost System to help us navigate our drive to the Jenolan Caves, recently awarded the title of 'the world's oldest open cave'. It was an easy drive from Leura to the labyrinth of tunnels, taking us just about an hour and ten minutes. There are ten magnificent caves there and we had expected to visit the most popular cave of them all – the Lucas Cave. But since the next tour would be the Imperial Cave when we arrived, we decided we’d get onto the first tour than wait for the next. The guided tour was an easy and informative walk. Covering about 258 steps, the cave follows the path of an ancient river passage. We got up close to sensationally stunning stalactites and stalacmites (the latter is the mound that forms from bottom up, while the former are overhanging limestone structures). Some parts of the cave were so narrow only one person could pass through at any one time and even so. Certain portions of the cave were so low you had to bend over or risk having a bruised head. Among the most stunning formations was the chalky-blue underground river that flowed through it; it’s a pity that what was captured by our cameras couldn’t really bring out the true colours that were captured by our eyes’ lenses. It was bitterly cold in the tunnels with no natural light penetrating the caverns. The only illumination was by way of the spotlights that had been strategically positioned in the tunnel to bring to attention the most amazing features. After a quick bite at Jenolan Caves’ Trail’s Bistro, we headed back to Leura to visit the rows of shops at the mall.

Returning back to Old Leura Dairy, some of us began our packing for our departure tomorrow. I haven’t told you, but we bought a trolley load of edibles from Coles supermarket the night before and we had to collect some cardboard boxes to pack them all in. To all my colleagues and dear friends, you know you’ll be a beneficiary of some of these yummy foodstuffs!

Our final dinner on the trip was at Solitary Restaurant. The history of this restaurant dates back to 1913 when was known as the Leura Falls Kiosk. After changing hands about ten times, it’s now owned by John and Georgia Cross. Apart from serving Australian interpretations of French and Italian cuisine, the Solitary also serves diners magnificent views on the Blue Mountains, overlooking Mount Solitary some distance in the foreground (one of two reasons why it’s so named; the other being that it’s an obscure standalone restaurant amidst private housing) and Kings Tableland to the left. Back to the dinner table, we were having rabbit meat for the first time prepared and served in three ways – rabbit rillettes, pate and fillet, aptly named Trio of Rabbit on the menu. The fillet was pink and tender, but Tze and her mum opted not to try it on this occasion. Us youngsters opted for the Blue Eye Fillet with Moreton Bay bug tails, Gim Kuan had Roasted Quail and my mum Mary ordered the Roasted Duck Breast. The food was excellent, which is no surprise since the restaurant’s made it into the Good Food Guide compiled by the Sydney Herald Tribune. Unlike the previous night, we made sure we had room for dessert tonight. We cleaned out the plate of Caramelised Banana Bavarois with Coconut Sorbet and the Bitter Chocolate Delice with Walnut Dacquoise and Caramel Ice- Cream. That says a lot about their desserts. So if you go while the sun is up, the desserts would certainly have to compete for your attention given the stunning views from the place.

This is my final evening blogging from the Blue Mountains, but it sure won’t be my last. I’d still be throwing in more entries tomorrow and in the days to come as a wrap up to this amazing journey so far. We hope you’ve enjoyed following us.

We’ve still got half of tomorrow to enjoy in New South Wales, and before we return to Sydney to catch our flight home, we plan to visit the markets at Flemingtons in Parramatta enroute to the airport.

Check back soon for more entries, photos and videos on this blog!