Driving farther East into the Blue Mountains, we traveled to Jenolen Blue Lake, intending to see some of the resident platypus that inhabit the lake. Unfortunately, the area was closed because they were building a boardwalk around the entire perimeter of the lake. Platypus build their burrows into the banks of the lake, which can collapse when visitors walk over them on the lake’s edge. The boardwalk will prevent this from happening in the future.
Going to Plan B, we started looking for alternative activities in the area. That’s when we learned that the lake’s waters are supplied through the oldest known open cave system in the world, at over 300 million years old! Since we were only there for a few hours, we didn’t have the time to explore any of the cave system’s 25 miles of multi-level passages (all of which are only accessible by tour). We were able to visit a few of the 300 entrances to the subterranean world though, which are accessible via a hiking trail that meandered through the beautiful Mckeowns Valley.
Exploring the Jenolan Caves is definitely on our list of things to do when we return to Australia.
We hope you’ll enjoy a gallery of pics from our short hike!
WOW
😁
Spelunking, sort of inverted climbing. Exciting…no?
Fascinating and yes, WOW.
We had no idea how vast the cave system was! Wish we could go back and spend a lot more time exploring below ground!
Australia never fails to amaze !!
Some spots in Australia are truly like another world! So very unique, strange and beautiful all at once.