Jenolan Caves

Jenolan Caves CLOSED FOR MAJOR ROAD REPAIRS

Jenolan Caves are located approx. 3 hours West of Sydney, in the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
(4292)

One of the world’s oldest and most famous cave systems – Jenolan is a world of its own. Jenolan Caves are Australia's most spectacular caves and the largest that are open to the public. Jenolan Caves are also the world's oldest show caves at 340 million years old. We offer fantastic guided cave tours. Stay overnight in the magnificent heritage-listed Caves House or one of our more modern motel roo

ms. Dine in our historic Chisolm's Restaurant one of the last two Grand Dining Rooms in Australia. We have 52 rooms available at the property and daily tours of the caves. Visit our gift shop for a keepsake of your visit. We can cater for private group bookings, corporate functions, weddings and other large events.

Meet the Research Team 👋Research into Jenolan’s platypuses dates from 2020, led by Jenolan Caves, University of NSW and ...
30/08/2026

Meet the Research Team 👋

Research into Jenolan’s platypuses dates from 2020, led by Jenolan Caves, University of NSW and DCCEEW. A platypus monitoring study began through post-flood cleanup (desedimentation) at the Blue Lake and Hydro Weir, with the aim to protect both platypuses and their habitat. Their monitoring has already resulted in two peer-reviewed research papers and valuable insights into platypus behaviour and movements.

Today, the project has expanded with new team members from Western Sydney University and Charles Sturt University. Researchers are capturing, assessing and microchipping platypuses, while also studying water quality and aquatic life to better understand the health of Jenolan's platypuses and their habitat.

Dr Anne Musser
Jenolan local for 17+ years, Research Associate with the Australian Museum, and monotreme expert studying platypuses, echidnas and their extinct relatives.

Dr Tom Grant
A retired platypus researcher with a continuing interest in the species, especially its ecology and conservation.

Dr Eren Turak
Principal Scientist with DCCEEW and biodiversity monitoring specialist who helps monitor the Jenolan River ecosystem.

Dr Michelle Ryan
Freshwater ecologist and leader of the Hawkesbury-Nepean Platypus Project, dedicated to protecting platypus populations and habitats.

Dr Katherine "Kat" Warwick
Postdoctoral researcher studying platypuses, aquatic ecosystems and the impacts of environmental contaminants.

Dr Joanne Connolly
Veterinarian and researcher specialising in platypus and wildlife health.

Dr Geoff Dutton
Veterinary and conservation scientist, wildlife rescuer and co-founder of Wildlife Rescue and Research.

💙 Together, this team is helping us better understand and protect one of Australia's most unique mammals.

Image 1: Dr Anne Musser 📸 JenolanCaves
Image 2: Dr Tom Grant 📸 Gina Grant
Image 3: Dr Eren Turak 📸 Anne/JenolanCaves
Image 4: Dr Michelle Ryan 📸 Josh Newman
Image 5: Dr Katherine Warwick 📸 Anne/JenolanCaves
Image 6: Dr Joanne Connolly 📸 John Coles
Image 7: Dr Geoff Dutton 📸 Joanne Connolly

Flora Friday! 🪻Spring is definitely in the air – we can smell the Narcissus and Hyacinths in bloom as we walk past the g...
28/08/2026

Flora Friday! 🪻

Spring is definitely in the air – we can smell the Narcissus and Hyacinths in bloom as we walk past the gardens.

We have several different colours of Hyacinth in the gardens – ‘Aiolos’ (a creamy white), ‘Pink Surprise’ (a light pink), ‘Purple Star’ (a light purple) and ‘Woodstock’ (a deep purple – pictured).

The bulbs contain chemicals that can cause ‘hyacinth itch’, so our horticulturalist is always careful to wear gloves when she plants them.

Spring is waking up the gardens one bloom at a time. Which flower are you most excited to see this season? 🌼

Photo: Laura/JenolanCaves

💧 World Lake Day! 💧Today is World Lake Day, established by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness about ...
27/08/2026

💧 World Lake Day! 💧

Today is World Lake Day, established by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness about the vital ecological value of lakes, and to promote their sustainable management in an era of climate change and instability. World Lake Day 2026 is only the second anniversary of this special day; the first World Lake Day was held just last year, in 2025.

Jenolan’s Blue Lake, although a man-made lake, is one of our most important aquatic habitats; even man-made lakes can be important habitat worthy of management, care and restoration.

The Blue Lake is home not just to our iconic platypuses, but to butterflies and other insects that rely on waterside vegetation, birds that may build their nests by the lake, reptiles like water dragons that bask in the sun, and mammals like the endangered Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies that head down to the lake for a drink at dusk.

Image 1: Eastern Water Dragon
Image 2: Satin Flycatcher
Image 3: Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby
Image 4: Ringed Xenica

Photos: Anne/JenolanCaves

26/08/2026

Wildlife Wednesday! 💦

Our Platypus Research Team has established an ongoing program to capture, microchip and assess the health of Jenolan’s platypus population, which will help us better understand how our platypuses are faring. Once a platypus has been assessed and microchipped, it’s ready to be released back to the wild.

A platypus release is our favourite time of night, when we get to watch our platypus head back down the bank and slip back into the water. Strategically placed cameras, including ones that work underwater, catch the action. These are great records for us as well as a bit of fun, so we thought we’d share one of our videos with you! 🎥

Video: Jenolan Platypus Research Team

🛎Checking into Jenolan's tiniest hotel! 🛎The Blue Lake must be periodically cleaned to remove rocks and gravels brought ...
23/08/2026

🛎Checking into Jenolan's tiniest hotel! 🛎

The Blue Lake must be periodically cleaned to remove rocks and gravels brought in by floods. This can also remove waterbugs, the platypuses’ only source of food.

How to bring waterbugs back to the Blue Lake? Waterbug numbers in undisturbed parts of the Jenolan River are high, so a plan was hatched to collect some of these little bugs by constructing ‘waterbug hotels’, which are made of brick and mesh and that waterbugs will colonise. 🏨

How to make the perfect 'waterbug hotel’?

🪡 Build the ‘hotels’ using house bricks for structure and ballast, fine mesh for waterbugs to cling to, larger mesh (gutter guard) to package it up, and fishing line to tie it all together.

💦 Drop the finished ‘hotel’ into the river downstream where waterbugs are likely to live, perhaps under banks or in slow-moving parts of the river.

🍽 Once the ‘hotels’ puts up their ‘no vacancy’ sign (a process taking a couple of months) take the hotels with their waterbug ‘tenants’ to the Blue Lake to provide a good supply of tucker for our resident platypuses.

It's a great reminder that healthy ecosystems depend on even the tiniest creatures!
💙

Photos: Anne/JenolanCaves

💡On this day in 1931..The Ribbon Cave opens to visitors ✨Located off the famous Orient Cave and discovered shortly after...
22/08/2026

💡On this day in 1931..

The Ribbon Cave opens to visitors ✨

Located off the famous Orient Cave and discovered shortly after it, the Ribbon Cave is renowned for its delicate and unusual formations. Among its treasures are exquisite helectites, amazing pool crystal, and the beautiful "Lily Pad" pendant. 💎

Even though you can't visit Jenolan right now, we don't want you to forget about our amazing caves ✨

💙 Have you visited the Ribbon Cave? What was your favourite formation?

Photos: Anne/JenolanCaves

Flora Friday! 🌲One of our most famous historic trees, the English Walnut (Juglans regia), was once suggested to be the l...
21/08/2026

Flora Friday! 🌲

One of our most famous historic trees, the English Walnut (Juglans regia), was once suggested to be the largest walnut tree in Australia, with an article in the Western Herald (2 April, 1965) stating ‘experienced travellers claim it is the biggest walnut tree they've ever seen’ and asking for ‘any other claimants for the title of Biggest Walnut Tree in Australia?’

It was a good question, as Walnut trees can grow to a height of 35m and have a canopy of up to 15m in diameter! They’re originally from the Mediterranean and have been cultivated for thousands of years; they were definitely in Australia by 1928, with records of cultivation in the Sydney Botanic Gardens (Caroline Simpson Library), so there could have been other claimants for the title.

Our original tree is no longer with us – it grew 90 years before falling in a storm in 1982 – but there are several of its descendants still growing in the valley, including this lovely specimen near Caves House.

Photo: Laura/JenolanCaves

19/08/2026

Today is World Photography Day! 📸

There are countless ways to use photography to document the natural world. Wildlife photography using remote cameras, however, is something special. These rugged, weatherproof cameras, set up in locations where animals are likely to be seen, record animals just going about their business.

Our Environment and Heritage Officer, working on Jenolan’s remote camera initiative, suspected that he might be in luck after he spotted an active wombat burrow. A remote camera, positioned just outside the burrow, captured one of our gorgeous resident wombats heading out for the evening.

🐾 Thanks to a little patience and a well-placed camera, this wombat was ready for its close-up!

Video: JCRT/JenolanCaves

19/08/2026

Wildlife Wednesday! 📹

We’ve been monitoring our Blue Lake platypuses since 2020 to protect both platypuses and their habitat. Remote cameras, or trail cams, have proven to be a great way to track these difficult-to-spot animals. 🧐

Early in the project we found something quite unexpected – in order to go in and out of the Blue Lake, our platypuses and other small animals use a round hole through the dam wall, which we’ve dubbed the ‘Mousehole.’

This little tunnel, just platypus-sized, gives our platypuses a way to scoot to and from the Blue Lake so they can feed or explore downstream of the Dam in relative safety. Man-made corridors or infrastructure like this can be extremely important transitways for wildlife living where predators are a threat.

💙 It’s a reminder that even the smallest passages can open up a world of possibilities for wildlife!

Remote camera: JCRT/JenolanCaves

Dr Anne Musser recently represented Jenolan Caves at the 2026 Platypus Conference at Taronga, joining researchers and co...
16/08/2026

Dr Anne Musser recently represented Jenolan Caves at the 2026 Platypus Conference at Taronga, joining researchers and conservationists from across the country to discuss the latest advances in platypus biology and conservation.

The conference provided an opportunity to share knowledge, discuss emerging conservation challenges and strengthen connections across the platypus research community.

Anne presented the work she, Dr Tom Grant (University of New South Wales) and Dr Eren Turak (DCCEEW) did on monitoring of platypuses at the Blue Lake, Anne also introduced the current research team, which adds four new members from Western Sydney University and Charles Sturt University.

We're proud to see Jenolan contributing to important conservation conversations and collaborative research efforts focused on one of Australia's most iconic animals. 🤝

Stay tuned as we share more about the fascinating work being carried out to better understand and protect the Blue Lake platypus population. 💙

Image of the Platypus research team at Taronga. (From left to right) Dr Tom Grant, Dr Michelle Ryan, Dr Joanne Connolly, Dr Anne Musser, Dr Geoff Dutton. (Front) Dr Katherine Warwick. Absent: Dr Eren Turak.

Read more on our blog: www.jenolancaves.org.au/news-stories

Photo: Sarah Cordell

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4655 Jenolan Caves Road
Jenolan, NSW
2790

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+611300763311

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