 Jenolan's River Cave
"Now," says our cave guide Dr Dan Catchpoole, "hold up a hand in front of your face. Stare at it for a few moments and tell me if you can see it."
The seconds tick by and I see nothing. Determined not to fail, I stare harder and slowly, digit by digit, a vague outline of my hand appears before me.
"I see it," I cry triumphantly.
Time passes and a few more of my caving companions confirm hand sightings. We’re all feeling quite proud of ourselves when Dr Dan says, "It is actually physically impossible for any of us to see our hands. There is absolutely no light in this chamber whatsoever. What you are seeing is a hallucination. It’s called kinetic memory. When you wave your hand in front of your eyes you know that it’s happening, you know that it’s there, so your brain reconstructs the image for you."
Our egos are somewhat appeased by the assurance that there is in fact nothing we can do to stop our hallucinations and that our guides also experience them regularly.
"Now consider what it was like for the early explorers of these caves whose only source of light was a candle," continues Dr Dan. "Many an explorer has come to grief after losing their light. They stare into the blackness for a while, then their mind starts forming outlines of their surroundings. In attempting to find their way back to the surface, they might see a boulder when in fact it is a ten metre drop."
We all contemplate the bravery of these early explorers in silent awe.
"You can turn your lights back on now."
Twelve relieved hands shoot to the headlamps on top of their hard hats and the huge chamber of the Chapel Cave is illuminated in all its ancient glory.
Dating back more than 340 million years, Jenolan Caves in Sydney’s Blue Mountains has recently been declared the world’s oldest discovered open cave system. Until 20 years ago, most scientists thought the caves were no more than a few thousand years old, while in 1999 geologists estimated them to be between 90 and 100 million years old.
Dr Armstrong Osborne, a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, says even in geological terms, 340 million years is a very long time.
"To put it into context, the Blue Mountains began to form 100 million years ago, dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago, and Tasmania was joined to the mainland as recently as 10,000 years ago."
 Adventure Caving
Among these signatures you will find Lesley Arnott, son of Arnott’s biscuit company founder, William Arnott, dated 1881; the slightly illegal signature of renowned Australian artist Brett Whiteley, and one J. Falls. Dated 27 December 1854, this is the earliest authenticated signature found within the cave system to date. While history places a local pastoralist by the name of James Whalan as the first recorded discoverer of the caves, Falls was certainly one of the pioneering explorers, although initially received no credit as such.
"Anyone know why," asks Dr Dan.
After a few moments silence, one bright spark answers, "Because she was a woman?"
Bingo! J. Falls was in fact Jane Falls and while a fair bit of credit for the exploration of the caves went to her brothers, Jane initially received none.
After soaking up these historical scratchings, walking beneath a huge pine tree for a mole’s-eye view of its root system and worming our way into the Chapel Cave through ‘The Incredibly Small Window’ (‘The Very Small Window’, only marginally larger, was "closed for regeneration" Dr Dan wickedly informed us), it was now time to get down and dirty.
In terms of Adventure Caving, Jenolan is the best site in the country, providing both diversity and an authentic caving experience.
"Our Adventure Caving trips are not pretend caving trips," says Acting Manager of Cave Operations, Dan Cove. "They’re generally quite hard and they take you to extraordinary parts of the cave system. In a lot of other caves around the country, an adventure trip is basically walking through a cave wearing a helmet, whereas with ours, it’s genuinely climbing and crawling and squeezing."
This we were about to discover!
 Lucas Cave
As its name suggests, the Plughole is a vertical drop through a constricted ‘chute’. Holding onto a ledge above, I tentatively dangle my legs into the darkness with serious reservations as to whether my feet will find solid ground on the other side. But the welcome hands of my preceding caver soon wrap around my ankle to guide me to a foothold and it’s on to the next challenge – the ‘S-Bend’.
If, for some strange reason, you’ve ever considered what it might feel like to be squeezed through a sausage machine, then the S-Bend is about as close as you’re ever likely to come to satisfying your curiosity. Lying on our sides with one arm stretched out before us and the other folded tightly across our chests, we shimmy inch by inch through this squishy, squeezy tunnel. Questions of whether there is rock below me are anxiously replaced by thoughts of just how many tonnes are above me and claustrophobia threatens to take hold. A few deep breaths and the faintest of lights at the end of the tunnel pull me through and we emerge, triumphant, into the splendour of the Imperial Cave.
This time our eyes weren’t playing tricks on us. Like many of Jenolan’s eleven Show Caves, the Imperial is illuminated by strategically placed lights that highlight the cave’s features. Bones were discovered when the floor of the Imperial Cave was excavated in 1975 and the remains of a Tasmanian devil (long extinct on the mainland) and a wallaby are now on display within the cave. There are also many marine fossils embedded in the limestone roof and walls.
After two hours of scraping and crawling, pushing, pulling and squeezing our way through Jenolan’s underbelly, it seems slightly odd to see manmade walkways and stairs winding through the ancient stalagmites and calcites. Even stranger, is the fact that we have emerged at the Grand Arch, the main entrance to many of the Show Caves. Still, as we cast our eyes over the sauntering tourists with their clean faces, un-scratched elbows and un-bruised knees, we feel a profound sense of pride and accomplishment that could well become an addiction.
Travel Notes
Getting there: Jenolan Caves are 1 ¼ hour’s drive from Katoomba or a comfortable 2 ½ hour drive from Sydney through the picturesque Blue Mountains. If you are visiting Jenolan from the direction of Sydney, Katoomba and Lithgow, the last section of the road into the Jenolan Valley is one way from 11.45am to 1.15pm every day. This allows coaches to enter Jenolan safely on the narrow road. Visitors can still leave Jenolan during these times via Oberon Road which is now fully sealed. From Canberra, drive via Goulburn and Taralga, using the newly sealed 'Tablelands Way'.
Fuel: There is no fuel available at Jenolan. When travelling from Sydney the last service station is at Mount Victoria or Lithgow. When travelling from Bathurst or Canberra, the last service station is at Oberon or Bathurst.
What to bring: All specialist equipment, lights and protective clothing are supplied. You should wear clothes that can get dirty and sneakers/joggers or bushwalking boots.
Restrictions: The Plughole tour has a limited group size of twelve and a minimum age of ten. Alternate tours: From the introductory Plughole tour to the nine-hour Naked Lady Cave tour, there is an Adventure Caving tour to suit all adventurers.
Phone: 1300 76 33 11
Email:
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Website: http://www.jenolancaves.org.au/
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