Day 11
On a recommendation from the same company that arranged for the Great Ocean Road Tour, I got on a bus to the Jenolan Caves where massive rock formations were boasted about. The bus took us along a very scenic 3 hr drive heading into the mountains and reaching a peak of 1030 meters. At one point, we stopped at a place called Scenic Skyway. It was a rail car ride that brings you down into the mountainside to a boardwalk. I should back up, this rail car was no ordinary rail car, it was a sheer straight down plunge, roughly an 80* drop for about 500 meters. Offered a pretty amazing view of the mountains though. After arriving at the caves, I ate some lunch at the chalet like building nestled into the mountainside before heading into the caves. The path wound around all sorts of incredible rock formations, stalagmites, stalactites and stories about the early explorers who came through the caves with evidence of their presence with left behind equipment like ladders, ropes and other mine gear. It's crazy to see everything in there with the help of electricity only to sit there and think about early explorers coming inside with a candle and not knowing how far the cave system went. At one point, there was a gradual slope that was used by the earlier explorers as a faster way to the bottom of the cave by sliding down on burlap sacks. I'm a curious person so had the guide not kept such tight reigns on us, I might have stayed behind in some places and done some exploring myself.
On a recommendation from the same company that arranged for the Great Ocean Road Tour, I got on a bus to the Jenolan Caves where massive rock formations were boasted about. The bus took us along a very scenic 3 hr drive heading into the mountains and reaching a peak of 1030 meters. At one point, we stopped at a place called Scenic Skyway. It was a rail car ride that brings you down into the mountainside to a boardwalk. I should back up, this rail car was no ordinary rail car, it was a sheer straight down plunge, roughly an 80* drop for about 500 meters. Offered a pretty amazing view of the mountains though. After arriving at the caves, I ate some lunch at the chalet like building nestled into the mountainside before heading into the caves. The path wound around all sorts of incredible rock formations, stalagmites, stalactites and stories about the early explorers who came through the caves with evidence of their presence with left behind equipment like ladders, ropes and other mine gear. It's crazy to see everything in there with the help of electricity only to sit there and think about early explorers coming inside with a candle and not knowing how far the cave system went. At one point, there was a gradual slope that was used by the earlier explorers as a faster way to the bottom of the cave by sliding down on burlap sacks. I'm a curious person so had the guide not kept such tight reigns on us, I might have stayed behind in some places and done some exploring myself.
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