Getaway....to Wentworth Falls

Finally Avi's stressful semester ended and we badly and madly wanted to getaway from our routine busy life. Locations wasn't set for X'mas in July but finally settled with a place that has a good collection of Victorian and other historic buildings and excellent trails into the Blue Mountains National Park. Wentworth Falls offers spectacular views over the Jamison Valley and boasts the spectacular waterfall for which it is named. It has been a tourist destination for nearly 150 years. Small village of Wentworth Falls offers a serene ambiance with Wentworth Falls, Valley of the waters, Breakfast Point, Jamison Prince Rock, Vast Southerly views, Wentworth Falls Lake; we covered all of them and also covered few from dozens of tracks and trails with many breathtaking lookouts. Simply amazing to be there in freezing winter, we enjoyed every moment of it. We didn't forget to visit Australian Buddhist Vihara at Katoomba where we sat for an alms giving ceremony and pirith chanting.

Day two: we drove to Jenolan Caves, Australia's most impressive limestone caves. There are nine caves open to the public with spectacular lighting, underground rivers and cave formations. They are called Imperial, Chifley, Jubilee, Lucas, Pool of Cerberus, River, Orient, Temple of Baal and Ribbon. A dating method used by petroleum companies to find oil deposits has put the age of the Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales at 340 million years; that is Carboniferous age which is way before Dinosaurs!

We only managed to explore Temple of Baal which is one of the most highly decorated caves at Jenolan and was discovered in 1904 and it is named after the Biblical reference to Baal. This cave is world famous for its vast array of helictites which seem to defy gravity as they form. No sooner we'll go back there to explore all the other caves and the surrounding valley.