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Hi. My name is Rob and I love Jenolan Caves. I first visited Jenolan when I was 10 years old and I thought it was great. When I left school I joined a caving club and spent a lot of time exploring the caves. I even managed to find a few caves no one had ever seen before! These days I work for Australia's airline, Qantas, but I still keep going to Jenolan. I'm lucky enough to work there on weekends as a tour guide. I'll do what I can to help you with your school assignments but please remember that I can't answer everyone's questions. Try and find what you are looking for on these pages first.

STUDENT FAQ - Answers to the most commonly asked questions.

Landforms

• How Caves Form - Explains how the caves have formed out of limestone rock.
• How Caves Form 2(animated) - This page repeats some of whatthe above page tells you about but includes animations to explain things further.
• Landforms - When people think of Jenolan they usually think of caves, yet this just one of the landforms to found here. Look at this page to find out more about the landforms at Jenolan
• Cave Decorations - Explains what types of cave decorations there are and how they form. Includes information on stalactites, stalagmites, shawls, flowstone and helictites.
• Map of the Caves - This is a map that shows the caves if you were to slice the mountain open and looked down on top of the caves plus another view that is side on so you can see how the caves go up and down.
• The Caves - This page introduces you to each of the caves at Jenolan, providing details on when the caves were found, when they were opened to the public, how long they are and how many steps.
  Geology of the Reserve - For information on how the rocks that form the caves came to be where they are, look at this page.
• Dating Rocks- An important part of geology is knowing how old a rock or formation is. This page explains how geologists date rocks.
  Flora of the Reserve - This page gives information on what types of plants grow above the caves

Environmental Issues

• Impact of Visitors - Explains all about what impact visitors have on the caves and what must be done to ensure they don't damage the caves.
• Food Web in the Caves - This sections describes what things live in the caves, what food chains exist and how delicate the food web is.
• Car Pollution - Many people wonder what impact cars have as they drive through the Grand Arch, one of the caves at Jenolan. This section describes some of the issues.
• Airflow in the Caves - The flow of air is very important regarding how the caves form and how people impact upon them. This section describes the importance of air flow.
• Climate at Jenolan - This page provides temperature and rainfall details for the Jenolan area
• Water Purity - Many people assume because water is flowing underground it is very pure. This section explains why this is not always so and why Jenolan's water is pure.
• Who Owns Jenolan Caves - This section provides information on how the caves are managed so that visitors can enjoy their time at the caves without damaging them.

Cultural Issues

• Aboriginal History- This section provides a dreamtime account that mentions the caves as well as some information about the aboriginal people in the area.
• European History - This provides information on how European settlers came to discover the caves.
• Historic Graffiti - Another way of studying the history of an area is to look at what people left behind. This page describes some of the old graffiti at Jenolan and what it tells us of the early visitors.
• Cultural Significance - Jenolan is very important to many people. This section describes the ways in which is important culturally.
• Jenolan Timeline - This document provides a list of key events in Jenolan's History.

Wildlife

• Eastern Grey Kangaroos - These animals can often be found in the valleys around the caves and at the cottages
• Bats - People often think of bats when they think of caves. This page gives lots of information about bats as well as links to other websites with useful information on bats.
• Swamp Wallabies - Swamp wallabies are frequently seen around the Jenolan Reserve
• Food Web in the Caves - This sections describes what things live in the caves, what food chains exist and how delicate the food web is.

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