Jenolan Caves

Name: Jenolan Caves
Address: 4655 Jenolan Caves Road, Jenolan, NSW, 2790, AU
Telephone: +611300763311
Price range: $$
Rating: 4.6

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Jenolan, NSW
Jenolan Caves

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CLOSED FOR MAJOR ROAD REPAIRS

Jenolan Caves are located approx. 3 hours West of Sydney, in the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
(4286)

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 rooms. 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.

19/10/2026

The Aussie Bird Count begins! 🐦

Australia’s biggest citizen science event runs from Monday 19 October to Sunday 25 October.
To join in, all you need to do is:

🖥 Register at birdlife.org.au
📱 Download the Aussie Bird Count app
🔭 Grab your binoculars and camera
⏳ Spend 20 minutes counting every bird you can spot
✅ Submit your tally

It’s that easy and every count helps protect our feathered friends! 💚

Whether you're in the bush, the backyard, or the balcony - every bird counts!
Ready, set, count! Let’s make this the chirpiest count ever! 🦆🐦🦉

📷 Anne/JenolanCaves

16/10/2026

Flora Friday! 🪻

We’re now well into spring, with the beautiful Lilac (Syringa sp.) blooming once again in the gardens below the Caretakers Cottage.

Lilacs featured in the gardens here over 100 years ago, with a correspondent for the Lithgow Mercury describing them, along with Roses and Wisteria (which is also flowering now), as being ‘a mass of lovely blooms’ in October 1901.

A few Lilac facts: these lovely plants are native to southeastern Europe; they've been grown in Australia since at least 1843, with a record in a catalogue of plants cultivated at Camden (from Museums of History NSW records); and they symbolise renewal and new beginnings in the language of flowers 🪻

Photo: Laura/JenolanCaves

14/10/2026

Wildlife Wednesday! 🐦

Gang-gang Cockatoos (Callocephalon fimbriatum) are one of Australia’s most beloved parrots, with a cheeky little red crest in males, a pair bond that lasts for life, and an endearingly creaky call (like a rusty gate). Gang-gangs have been active lately near the top of the reserve, foraging for flowering eucalypts and wattles.

Sadly, the Gang-gang is an endangered species, with numbers declining rapidly after the 2019-2020 bushfires in south-eastern Australia.

What can you do to help conserve the species? 🤔

🔬Join your local citizen science or community group and become an active participant in adding to our knowledge about the species

🌳If you have a property, plant Gang-gang-friendly native trees, shrubs and ground cover and retain old hollow-bearing eucalypts

📚Learn about the threats facing this iconic species and become an advocate for their conservation and protection

What not to do?

🙅Authorities advise against feeding Gang-gangs and other native birds, since this can spread disease and alter their natural feeding or foraging behaviour.

Photo: Anne/JenolanCaves

12/10/2026

It’s Earth Science Week! 🔬

Let’s dig deep and take a closer look at some unusual cave crystal formations (speleothems) 🧐

Most of Jenolan’s speleothems are made of the mineral calcite (calcium carbonate, or CaCO3, the most abundant carbonate mineral known and the mineral that forms our limestone).

Speleothems can take many beautiful and interesting shapes depending on how and where they form:

🪣Hopper crystal: pools of calcite-rich water can produce hopper crystal, which has a hollowed-out lattice structure like a ‘hopper’ (an industrial container holding materials like dust, gravel or seeds). Electrical attraction is higher on the edges of the crystal, which grow faster than the centres, leaving bucket-like pits.

🌳Calcite ‘trees’: rapid loss of water in shallow pools can form small calcite ‘trees’ with branches of microcrystals, left behind as the water evaporates or sinks. These tiny ‘trees’ are often walled by rimstone pools, resembling miniature forests bordered by city walls.

🪸Cave coral: Cave corals, or coralloids, are clusters of nodules on short stalks – either smooth or knobbly like you see here – that grow from cave surfaces. Thin films of calcite-laden water slowly flow down from above or up from below through surface tension, with calcite deposited where the film is thin and where the curvature is great (as on the nodule tips).

💠Calcite structure: If you look closely, you can see calcite’s crystal structure in this actively growing formation. Calcite has a six-sided rhombohedral structure, a distorted cube (no right angles) with six equal faces.

Which of these unusual speleothems surprised you most? Let us know below! 👇

Image 1: Hopper and spar crystal
Image 2: Calcite trees
Image 3: Cave coral
Image 4: Crystal structure

Photos: Anne/JenolanCaves

11/10/2026

Spring has arrived at Jenolan, bringing a fresh burst of colour to the landscape. 🪻

Delicate lilac blooms, vibrant new growth and sweeping mountain views are a reminder that nature is awakening after winter's chill. Around every corner, the reserve is coming to life with the sights and colours that make this season so special.

We're lucky to experience the beauty of all four seasons at Jenolan, each one revealing a different side of this remarkable place.

While we're closed to visitors, scenes like this remind us that Jenolan's natural beauty continues to flourish, season after season.

💜 What do you love most about spring? Share your favourite part of the season in the comments below 👇

Photo: Laura/JenolanCaves

09/10/2026

Flora Friday! 🌺

We have several Rhododendrons growing in the gardens and on the slopes above the main precinct – ours are evergreen and blend in for most of the year, but then dazzle us with bright blooms every Spring.

Like many flowers, Rhododendrons have a fascinating history – they spread throughout the northern hemisphere and pollen fossils have been dated to 60 million years, predating the formation of the Himalayas as we know them (50 million years ago).

However, the topography of the Himalayas eventually led to a huge range of species in this area as the different Rhododendron populations were effectively isolated from each other by the ranges and valleys… which caused a great deal of excitement when these species were introduced to western horticulture in the mid-19th century!

Photo: Laura/JenolanCaves

07/10/2026

Wildlife Wednesday! 🦎

It’s wonderful to see our lizards out enjoying the spring sunshine after a long winter’s nap. 🌞

This Jacky Dragon (Amphibolurus muricatus) is one of our less common dragon lizards, a cousin of the much more common Eastern Water Dragon.

This little lizard has an outsized namesake: the star Nganurganity in the Canis Major constellation (called Sigma Canis Majoris in the Bayer system of Greek nomenclature). Nganurganity was an ancestral figure of the Boorong tribe of the Wergaia-speaking people of the Wimmera region, northwestern Victoria, who was said to have fought the moon over his two wives (the stars Wezen and Adhara). Nganurganity is one of four stars with officially recognised Australian Aboriginal names. ✨

Video: Anne/JenolanCaves

06/10/2026

🌍 Today is International Geodiversity Day 🌍

International Geodiversity Day, established by UNESCO and celebrated every 06 October, raises global awareness about the importance of rocks, minerals, fossils and landforms – the building blocks of Planet Earth. The 2026 theme is ‘Geodiversity on our Doorstep’, a time to stop and reflect on how our own landscapes came to be.

Infinitesimally slow geological processes have produced Jenolan’s limestones, caves and crystal formations (speleothems). The Jenolan Limestone, built from the remains of trillions upon trillions of shells, corals and other marine organisms, is around 430 million years old, a span of time almost too great to comprehend.

🪨Caves can form as acidic waters dissolve limestone, leaving holes or caves in the rock. Speleothems grow in the air-filled spaces

🐚The mineral calcium carbonate, found in ancient sea shells and corals, forms limestones like the weathered section you see here

💧 The calcium carbonate (calcite) in this water droplet will crystallise around the drop to form a straw, in a process called degassing

Photos: Anne/JenolanCaves

04/10/2026

Happy World Animal Day! 🐾

Meet three of Jenolan's most iconic residents:

🎶 The Lyrebird, nature's original sound effects expert.
💦 The platypus, master swimmer, local legend.
🦘 The Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby, king of rocky real estate.

While Jenolan may be taking a break from visitors, our wildlife hasn't missed a beat. These locals are still busy swimming, hopping and serenading their way through the valley.

Today we're giving a shout-out to some of the locals who make Jenolan such a special place. 💚

Images: Anne/JenolanCaves

02/10/2026

Flora Friday! 🌼

It’s not just the daffodils that turn our slopes yellow in spring – we have a number of daisy species, such as this native Groundsel (Senecio macranthus) that burst into bloom as the days grow longer and warmer.

Jenolan is home to a number of these native daisies, but the Senecio genus also includes Ragworts and other Groundsel, so we check them carefully to make sure they’re friends and not foe.

Photo: Laura/JenolanCaves

Address

4655 Jenolan Caves Road
Jenolan, NSW
2790

Telephone

+611300763311

Website

http://www.jenolancaves.org.au/

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