Photos from 2002 October 15
Today I went to see the Jenolan Caves. Things did not go quite as smoothly as they might have. I got some bad advice from the lady that ran the hostel. Although, for all the time I've been traveling, it's the first bad advice I've gotten. Nevertheless, the day was still worth it, if not quite what I had initially hoped for. The caves were so amazing, I really wish I had tried to stick to my original plan and overnight there so I could see more of them. Anyway, let me begin. This picture really belongs to yesterday's story. The bus to the caves passed by Narrow Neck Road on its way out, and this is where the Golden Stairs came out. You can see this road winding its way along the ridge, here. I took the last photo yesterday while standing on this road. I think it was the second bend of the road you can see, counting from the top. That was in some ways the hardest part of the hike, because I had put so much energy into getting to the top of the stairs, and then I had to confront the fact that I still had to walk back into town. Ouch.	So, enough about yesterday. The bus made a few stops along the way to the caves so we could see more of the Blue Mountains. I realized that I just scratched the surface, hiking around Katoomba. There are many, many places to hike around here. Unfortunately, most of them you really need a car to get to. Still, I feel I got a good sense of the place, and would love to go back sometime.	You get these spectacular views all over the place.	Here's a panorama shot of the valley. Part of this valley (off to the right, not visible in this picture, is called the Grand Canyon. Somehow, having seen the Grand Canyon in Arizona, I have a hard time imagining anything else can really claim that name.
The lookout point where I took the previous photo is accessed through this arch.	This is the view out the bus window as we drove south to the caves.	When we drove up to the parking lot at the caves, I got all excited because I noticed a large lizard on the nearby rocks, and I was all eager to get off the bus and take a picture of it, before some other tourist scared it off. So I ran up to the rock and started moving around to compose this photo, and almost managed to step on...	...two even larger lizards at my feet.
While I certainly wouldn't call them tame, it shortly became clear that they were used to the presence of tourists about.	I really enjoyed watching them shamble around.	I have a feeling they scavanged off of what people let fall, which is probably none too healthy for them. Although, I think this fellow is trying to take a bite of a discarded insect carapace. It only made one bite at it and gave up, but it made me think it usually went for bread or popcorn or something.	I think they were actually Water Dragons; there was a sign I saw later about >local reptiles< that had a drawing that looked a lot like these guys. They were about two feet long, including the tail.
The lizards weren't the only scavangers around. These gorgeous parrots seemed quite happy to wander around the snack stands tables and look for crumbs that people left behind. I have a better picture of one of these guys later.	After a quick salad for lunch, it was time for my cave tour. This is our guide, showing us the entrance to the Orient Cave. This entrance was carved about 50 years ago into what was normally the *end* of the cave system. The Orient Cave prior to that had to be accessed by walking for an hour and a half through a bunch of other caves.	That's why this first room is known as >Bat End<. Although we didn't see any bats today, we were assured that they do live in here. This used to be the dead end of the cave system, so the bats would end up in here.	I took a few photos with a flash in here, but in general, I found that trying to take long-exposure non-flash pictures better captured the magical rust color of the caverns. I say rust because the red is caused by iron oxide in the crystals. Sometimes the crystals form without these oxides and then they are white or clear. This photo is actually looking straight up at the ceiling.
Another shot of the ceiling, which had a hole in it that led up into a small chamber, from which these stalagtites were hanging. I had never seen stalagtites form this kind of wavy sheet before, and apparently this is when the water runs along the side and deposits its crystal, rather than dribbling through the middle or something.	This is the exact same shot without a flash, and this is really more like what it looked like to me as I stood there.	This is the upper wall of the >Persian Chamber<. It was just staggering in its diversity of the kinds of formations that were formed.	More of the Persian Chamber
An amazing stalagmite. This thing must have been six meters tall at the very least. I was really struck by the way that most of the stalagmites had this spiral structure with little stalagmites within them. Like the base had built up and then water had dripped off the edge, too.	The wall of the Persian Chamber, this time without a flash.	These are more what I imagine as classical stalactites, with the stalagmites rising up below to meet them. Most of the structures in these caves had very clever and cutesy names, which I am not going to repeat here, because somehow they felt to me to be demeaning the grandeur and independence of these structures. For who knows how many millenia, the pure processes of physics have been building these gorgeous and intricate structures with no thought for an audience or intent to provide human meaning. Somehow we seem to feel the need to drag that down and trivialize it by showing how clever we are at finding patterns within the completely patternless, and mostly goofy patterns at that. If we have to name them so that we know which structure we're talking about, at least lets give them names with heft and dignity. But maybe that's just me.	The ceiling of the Persian Chamber, some ten meters above our heads. The floor was at least another five meters down, maybe more. The guide said there was another chamber this size on the other side of the far wall that you could, in theory, scramble through a hole to get to, but that there were *no* features to see in it! Hard to imagine; all this in here, and nothing in the next room over. Why? Who knows?
From six-meter stalagmites to these delicate helictites, the diversity of structure in here was staggering. Apparently pressure from within the rocks can cause water to seep out in all directions, even against gravity, causing these structures to peel out rather than just going down.	More of those sheet-like stalagtites. I think you can see the layers with different kinds or amounts of oxides in them; they make the sheets look like slabs of bacon. In fact, one area had so many of them, they called it the butcher shop.	Often, the lights were placed in such a way that you could see the translucence of the crystals.	Here you can see some white, some brown, and some red crystals, indicating different epochs of formation.
This was a tiny chamber off to the side of the stairs, and looked to me for all the world like a curtain being drawn aside to reveal a dance in progress. Dang, there *I* go finding patterns. Maybe its inevitable.	This chamber was once underwater, which you can tell because of the mottled nature of the lower wall here. The stalagmites must have formed after the water level receded.	More of those crazy helicites.	Here's our guide again, telling us stories about the place. The stalagmite in the left foreground has a long stalagtite just above it, and the guide said that the two once were so close to touching that you could barely fit a sheet of tissue paper in between them, but they did not touch. But then some tourist broke off the end of the stalagtite, and now there's a 30 cm gap between them, which will likely never be filled because water has stopped flowing down that particular channel. So sad, that some people feel compelled to break things for their own benefit. Actually, for the first few decades that people came here, they were *encouraged* to break off bits for souveniers. Since the beginning of the 20th century, though, that's been a criminal act.
A line of stalagmites. I wonder if in future millenia, these will develope those mini-stalagtites that the others had, or if there's something different about the chemistry of these that they will stay lumpy and plain. It's staggering to stand in the middle of this stuff and think that it's still a dynamic system; it's not static, but the time scale for things to change significantly is mind-bogglingly slow.	This is the lowest chamber we went to. There were two ways out of here. One led into a dead-end tunnel called the Ribbon Cave, and the other led down into the >Mud Tunnels<, which in turn opened into another cave, but that's a different tour. We had to turn around here and go back the way we came. I could have gone on for hours.	The ceiling. Why this chamber had such a fuzz of helicites rather than the big stalagtites of the Persian Chamber I do not know. I think this was the Indian Chamber. There was also an Egypt Chamber.	Yeah, this was the bottom chamber, all right.
Here's a bunch of helicites coming out of some stalagtites.	This is a panorama shot of the Persian Chamber on the way out. The top of the image looks almost straight up, and the bottom looks down at maybe a 45 degree angle or so from the horizontal. It was a staggering place.	One final look back at the wall of the Persian Chamber.	This is part of the man-made tunnel we had to walk through to get into Bat End from the outside.
This is the chalet/hotel/bistro/gift-shop near the caves.	This is standing by the gift shop, looking back towards where I took the previous photo (see the yellow umbrellas). I loved the purple flowers.	One of those scavanging parrots again, doing a survey of the patio outside the bistro.	This is the Grand Arch. You have to actually *drive* through this to get into the parking lot for the caves. It's only a few feet wider than a tour bus, so it's quite an experience.
Just outside the Grand Arch is a beautiful little lake.	This bridge supports the road leading up to the Arch.	Reflection.	Above and to the right of the Grand Arch was this arch. Given the steps, it must have been part of another cave tour. Ahhh, if only I could have stayed longer. I'll have to come back.
The Grand Arch from the outside and to the left.	Some wildflowers I liked.	Okay, this requires a bit of explanation. These two american guys had rented this van from a kind of rent-a-wreck place, and were wandering around the country in it. They had never watched Doctor Who; that's just the way the van came. I, of course, have been a Doctor Who fan for twenty years, so I was flabbergasted when I saw this. What a riot! There's a painting of Tom Baker on the other side, but the other side wasn't lit. I hope their adventures turn out well.
Go to 2002 October 14		Go to 2002 October 21