The rain continues! It didn’t stop last night and it looks like it’s not going to stop today. We felt like having a day indoors but Alan had taken two days off work and was pretty keen to show us around the Blue Mountains. It took a while to get us moving but we finally got in the car using the umbrellas and headed off to see what we could of the Blue Mountains. First stop was the Leura Cascades and with the overnight rain they were in full flow. There is a very nice picnic area there but with the rain it certainly was not a picnic day. From there we drove around Cliff Drive which surprisingly is along the cliff edge around to the Three Sisters lookout at Katoomba. It was pretty cloudy so the views were not that great nevertheless there were plenty of tourists there with their umbrellas and ponchos. It was hard to hear a word of English spoken there.

Next we headed south to the Jenolan Caves, at least you can keep dry inside a cave. We arrived just as the cafeteria was closing but managed to get a roast beef roll that wasn’t too bad. We booked a tour for the Imperial and Diamond caves and while we waited had a look around the open formations called the Devils Coach house and the Grand Arch. The caves here were formed by the underground rivers. Water seeped down cracks in the limestone and formed chambers below the riverbed. Over time parts of the riverbed collapsed and the river moved to a lower level. According to the guide there are currently three distinct levels in the cave systems.

Jenolan Caves

The deeper sections of the cave where there is little air movement held the more spectacular formations.