I’ve just returned from an amazing adventure at Jenolan Caves or previously known to the Gundungurra people as Binomil. If you are a visitor to Sydney it’s a day trip to Jenolan and well worth the visit. The caves are entered by a grand arch of spectacular beauty surrounded by the Blue Lake which really is very blue.

I stayed a couple of nights in the Caves house which was lovely. It made night cave tours possible and allowed me to really ‘feel’  the quiet beauty of the caves. The caves were formed about 420 million years ago after being under the sea. Sea fossils can be seen in the rock of the caves. These shells contain calcuim carbonate which creates the  limestone crystalline formations and the cave’s limestone creations continue to be formed. A small stick of limestone crystal takes 100 years to grow 1cm!

I have visited the caves intermittently over my lifetime and when I saw them about 30 years ago I believed they were degrading, with tours of over 100 people through some caves.  But this time I thought they were better than ever and I felt hopeful about their continuing beauty and maintenance for future generations to enjoy. It is humbling to be in such a landscape of enormous natural history and totally inspiring.

When I’m in such awe inspiring places I’m always looking for the composers, musicians and artists who must be bowled over like me. The music composed for the river cave silences and trickles, artist’s in residence guiding with special tours, the textiles and paintings designed  to celebrate our human responses to such natural forces.  But there never seems to be any. Not obviously at least. Although there are some concerts in the caves the exuberance of everyday human artistic passion isn’t there. The shop was filled with souvenir magnets and the like which don’t do the caves any favours. I’m always disappointed in the lack of human interpretation present at these places…where is it? Am I missing something?

Obviously geology and textiles are a natural fit. So I’ve produced some tencel, linen/stainless steel, wool, and mohair pieces which capture some of my images of the Blue Lake.  This handpainted warp was woven on the Saori loom sett at 24epi (10epc).