Feb 14: Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! It is another blustery day in the Blue Mountains. On Mei's suggestion, I've decided to check out the Jenolan caves. This tourist attraction is a series of walks, guided and unguided through incredible natural caves through the heart of the Blue Mountains. It boasts enormous chambers with stellar natural formations made as the limestone is slowly disintegrated by water from all directions.

Of all the things I've seen in Australia so far, this is the least expected and one of the most thought provoking. It feels a little like some sort of junior high school science field trip. In the photo you can see one rock formation that looks like a caterpillar. This is a stromatalite formation, created by some of the oldest "living" creatures in the world. They are sort of a single celled slime that are believed to be largely responsible for creating the atmosphere... the rock is a waste product, built up over thousands of years. This is one of maybe 3 places in the world you can see them in action!