A Day’s Ride From Sydney—The Cool Caves And Crystal Beauty Of Jenolan: A Wonderland Hidden From The Light Of Day.

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 371, 4 June 1928, Page 11

A Day’s Ride From Sydney— The Cool Caves And Crystal Beauty Of Jenolan: A Wonderland Hidden From The Light Of Day.

(Written for THE SUN by

FROM the enervating sultriness of Sydney the average New Zealander on holiaay must often sigh for a few days’ relief. Then has come the time to remember those blue western ranges beyond which lie the caverns of petrified beauty and crystalline coolness—the Caves of Jenolan, Within an hour the city has been left far behind. Up, up goes the road along the ridge where, in the early days of last century, the heroic Blaxland hewed the trail that led to the •Golden West, and which road and rail;way now follow. Past the sun-bathed 'valleys far below, past curving clifftop and the lace-work of waterfalls, past breath-taking abysses the great bus speeds. Gum-trees wave their creamy blossoms; Christmas Trees wear gowns of daintiest pink; flooding sunbeams light the blood-red leaves of baby bluegums, so that the eye of the passer-by is deceived into thinking them scarlet blossoms; the forest floor is decked with orchids of mauve where t-he white flannel-flower nods and beckons along sun-dappled glades. In mid-afternoon the bus stops at Mt. York. This is the summit of the Blue Mountains. Below, in the great gulf of the lovely Hartley Valley, runs tli© winding ribbon of the road to Bathurst, Lithgow and Jenolan. Down again into the valley rolls the great car, down from the heights which speak of achievement to the old sandstone courthouse which tells the poignant story of shame and toil and suffering in the early convict days, or of the echoing hoof-heats of bushrangers and gold-trains in the boom-days of Bathurst. An hour later the summit of the Dividing Range is reached, and a long, steep, serpentine descent follows to the Jenolan Caves Hostel. The caves at Jenolan are, generally, similar; though in grouping of formations, in structure of the wonderful “mysteries,” or in dimensions and colourings of the caverns, there is great diversity. The River Cave extends for half-a-mile under the mountain, where one travels by pathway, bridges, and stairways past such formations as the Lower Chambers, Neptune’s Cabinet, The Minaret, and, after "crossing the Styx,” views the Queen’s Canopy, The Sentries, The Sisters, and the Shower of Shawls. Amber and chocolate sheets of limestone decorate with draperies the rounded ledges above which the sparkling walls are graced, tier on tier, with massive fluted pillars and shining cascades of rippling stone. The stalagmitic groups known as The Furze Bush, the Camel's Back, the White Gum-tree, and the Grand Column are sufficiently described by their appropriate names. Traversing a floor of clean, level sand, the passage leads on past the Sounding Board to the White Temple, behind which rise snowy pillars supporting a dome that over-arches tiny clear pools in

W. M. Gtmpbell.)

their basins of alabaster. Farther on the winding tunnel reveals a series of fairy bowers festooned and garlanded with white lime-sprays which carpet the floor, jut from the walls, or hang in creamy clusters from the ceiling* Through tortuous passages the living rock grows out in foamy excrescences where the Daisy Bed, the Hanging Garden, and Diana’s Grove bewilder by their beauty the eyes of aU but the most phlegmatic. As one rounds a corner, the sunlit cliffs that guard the entrance are reached. For variety of beauty, as for length, the Orient Cave holds the palm. With its placid pools 30 feet deep, its petri* fled cascades of crystal scintillating under the electric lamps; its columns and buttresses of marble, it is the most popular of all the caves. Here are grottos, sprays, pendant shawls, and arches resplendent with myriads of gleaming calcite facets beggar description. The Egyptian Colonnade, the Indian Chamber, and the Arabesque give it an Eastern atr,'while the Saints’ Statuettes, the Pillars of Hercules, and the Diamond Wing, as well as the exquisite bunches of “mysteries,” are among the best of the formations at Jenolan. The beauty of these mysteries baffles description, as their wonderful form baffles scientific explanation. More intricate than Jack Frost’s window decorations, their twisting tendrils, their filigree patterns, their grotesque antler forms and bannerets of snowy purity make miniature shrines so lovely that praise is hushed. On issuing from this wonderland, how garish the rocks and hillsides in the light of day There are nearly a dozen such caves at Jenolan, each cave, or underground tunnel, having two or three large caverns. These caverns have been hollowed out by the scouring action of an underground stream and the dissolving action of its water on the limestone. The bestknown of these caves, besides those described, are the Temple of Baal, the Lucas, the Skeleton Cave, the Right and Left Imperial Caves, and the Red Cave; but all of these cannot be inspected in the three days’ tour that most people take. In size they fall far behind many other limestone caves in other lands, and while they have nothing which surpasses in beauty the glow-worm cavern at Waitomo, yet in variety of colour and structure, as well a-s in length and number of caves, they are more than equal to any caves in New Zealand, or any other caves in Australia. As the delightful journey out and back is well worth while in itself, and the average man’s weekly wage will cover all expenses, no visitor to Sydney should forgo this three days’ jaunt through the gum-scented mountain air where history, holiday., and health wait on every hand and Australia’s finest tourist resort is the terminus. Christchurch.