Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Tasmanian Devils (2010)
Subterranean Splendour
I had a tasty and satisfying breakfast at Lilianfels before checking out and setting off on my planned trip to Jenolan Caves.
Govett's Leap
A short distance from Katoomba, I paused briefly at the Govett's Leap viewpoint in the little town of Blackheath.
Jenolan Caves
I then had a pleasant, and for the most part reasonably fast, drive to Jenolan Caves. The road changed abruptly for the last few miles, however, becoming very narrow as it twisted and turned its way down the valley wall. The fun didn't end on arrival - you have to drive through that gap in the second photograph, with no indication of who has priority and with lots of tourists wandering around! To be frank, it was all fairly tame after my adventures on the Centovalli route, half a world away yet only a few days previously.
Visits to the caves are on a guided basis only and I quickly booked myself onto what was described to me as the best introductory tour, which was leaving in around ten minutes' time. It was a fairly large group, but as the guide himself said, that was all but inevitable at the weekend. We spent a good 70-80 minutes going through various chambers and seeing some amazing formations that had been carved out by the power of water over literally thousands of years. The highlight was the area known as 'The Cathedral', famed not just for its overall scale but also for its amazing acoustics.
Scenic World
After a quick picnic lunch back at the car, I set off again in the direction of Katoomba. The road is actually closed to outbound traffic for a couple of hours each lunchtime, presumably to make life easier for the final influx of arriving drivers, and it had only just reopened. There was a delay on the winding, narrow section when the convoy of outbound cars met two inbound coaches which, if they had arrived a little earlier, wouldn't have had to worry about oncoming vehicles. After sitting still for a bit and seeing some people out of their cars up ahead trying to work out a solution, we were able to crawl past the coaches (in one case, nearside-to-nearside) with very little room to spare. After that, it was plain sailing back to Katoomba.
Feeling that I still had a little time to spare, I decided to stop and hurriedly take in the so-called Scenic World attractions. I was a little dubious about this, as the whole thing seemed quite Disney-esque and mass-market, but I felt that I might as well see what all the fuss was about. Scarcely pausing due to the limited time available, I rode the Scenic Cableway to the valley floor and took a brief walk in the rather chilly temperate rainforest, before returning to base on the Scenic Railway. Said to be the steepest-incline passenger railway in the world, it resembled something out of a fairground or theme park rather than a serious mode of transport, but that made it all the more fun. I completed the experience by riding the Skyway cable car across the gorge to Cliff View Lookout, where I had walked to the previous afternoon, returning to Scenic World without getting off.
Returning to the car, I discovered that I had a text from Bruce, who had long since arrived in Sydney and was now wondering when I'd be back in town. I realised that my latest little diversion meant that I now needed to get going without further delay if the two of us were to stand any chance at all of getting something to eat at a sensible time. I hit the road, knowing full well that it would be dark before I got back. I was returning the car at the airport due to the restricted weekend opening hours of the various in-town Avis offices, so that gave me confidence, as airports tend to be very well signposted. I made it back to Kingsford Smith International at around 1830, returned my trusty Astra to its rightful owners and was then dismayed to find that there was no train service into town due to trackworks. The good news was that the replacement bus service was free; the bad news was that it was crowded, slow and not very well organised. I made it to the Westin at around 1920, checked in, contacted Bruce at the Swissotel and suggested that we should meet in about twenty minutes, which in the end wasn't as late as I feared it might be
We had a light meal in the Westin's Mosaic Italian restaurant, providing a good chance to catch up on each other's news. The food was good, but it proved to be an expensive affair and the service was a little too leisurely for our liking. With Bruce looking like he might fall asleep on his feet at any moment - he had been walking around all day following the long journey from California - we agreed arrangements for meeting up in the morning and called it a day. I was fairly tired too, with all the driving.