From Leura we visited the Jenolan Caves, a protected feature of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains. Donal kept us amused on the bus with some Irish songs. One in particular was a rendition called "Mabel's ass". He said it was about a donkey belonging to a woman named Mabel but I'm not so sure. He certainly made the trip go faster.

The Jenolan limestone karst caves are the world's oldest caves and are significant from both a sightseeing and scientific perspective. People have been making the trek here since the caves were discovered in 1838. The caves have icy blue rivers and fleecy limestone formations and are surrounded by an extensive wildlife reserve. We did the Lucas cave tour which had around 912 steps (can't remember the exact number). There are more than 300 subterranean chambers in this limestone belt that was deposited more than 300 million years ago. The stalagmite and stalagtite formations were incredible. The caves were once filled with water and there are certain formations that have names - the bishop, the broken column, the drapes to name a few. When the caves were first discovered people were allowed to explore them, take souvenirs and write their names on the walls. This is considered historical graffiti. Now if someone writes their name or even touches the walls it's considered vandalism. My pics really don't do the beauty of these caves justice so I've only included a few of them.

There is a huge cave called the Cathedral which is used for weddings and other events including concerts. The acoustics are supposedly superb. They sounded pretty darn good to me when the guide put on some music but our resident musician, Monica, didn't think they were that great. She would know as she plays saxophone in an all female orchestra in Berlin.

We had a picnic lunch by the river while trying to spot platypi. No luck but it was lovely watching the ducks and trout and lizards while lazing by the river.

On the way back from the caves Donal was the co-pilot again and got Cait all flustered with his antics, I guess. We missed the cutoff for Scenic World, where we were going to take the steepest train ride in the world. We decided to go back to the hotel to explore Leura some more. It didn't take long. It's smaller than the Main Street of Bracebridge and all the shops were closing up when we were strolling through. Still, it was a nice relaxing afternoon.

Another group dinner: it was "plum vagina" night at the restaurant. Well, that's what it sounded like to me! It's was actually Parmigiana night but I misheard! Oops!! I'm still trying to figure out some of the accents he ya (here) and it makes for an interesting conversation sometimes.