Jenolan Caves and a Rare Sighting

We all woke up on our second Blue Mountain with caves on the brain.  Jenolan Caves are known as Australia's finest, and we loved our visit to Yarrangobilly Caves during our first road trip in January.  Simply driving up to the entrance of the carpark is dramatic in itself, and looks like something you'd see at Disney World.

While our friends Kylie and Josh braved 1300 steps on the River cave tour, the four older kids joined a Junior Explorers class and Sam and I hung out with Kenyon on a self-guided tour.

Sam and I are both pretty sweet on Kenyon, and with three kids it's always a treat to spend some good, quality time with just one--especially since when he's not throwing a royal fit about some perceived injustice (which happens quite a bit), he's a ton of fun to be around.

Sam and I didn't listen to all that much of the audio tour, but Kenyon relished punching the correct number into the device and reciting bits and pieces back to us.  This resulted in our tour consisting of Kenyon's cartoon voice saying, "Limestone formations...water absorbs carbons dioxide...stalagmites".  I don't know if his voice will ever stop being that of a 2-year old, but at least he'll have a profitable future in voice-over work.

We went on a bushwalk afterwards, and walked beside a pond that gets its brilliant shade of blue from light being refracted through dissolved limestone particles.

Just then, I saw something in the water and told Sam that I had just seen a turtle...

...but then realized that it was an elusive creature that we had really been wanting to see in the wild--a platypus!

After platypus-watching, Kylie and Josh were crazy gracious enough to take all the kids back to the house so Sam and I could do one of Jenolan Cave's adventure tours--the Plughole.  We abseiled down a short 8 meters into the hole to start the tour, and then squeezed our way down and through the cave.   While the cave formations weren't spectacular, it was a ton of fun.

in our attractive caving jumpsuits after the abseil

Some spots were small enough that we had to lay on our side with our arm above our head and inch our way through--definitely not for anyone that borders on claustrophobic!

Thanks to Kylie and Josh for good company and planning the trip--we're hoping to get back to the Blue Mountains once springtime hits for some more camping and bushwalking.

Katoomba, Three Sisters, and a Wombat Hole

We're in the middle of a two-week winter school holiday, and I have recently accepted the fact that I'll simply never be accustomed to the winter season happening in what has concretely been the summer months for the first thirty-three years of my life.

To celebrate winter, we took off for a two-night trip to the Blue Mountains with our friends, Kylie and Josh Brightman and their kids.  I told my kids that there may even be frost on the ground, and Alex said he couldn't wait to do snow angels.  Ha!  Sand angels are more common 'round these parts.  I was especially excited that the house we rented for our stay had a woodburning stove, not really to keep warm but because it exponentially increases the cozy factor.

Now, I grew up in flatter-than-flat Miami, but having lived in Colorado for more than a decade, I'm a bit snobbish about how people from flatter regions throw the term 'mountain' around.  At 3,986 ft., the highest point of the Blue Mountains is quite bigger than 'Mount' Keira in our town (which rises to a measly 1,522 ft)--but it's still a far stretch to Denver's mile high altitude (not to mention the 53 peaks exceeding 14,000 feet).

Still, this area of Australia is so beautiful, and right from the cute town of Katoomba we saw the most famous rock formation in the Blue Mountains--the Three Sisters.

It was like herding cats on the hike we went on there--all five kids scampered ahead, weaving around groups of tourists and tromping in and around the muddy path.

Jackson and Xavier stop to drink water droplets falling from the cliff overhang

the crew of 5--Isabella, Alex, Xavier, Jackson and Kenyon

In typical kid 'the cardboard box is much cooler than the actual gift' fashion, the highlight of our pit stop in Katoomba for that whole lot was not viewing the majestic beauty of the Three Sisters or our hike winding down the cliff face--it was exploring a bushy area in the park adjacent to the public restrooms.  

From Katoomba, we headed to Oberon and stayed at Casey's Bush Retreat.  It's always a treat to stay at a rental home that does not have outdated country decor and shabby furnishings, and this place was great.

picture credit

I am, like any rational person, a wee bit obsessed with wombats.  While I was heating up dinner, Sam, Josh and the kids explored and found a massive wombat hole a short walk from the house.

 

And because there were no mothers present to provide a semblance of sanity, the natural next step was to send kids INTO the wombat hole for further exploration.  These photos were taken by Jackson, who lucky for him (and luckier for his father) did not find himself face-to-face with a wombat protecting its turf.

He went in far enough to tell me that 'it went up, down, around, and then broke off into different chambers'.  If this kid grows up and takes an office job instead of doing something outdoors, I'll eat my shirt.

A short time later, sunset was on full display from our porch.

With the woodburning stove roaring and (ahem) the champagne cork popped, it was the perfect way to end this first day.