New South Wales is not just Sydney

---

The last two days I visited the 2 big attractions in the area - the blue mountains and Jenolan caves.
Early on Wednesday morning I rented a car with Korhan - a Turkish-American guy, and we made our way to the mountains. Due to a stupid accident (really a small one) it took us quiet a long time and we became hungry. He stopped next to a fish and chips takeaway. It was only 10:30 in the morning... I didn't know then that it wasn't just a coincidence, but this guy is strange about food :-)
The Blue Mountains got their name from the blue mist - I didn't find it special but it was nice. The best spot is the "3 sisters" - 3 rock columns, that can be seen from a very convenient lookout in the town of Katoomba. I did a short hike in the area - walking down million stairs from the "sisters" to the valley below that, (I was disappointed to find that I don't get really deep in the valley), and after a short walk (with one impressive waterfall) I went up with a cable car. The walk back to town was in fact much more beautiful as I had the views all along.
I stayed overnight in a hostel in Katoomba. The guy working there was really nice. Since they still don't have guests laundry and Internet (they're really new) then he let me use his computer and the hostel laundry free of charge. I washed everything, and even separated the new jeans from the other things... what a treat...

On Thursday we went to visit Jenolan caves. again we started really early as we didn't know the times of the tours in the caves. We arrived to discover that we just missed the first one. The caves we wanted to see (based on the guide book) were very late in the day and we chose 2 other caves based on the reccomendations there.
BTW the Roughguide book taught as a new term that day, which became a theme of the the trip after that. Roughguide described one cave as "the best general cave" and the other as "spectacular". So why go see the "best general"???? since then, many things we saw were classified as "best general" or "spectacular". Unfortunately, if New Zealand was spectaclar, Australia is a lot "best general"....
Well the caves we saw were both spectacular. I have been to many caves and many don't thrill me anymore, but those had formations that I have never seen before. For example the helictites - they are not standing or hanging straight like stalctites and stalagmites- they just hang in various directions (picture will help understandign that). Thinking of how these things are created, it's strange to see these formations. They also have beautiful shawls ("curtains") and other simply beautiful "sculptures".
In the evening we drove about 400 kms (5 hours) to a town called Cooma, near the Snowy Mountains. I was afraid of driving in the night because of kangaroos - it is known that they are attracted to the lights and sometimes run to the car, and you do see many dead kangaroos on the side. This is a big animal, it's not a small accident. Anyway we ahd to do this long drive and fortunately, no kangaroo was seen.
On the way they have lots of signs reminding you not to fall asleep while driving. The most popular one in NSW state was "Rest, Revive, Survive in ... (name of town)". Cooma inspired us to propose a new logo: "Rest in Cooma or be in Coma" :-) (this is what happens to the brain after 5 hours driving?)
But the reward in Cooma was my hostel room: the room was an 8 bed girls dorm, but in fact it had a double bed + 6 other beds, en-suite + little kitchenette, and I was there by myself! My most private suite in this trip...

---

Photos

The stream in the Imperial cave
Maybe the clearest water I have seen

The stream again
You think you see sand but in fact you see water and the rock (not sand) below it

The Giant Staitcase
That's how it's called - it's not that bad actually. From the 3 sisters to teh valley