After advising family members that I was going far away out of Sydney where I will be uncontactable (almost the truth - I don't believe there is any phone reception underground) I headed by train towards the Blue Mountains.
Because I arrived at Katoomba Station earlier then anticipated, I had time to book my day trip for the following day to Janolan Caves at The Trolley Bus Company store and stop off to purchase some chocolates from The Paragon ("the chocolates that made Katoomba famous" apparently)
Staying at the YHA in Katoomba overnight, I had the dorm room all to myself. It was a nice quiet dorm room with a view down to the court yard and the mountains in the background. The 5 share dorm room was named "Eagles Nest Lookout" very appropriate as this is the name of the Restaurant at the top of Thredbo Mountain which I visit and the starting point of backcountry snow shoeing tours.
After 2 long phone conversations with an acquaintance who is back in Sydney, I had a shower and wondered down to the hostel kitchen to prepare dinner. I prepared a big plate of spaghetti with a fresh tomato, onion, garlic, basil and parsley sauce topped with some gouda cheese. Whilst I was cooking this dish I overheard someone in the kitchen (also preparing a pasta dish) comment on how good my sauce smelt. It did smell good and just taking the time to sit down in the dining room to eat it ALONE and in peace was even better!
After dinner and washing up, I returned to my dorm room to send a "selfie" of my meal I had just prepared and eaten to my acquaintance then took some photos of the view at night and packed for the following day's trip to Janolan Caves. I spent quite a bit of time considering what to wear as it looked like it was going to be a cold and wet day out at Janolan Caves. My brain was buzzing with everything that night and I found it very difficult to fall asleep even with relaxing music. Midnight and I finally fell asleep.
Next morning I packed, had a shower, wondered down to the hostel kitchen to prepare a breakfast of toasted sourdough sliced mushrooms with melted gouda and ground pepper - eating breakfast in the dining room ALONE again, taking another selfie of what I made for breakfast and sending it to my acquaintance before washing up, checking out and storing my luggage in a locker for the day before waiting for the bus to pick me up to take me to Janolan Caves for the day.
I was very disappointed with the organisation of the booking staff at The Trolley Bus Company. I had to follow up with a phone call to them after inadequate information about pick up time was provided and their failure to respond to my email inquiry regarding this. The desciption of the bus and pick up time given was incorrect. Reception at the YHA were unhelpful with my inquiry as well. I waited outside the YHA to be picked up until it started to rain and the bus was late. Another YHA staff member spotted me waiting outside for over half an hour and drove me up to The Trolley Bus Company Shop when I explained what had happened. I am greatful for her assistance. She explained that it has only been in the past week that the company has been having problems with forgetting to pick up passengers and wasn't sure if it was a staffing issue or work load issue. Whatever the problem I was unimpressed. I was lucky as I still had time to meet the bus outside The Trolley Bus Company Shop in time for its departure however one staff member inside the shop was quite rude about me changing my pickup location advising me the bus was probably already outside the YHA and looking for me. This may have been the case but the bus was very late if it was there outside the YHA. The bus was actually late departing Katoomba which meant less time for me and fellow passengers to explore the surrounds of Janolan Caves before our guided prebooked cave tours. We only had time for 1 hike around the Blue Lake Circuit and 1 cave tour - of which I chose The Orient Cave as I was advised was the most popular ( I later found out that others on the tour were advised differently)
One this day tour I met a girl and found out she was also from Chatswood. We were the first to rush off and explore the Blue Lake circuit. I wanted to see a platypus which our very informative bus driver advised resided in the Blue Lake. I looked very hard for them but all my new acquaintance and I spotted on our entire hike around the Blue Lake circuit were 3 lazy ducks sitting in a tree (I didn't think ducks sat in trees) , a rather large fish of some type and a lizard. Very disappointed but the Lake was extremely blue well more like a blue green probably due to all the mineral deposits in the water and was very tempting to go for a swim in which is probably prohibited. We took so many photos along our hike and a few selfies too - so many we could have run out of battery life on our phones before we even started our cave tours! (photos attached)
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| Inside Caves House |
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| Janolan Caves main driveway |
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| Outside The Nettle Cave |
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| The archway we walked under on the Blue Lake circuit back to The Grand Archway |
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| Wildlife spotting a lizard |
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| Blue Lake |
My prebooked cave tour of The Orient Cave started at 1.30 pm and my new acquaintance's probooked cave tour of The Lucus Cave started at 2 pm. Each cave tour was about 1 - 1.5 hrs long therefore we did not have any time after our cave tours to explore another cave or go for another hike as we had to be back at the bus by 3.30 pm. I was fortunate to have about 15 - 20 minutes to grab a souvenir and a bite to eat and go to the washroom however most of the healthier food options were sold out by the time my cave tour ended and my acquaintance's cave tour actually finished late therefore leaving her no time to use the washroom, get a snack or buy a souvenir. A good thing the bus driver waited for all cave tours to finish before departing back to Katoomba.
The Orient Cave was spectacular. I cannot describe what I saw, one has to experience it for themselves. It was so difficult to select and photograph everything you saw within the cave. It was meant to be the easiest of all the caves with the minimal amount of steps however it was actually quite a steep tour and an intermediate level tour. You were very tempted to touch the formations within the cave which is prohibited. I loved every second of the cave tour.
Rating Katoomba YHA 8/10 - have stayed there before - one of the better YHAs . Can imagine myself in the middle of Winter staying there and getting cosy next to the fireplace in the dining room
Rating The Trolley Bus Company 6/10 - very disappointed with organisation and staff. Bus driver (Rebecca) to and from Janolan Caves excellent and very informative - she even stopped so we could take photos on our way back to Katoomba of Mrs Wallaby and 2 of her offspring close up and personal but not too personal we were warned as they are wildlife not domesticated animals.
Rating Janolan Caves and tour of The Orient Cave 9/10 - excellent cave guide and excellent surrounds.
I would like to revisit Janolan Caves again however next time I will stay a few days in Janolan Caves so I will have time to do more hikes and more cave tours. The River Cave and Plug Hole tours will be on my bucket list. This was just an introduction to Janolan Caves as I have not been there since primary school as excursions.
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| Schedule of prebooked cave tours |
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| Mrs Wallaby |
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| Cave formations on display inside Caves House |
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| Chocolates from The Paragon |
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| Katoomba YHA |
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| Inside The Orient Cave |
