BLUE MOUNTAINS (JENOLAN CAVES AND KANANGRA WALL)

The next day we decide to travel south to the famous Jenolan Caves and Kangaran Walls.

We head down the long winding road and came to the mouth of the Jenolan Caves which is also the entry to the resort which is located on the other side of the tunnel.

The view inside the tunnel

The tunnel exit

The Jenolan cave system is huge.  There are 350 recorded entrances to the caves and it is believed the caves are largely an interconnected system with different chambers each one linked to another.  However the exact configuration is not yet known and not all of the connections have been located to this day with caves and passage ways continuing to be located.

Stalactites and stalagmites joining

The Grand Archway

One of the massive caves tours

Here's a statue we found built into one of the cave walls

and another one

Some amazing colours

Massive tunnel exit into the Jurassic 

Down into the depths

Hole in the ceiling

The view from the top of this cave, if you look closely you can see where I was standing just off the stairway down below.  A long way down there.

View through a massive archway to the river below

The resort that is located on the exit side of the original tunnel

Some interesting facts

As we headed off to Kanangra Wall we saw this beautiful rainbow ;)

We arrived at the wonderful Kenanga Walls

Magnificent view into the valley

Magnificent view

The Wall

From the top of the Wall to the bottom of the ravine it is some 800 metres!

Breath taking!

And as beautiful as this country side is.....

It was time for us to head from some warmer weather, so we start our journey north towards Queensland.  So it is time to HIT THE ROAD!

BLUE MOUNTAINS (LITHGOW AND TOWOOMBA)

From Orange and Bathurst we head East into the Blue Mountains and find our way to the town of Lithgow and Wallerawang

Some of the scenery throughout this area was absolutely incredible.  The fantastic pictures were too many to publish and just doesn't do it justice!  Anyway here are a few from just out of Lithgow

We also took a drive out from Wallerawang towards Newnes Plateau where there was some more incredible scenery.  We managed to find some beautiful cliffs and rock formations and I played my latest songs.  Here it is;

I believe this might be some Aboriginal art work.....

The decent into the gorge

From there we headed off towards Towoomba to see the Three Sisters and more amazing scenery on the way

The flower of our native plant the Banksia

And we catch up with the Three Sisters

The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.

These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.

The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.

As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come.

One of the methods of seeing the mountains around the Three Sisters

At Scenic World there are cable cars, and rail cars that you can take to see various parts of these mountains

Would make for an interesting rock climb! Not for me!

This little fella (an Echidna) decided this was the best spot for a bit of afternoon warmth.

Wonderful driving though the forest

We head off to the town of Portland where they have painted all various 'Retro' pictures of yester-year all over the buildings.Once a year a group of artists gather in the town and paint murals voluntarily of yester-year.  It not only took us back in time but was great to see the terrific art work...

Ahhh yes Weet-Bix my favourite cereal in the whole world!  Do you want to know how many Weet-Bix I have a day????   Huh hey do you??  Huh, huh??  Well my friend 2.5 has been standard for the past 35 years.  Does that make me a share holder?

Ahhh, nothing I like better than a nice cup of tea first thing in the morning!!  Tea anyone?

I think the song went ...... more safe, more smart, Mortein!!!  And in the words of the famous John Laws when your on a good thing stick to it!!! and apparently he's out of retirement and back on the radio!

This one was Karen's favourite on the side of the local pub!

Karen likes Aeroplane Jelly!!

and many people have recently commented on how much I resemble the Brasso kid!  I like to think I just brighten things up... Hahahaha

One of my favourites because of the variety.  Beer, wine and good ol Throaties.

and the next morning you would have a nice big bowl of Uncle Tobys to make you feel pretty again!
Hmmm well I've been eating them for over 40 years and I think I might be cooking them wrong ;)

We found this little lady walking past our caravan.  Apparently she is a Barrister in the bird kingdom and she was on her way to court.  I like to refer to her as my little Judge Judy!

And tomorrow it will be time to hit the road south towards Jenolan