We went on the Zigzag Railway in Lithgow, a series of reversing ramps to enable the train to get down a steep hillside. It is only in use now as an historic tourist feature, we always enjoy a steam train ride, and the weather all weekend was just perfect for things like that. http://www.zigzagrailway.com.au/
On our way home on Sunday we went to Jenolan to have a look at the caves. http://www.jenolancaves.org.au/
The last 10 km down to the caves entrance was some of the twistiest roads in Australia, and when we got to the bottom we actually drove through one of the caves, out to the other side and into what looked like a replica alpine village, with half-timbered buildings with orange roofs. I often wonder what people were doing in this remote, hard-to-get-to part of the country in the late 1800's in order to discover these caves. They were impressive. There are 10 caves that can be explored, only by a guided tour. Each cave tour leaves at a specified time, so if there is one cave that you really want to see, and don't know the schedule in advance, you could be waiting a few hours. So we just signed up for a cave tour that left about a half hour hence; it was a 1 1/2 hour tour of the Orient Cave, that included walking through small passages to reach larger chambers. Lots of typical cave features like stalactites and stalagmites, pillars, and then some shawls, frozen rivers of crystal, and others. It was just beautiful.
After the guided tour we could do a self-guided tour of another set of caves, with an audio wand describing the features. This was just a huge cave, and really impressive. I've been to caves elsewhere in the world, and these are probably the best I've seen. Be sure to check out their website, it's great.
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