Day 3 - Of Cars and Caves

Dear Readers,

The Straight Times is proud to present day three of theokwek's Australian Odyssey, and today he braves the mist to explore the mist-ical Jenolan Caves.

On a side note, The Straight Times would like to wish all our readers, be you Christian or otherwise, a very Merry Christmas Eve and a Blessed Christmas. Celebrate well before school reopens again.

Ho Ho Ho

The Straight Times Editor.

The mist refuses to let up, and being the tough, hardy and crazy Singaporean Tourists that we are, we brave the storm and head across the hills and marshes to Jenolan Caves.

Driving through the ten-metre-visibility mist was like walking through the clouds - just that here, you're not sure where the clouds will just stop holding you. The only indication that there was solid ground ahead was the cars driving in the opposite direction. We assumed, to our benefit, that these cars weren't just figments of our imagination.

It's amazing where beauty can be found though. Up on the mountains, the wild flowers are simply breathtaking. It's terribly ironical how we modern humans try to dress ourselves up as much as possible, but none of us has matched the wonder of the beauty of a simple flower.

The drive was treacherous too, especially as we hit the ring road that curled about the sides of the mountains. I think the fact that i'm typing this is testimony to the supreme skills of the drivers and navigators - none other than our Dads. The first pic below, taken without zoom out of the car window, shows how close we came to a breathtaking (literally) drop. The second pic shows how misty it was.

Soon, though, we reached the caves. These are nothing less than intricate wonders of nature that were hewn out of the rock face over the silent course of winds and waves (there really is a river inside). When we got there we were entertained by a bread-eating parakeet who showed us that he was actually pleased to meet us. Soon, though, we set off on our tour of the caves. My photography fails me when we enter dark territory, so the following two pics may be blur.

After a big (in terms of the price) lunch - where tomato ketchup was exploded, sprite was spilled and the guys in general were being laughed at by tze yan and jess - we headed off to the Horseshoe Falls. We did make a short trek in the forest but before long the mist condensed into rain and we were chased back to the shelter of our cars. First picture shows the Govett's Leap waterfall, second pic shows a geoup of mad Singaporean tourists - from left, Daniel, me, Jessie, Tze Yan, Song Jia, Joanna (daniel's sis)

After that we went shopping at Katoomba town centre. Yes. I bought a penny whistle - cost much more than a penny though - and we bought a collective present for Johanna. The first picture below is an interesting store sign that we saw along the way. I'm loving it.

Anyway, after that we went back to our rooms but before i could sink into the deeper stages of 'nap' there was a banging on my door. Joanna asked: "Are you going?" and I said: "Where?" and she said: "echo point!" and i said: "who's going?" and she said: "Me, Song Jia, daniel, Jess, Andrew..." and i said: "Alright I'm going."

That second walk to echo point was very worth it. We got there just in time to catch the sunset on the three sisters and that million-dollar-view was the best of the whole trip. great. Well the second photo concludes today's post. A rather long and tiring one, i must say.