Zig Zag Railway & Jenolan Caves

1072 1956 fully restored puffer
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What a day! Have you ever been to see the Zig Zag Railway? Well we did today and we took a ride down the mountain attached to a fully restored 1956 steam train 1072 and one made in Maryborough Queensland. The engineers in 1860 who worked on the design of the Zig Zag and the men who cut the mountain to size to place three kilometers in length of rail line in a Z so that a train could decend 700 meters down and up the mountain, performed an incredible task. The grandure of the scale of the task was immence. The train left Clarence Station which is the upper level, through a tunnel, over a magnificent sandstone viaduct, through a deep cutting to Top Points Station, the center section of the decent. At this stage the engine changed from the head to the rear of the carriages ready for the next descent down to Bottom Points Station. From Bottom Points Station it is possible even now to connect with a Sydney bound electric or diesel. Unfortunatley for us it RAINED all the way and we were unable to stop along the way for scenic views and historical photos and too wet to visit the workshops. But I gathered a number of good photos that should wet the apetite for any train buff to consider visiting the Zig Zag. We were picked up at the Bottom Points by our Majestic Tours Bus and driven to Jenolan Caves. A spectacular drive in itself, the last section of road is oneway between 11:30am and 1:30pm because of errosion on both sides of the road. Not suitable for any articulated vehicle including caravans, although we did see one arrive. Then rounding the bend at the bottom of the range and to literally drive into the mountain and a natural cave and out the otherside to find yourself on the doorstep of Jenolan Caves Tourist & Guest House. A Grand Victorian Mansion which is now a guest house, staff quarters, gift shop, hotel etc. We had lunch at the Caves cafe and then proceeded to our Caves tour start point. 912 steps! That says enough in itself, but I battled on up and finally the whole effort was very much worth while. The caves are by no means the biggest in the world, but are the worlds oldest discovered open caves and more than 340 million years old. Huge in anyone's imagination and mind boggling in what ever direction you look while we slowly inched our way through the 860 meters of carved safety pathway. The 912 steps were a killer, but how awsome was the view. This particular tour took about 90 minutes and our tour guide John Callaghan had worked at Jenolan all his life. Very little water dripping and that is a bad sign said John. It may keep the tourists dry, but it is the head of Sydneys water supply. To understand the climb up before you enter the cave look at Blue Lake Jenolan photo, that was taken just before we entred the cave and continued to climb further up inside. We came out a different way. Today we woke to a heavy fog and now at 8am it is heavier, but the temperature is warmer and hopefully today we will get about and see the Glow worm tunnel and Helen can get to the craft place and we can get some dry photos of other interesting spots around town. So that is it, but I am now using EXTRA TIME on the Bigpond connection and charged at $9.60 an hour. How many months have 43 days? Big pond make and change the rules to suit themselves and as far as I can see at the moment it doesn't matter about customers.