The Aussie salute and six seconds of free fall

At times we practise the Aussie salute, waving our hands in front of our face at regular intervals to prevent bush flies from landing on our face, and entering our nose or mouth. After awhile I started to look around to confirm that everyone was doing it, including the locals - yes most people were saluting. The bush flies looked like house flies but are attracted to us to feed. I was surprised to find them in downtown Sydney - but there they were, especially in the parks. I understand the flies used to be an even worse nuisance, until the Australians introduced foreign dung beetles a few decades ago that significantly reduced the bush fly population. I would tell you why the beetles helped but it's gross, so look it up if you're interested. I don't think I would want to move to Australia just because of this. Sorry Australia, amazing place and all, but what's with the flies?

After learning about the beetle, I started wondering what other foreign species have been introduced to Australia, and to what effect. It turns out this country is an invasive species theme park, where foreign species like foxes and rabbits have caused havoc to the local environment over the years.

It is thought that perhaps two dozen rabbits were let loose for hunting sport on one farm in the province of New South Wales in the 1850's, and within ten years there were millions of rabbits eating the vegetation and causing soil erosion problems. The problem was so bad that by the 1870's the government was offering a reward for any new ideas to control the population. A large fence was constructed across Australia from north to south in the early 1900's to prevent rabbits, foxes and other animals from moving to the west, but it didn't work. By the 1950's viruses were introduced to the rabbit population, which killed off many of them. But the survivors were immune and re-established themselves soon enough. Some would say the foxes have had an even worse impact, and were responsible for the extinction of many native animal species. Even domestic cats cause havoc with the easy prey, which are so vulnerable to foreign predators.

We haven't seen any rabbits or foxes, but we have enjoyed sighting the local wildlife. On the way by car to the Blue Mountains we spotted a few wallabies, including one with a baby in her pouch. We pulled over and were able to get up very close to the pair, who were feeding on the grass, with baby in mother's pouch copying what the mother was doing - they were very endearing. On a related note, yesterday at the grocery store we saw kangaroo burgers and sausages for sale. I was up for some roo but Catheleen would have none of it - maybe next time. I understand it's very tasty, and I don't think we should discriminate by only eating the ugly animals.

We've also seen flocks of scarlet rosella parrots and cockatoos. The parrots are blue and red and are very bold. We were able to hand feed them crackers very easily. The cockatoos make this awful squawking noise. But they do make up for it when we see a flock flying overhead, all in white with smatterings of light yellow on their under bellies.

Last Friday was cold and wet so we decided it was a good day to visit the Jenolan caves. We've seen a few caves on this trip, but this cave complex was the best one we've visited. The highlight was a guided tour of the Chifley cave, one of many caves available for tours. The cave walk was well described by the guide, and well done with concrete pathways, railings and stairs which led down pathways from one large chamber to the next. As we descended down into the deeper chambers we saw beautiful limestone crystal formations, including delicate opaque sheets of limestone crystals called veils that looked like flowing sheets. We also enjoyed learning about the history of cave exploration starting in the 1800's, when the cave explorers were mapping out the caves using basic ropes and candlelight. It's been an increasingly popular tourist attraction since that time, and it's good to see the operators have been kind to the place and have kept the formations intact.

Yesterday we visited Scenic World in Katoomba, which provided stunning views of the limestone cliffs and the Jamison Valley floor below. The place had a glass bottomed gondola which travelled 300 meters above the valley below, allowing us to see the cliff faces we were leaving from and travelling to. Once on the other side, we took a hike along the top of the cliffs. Along the way we were able to go up to railings, and look straight down the cliff faces to the tree tops below. One of the guides on the gondola said it would take six seconds of free fall to reach the ground. I did the math though and I think it's closer to eight seconds (sorry, I can't help doing the math - old habit). We saw a few foolhardy people who were on the wrong side of the railings and sitting close to some of the cliff edges. This gave me the creeps - a few people in the area fall to their deaths every year doing crazy poses and selfies near the edges.

We next took a train ride down to the valley on a 52 degree decline in a glass roofed carriage. We were told this was the steepest passenger railway in the world. It was pretty fast as it whipped us down through a tunnel in the rock and then along the side of the mountain to the valley floor. Once there, we took a boardwalk through the rain forest, saw some remnants of coal mining from the late 1800's, and then eventually went back up via another gondola. The rainforest had massive eucalyptus and turpentine trees, and also these unique fern trees with canopies spanning 20 feet or more. It was a strange but beautiful place.

Here is Elizabeth and me travelling down the railway.