Downstream Imperial in Jenolan Caves

 Cave diving, NSW  2 Responses »
Jul 222014
 
Downstream Imperial in Jenolan Caves

About the site Today’s photos are from the Downstream Imperial section of Jenolan. Jenolan Caves up in NSW see nearly a quarter of a million visitors each year. The show caves and pathway system are extensive and tours run frequently. From a diving perspective, this means timing our entrance so as not to interfere. For Downstream Imperial we moved off the beaten track and down to the water through an area known as the Woolshed. About the dive Unlike our through trip on Saturday, this Sunday dive doesn’t allow us out the other end. And instead of swimming upstream against the flow, we were swimming downstream. There are two main rivers in Jenolan that both emerge into the Blue Lake. [read more…]

Diving Jenolan Caves

 Cave diving, Caving, NSW  1 Response »
Jul 072014
 
Diving Jenolan Caves

About the site Jenolan Caves are a huge tourist attraction up in the Blue Mountains of NSW. The extensive show cave system sees thousands of visitors every year. The local caving groups are still in exploration mode in the further reaches of the cave, adding to the map each year. It’s been three years since I last dived Jenolan Caves. That trip was memorable for the first dive on Saturday morning being the only one we did – 10 minutes after getting into clear water, a tidal wave of mud turned up. Flooding rain meant diving was off for the rest of the weekend and with many of the paths flooded out and closed to tours we went for a [read more…]

The Shaving Brush in McCavity

 Cave diving, NSW  No Responses »
Jun 032013
 
The Shaving Brush in McCavity

About the cave While I did get a dive in over this weekend just past, a crappy weather forecast led me to leave the camera behind. In reality I should have taken it as the vis and the ocean conditions were fine. But I didn’t, and I find myself with no update for you this morning, so I’ve gone back to the archives to look for an interesting photo that hasn’t had exposure up here yet. I dived in McCavity Cave (the wet bit of Limekiln Cave) up at Wellington back in early 2012, guided by the fantastic Greg Ryan. I talked about it at the time in the post here, noting how the cave was larger, darker and milkier [read more…]

Backlighting in McCavity Cave

 Cave diving, NSW  2 Responses »
Jan 302012
 
Backlighting in McCavity Cave

About the site McCavity Cave is used by local cave divers to refer to the underwater portion of Limekiln Cave, part of the Wellington Caves near Wellington, NSW. Approximately a 5 hour drive from Sydney, Wayne and I flew up from Melbourne one Friday night to check out the cave diving. McCavity is notable for a couple of reasons, the first being the underwater stalactites and stalagmites. The second reason is the unusual entrance. After climbing down through the dry cave to a chamber known as Central Station where gear is assembled and drysuits are donned, divers duck and crawl through the last section down to a small hole. Recent rains had brought the water level up to the top [read more…]

High flow in Jenolan Caves

 Cave diving, NSW  8 Responses »
Dec 122011
 
High flow in Jenolan Caves

About the caves Jenolan Caves are a major tourist attraction located about 2 hours drive west of Sydney, in the Blue Mountains. The extensive and highly decorated show caves attract 200,000 visitors a year, and have great infrastructure with lighting, stairs and handrails throughout. There are a couple of options for getting off the beaten track however, with the first being the underwater route between spectacular show caverns. The other is new areas of dry cave that are actively explored by local caving groups. One of these, SUSS (Sydney University Speleological Society) was kind enough to invite me, along with Harry, Ken and Wayne, to do some cave diving over a weekend. Unfortunately, it rained solidly for the week before [read more…]