Jenolan Caves description and photos - Australia: Sydney (Topic)

Jenolan Caves description and photos - Australia: Sydney. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. Title in English - Jenolan Caves.

Photo and Description

On the eastern slopes of the Blue Mountains, about 175 km from Sydney, are the famous Jenolan Caves, which are vast and surprisingly beautiful.

The discoverer of the caves in 1841 was a fugitive convict who took refuge in them from the gendarmes who were pursuing him. However, for another quarter of a century, the caves remained unexplored and practically not visited. It was only at the end of the 19th century that a devoted admirer of the caves appeared, who told the world about their beauty - a certain Jeremy Wilson was so delighted with this natural formation that he settled inside for 35 long years to fully devote himself to the study of this miracle.

The fame of the beauty of these places quickly spread throughout Australia, and a massive and uncontrolled flow of tourists rushed into the caves. Some of them never returned from the underworld, others strove to take with them fragments of stalactites as a keepsake. It became obvious that the situation needed to be changed, and already in 1866 the caves were taken under state protection, and decent money was allocated for their study. In 1884, the caves were named Jenolan after a nearby mountain. And the word "jenolan" in the language of local aborigines means "high".

The first scientific studies revealed that the Jenolan Caves are formed by two rivers - Rybnaya and Koks, which for hundreds of thousands of years have been digging into limestone sediments, leaving behind many underground channels. The caves stretch for tens of kilometers. Among them, there are dark and light. Light ones are those into which the rays of the sun penetrate through gaps and holes. These are the Big Arch caves, where Wilson lived, the Carlotta Arch, named after Wilson's lover, and the Devil's Coach House. The latter, according to eyewitnesses, looks like the dwelling of a fabulous monster - it is a huge hall about 100 meters high, dotted with limestone blocks. Sunlight has never penetrated into dark caves, these are natural voids. Among the most famous are Vaulted, River, Imperial. Until now, the total length of the caves is not exactly known, although many underground passages have already been quite well examined by speleologists. More than 250 thousand people annually visit this amazing underground kingdom.

We also recommend reading Mosaic labyrinth description and photo - Abkhazia: Gagra

Topic: Jenolan Caves description and photos - Australia: Sydney.