Chillagoe Caving
Expedition -- Queensland, Australia
January, 2000
The greatest density of caves in
the world is said to exist in the remote Australian outback of Queensland. Here, 400 million years ago, in the Devonian
era, warm seas resulted in extensive limestone formations. When the seas receded, the limestone began to erode.
Over the eons rain began to form channels.
Eventually these channels became tunnels and finally, large caves.
As the erosion continued towers resembling the tepuis of the
Gran Sabana in Venezuela were formed.
Vertical caverns were formed when sections of the limestone collapsed. Some of these were lighted by openings to the sky, while others remained
dark. The caves were populated by a few
species: bats, spiders, and crawling insects.
The first humans appeared, these aboriginals were probably fearful of
the dark underworld and apparently did not venture far inside. Nevertheless, they left their mark by
drawing symbols resembling animals in a few areas reached by light. Thousands of years later, other humans came
who had the technology and curiosity to light and explore these dark
caverns. They experienced their beauty
and even developed a few caves as commercial enterprises, dynamiting entrances to make it easier to climb down.
By the mid-1900s the population fell drastically as mines and smelters
were closed. Now, except when lit by a
few inquisitive explorers, the caves
are dark, with the exception of two lighted caves maintained by the park
service for tourists.
To find caves in Queensland, one merely
seeks limestone towers dotting the countryside. Once a tower is located the caves can be 
reached by climbing the tower or
perhaps from ground level. Climbing
must be done with care because the limestone is cut in many grooves about one
inch apart. The tops of the grooves are
extremely sharp so gloves and thick hiking boots are a necessity. Also, you will need a cave helmet and
light. Although one can camp out here,
it’s better to stay indoors for two reasons.
Firstly. it can be very hot here so air conditioning is a plus. Secondly, when rain comes, it comes in a
deluge. Chillagoe has been flooded to a
depth of several feet at times – it would be dangerous to get caught in such a
flood in a tent.
During 1999 Jay Goldenberg, Jay Tolson,
and Jay Smith, members of the Explorers Club,
planned an expedition to this remote Australian outback. We would take with us all of the gear
necessary for caving. Our goal was to
visit representative caves and explore unexplored caves, if possible. We also
wished to look for any special life in the caves. Dr. Nick Sullivan, a renowned cave biologist knowledgeable about
this area, led the expedition. He is a
past president of the Explorers Club and a Catholic Brother [St. Mary's Order
in Philadelphia].
Chillagoe, our destination, is
located ~250 KM west of Cairns in Queensland.
Its a town of only ~100 people.
Our route was to Sydney, then north to Cairns. We rented a 4WD vehicle in
Cairns and drove ~250 KM to Chillagoe.
The area around Chillagoe has seen two main uses: cattle raising and mining. Cattle were allowed to range free and then
herded at Mungana for their trip to markets.
Cattle still roam free here, so you still need a fence to keep the
cattle out, not to keep them in! This
area used to have towns with many thousands of people working the mines and
smelters. However, they have mostly played
out and the population has plummeted.
January 7, 2000. Friday
Jay Tolson [JT] & Jay Smith
[JS] were to meet early in LA to have dinner and catch the Sydney flight,
however JT's flight from Philadelphia was late and he nearly missed the Sydney
flight. Because the LA flight was also very
late we also nearly missed the subsequent Sydney to Cairns flight! Upon arrival
in Sydney, we had to transfer from the international terminal to the domestic
terminal – this delayed us considerably.
As we raced through the Sydney domestic terminal, our names were being announced over the
terminal PA system! Fortunately, they
delayed this flight a while for us, probably because both flights were on
Qantas.
Jay Goldenburg >>>
At the Cairns airport we met Nick Sullivan [NS] and Jay Goldenberg
[JG]. We promptly rented a 4WD Toyota
[to go to Mareeba over smooth paved roads] and started toward Chillagoe [which
was on a dirt road]. JS drove as he was
most familiar with left-hand-side driving and roundabouts. After passing over the heavily wooded
Kuranga mountains, we entered a rolling countryside. We stopped for lunch at the largest town in the area,
Mareeba. Although there were
restaurants, we could not find one open
on this Sunday afternoon, only the pubs were open! Finally, we noted a Kentucky Fried Chicken
where we got sandwiches. To improve the
atmosphere, we took our food to a pub filled by people resembling those from
the old West; everyone wore a hat and had a lot of character. Some were playing pool, others were at the
bar. By this time we were almost too
tired to eat, however!
From Mareeba the road was an
alternating combination of pavement and dirt.
Streams sometimes went right over the road. During rains these roads become impassable. We stopped in the settlement of Almaden,
population 23, at the Railway Hotel to view the pretty secluded garden kept by
the owners. There were banana trees
with protective skirts on the clumps of fruit to keep off birds. A fence surrounded the garden to keep out
cows. Everything was lush and green
here as compared to the country outside the little hotel. Proceeding further west, the road became
mostly dirt. We passed a small green
mountain with a house and abandoned car with the word ‘Zappa’ painted on it. This
was a former town where railroaders lived to maintain the tracks. Driving further
we began to see gray limestone towers like medieval castles near the road. Their jagged tops resembled ramparts. The caves within were analogous to the
passageways and dungeons of castles.
Arriving in Chillagoe by ~16:30, we
checked into the Caves Lodge where Coober and Marcia would be our hosts along
with BD, their friendly red cattle dog.
This dog is definitely rated # 10! The lodge has a small dining room and
a bar. Didgeridoos made by Coober are
on display and for sale. There are
about a dozen rooms and even a small swimming pool in this lodge! [BTW, it’s for sale so here is your chance
to move to the outback!]
Chillagoe does not need stop
signs or traffic lights! It has two
pubs, the Post Office Hotel [POH] and the Black Cockatoo, sometimes called the
Black Cockroach! There is a post office, a school, and a fire station. It even
has a small ‘hospital’ with a nurse and an air strip! From the town, one can observe several high limestone formations
of gray rock including Dome Rock. In the
early 1900s Chillagoe had perhaps ten thousand people employed in the mining
industry, but the main smelter closed in the early 1940s and the population
fell drastically. You can observe the
smokestacks of the smelters [located on a high hill] from ‘downtown’.
Later, we visited the pub in the POH
and met the colorful locals wearing Aussie hats. They were very friendly and talkative. Vince Kinnear, who had documented >300 caves, came over. However, he is too weak to explore caves at
his age. The pub has a limestone bar
and on a post you will see a 4 foot-high-mark showing the water level of the
1927 flood. The walls are covered in
graffiti left by many visitors. It is
amazing to see how far people will come to get to Chillagoe!
10 January, 2000, Monday
We had a hearty breakfast at 7:30 and
walked to the ranger station at 8:30 where we met the chief ranger, Lana
Little. She explained that their duty
is to protect the national parks and ensure the safety of visitors. Her maps of the area are impressive, showing
thousands of hectares to monitor. One
thing they do is to make protective burns to keep fires from destroying large
areas or homes.
Later, we drove west of
Chillagoe, past cattle stations and the former towns of Zillman and Mungana, which
used to have three thousand people each.
Continuing several KM west, we turned right onto a narrow dirt road
leading to aboriginal drawings of a red snake made under a rock ledge. They were possibly thousands of years old
but there is no agreement about their age.
Afterwards, we proceeded to a 'lost cave' found earlier by NS but since
lost. The entrance was in deep brush
growing right up to the sides of the limestone formation. We explored several tunnels formed at
different angles and different widths.
One could see how and where water had carved these into the rock. These caves have many features: false
floors, columns, stalactites, stalagmites, and smooth pendulous hangings formed
by many floods over the millennia. We
noted that sunlight at a specific angle had weathered the limestone in grooves
parallel to the direction of the light, this is called phytokarst. In other areas, sunlight had fostered the
growth of green lichen on the walls or floors of caves. Outside, the weathered towers of limestone
reminded me of the tepuis on the Gran Sabana of Venezuela. Of course, there were no waterfalls here
because there is considerably less rainfall.
Exiting this cave we searched for yet another 'lost' cave discovered by
NS. We explored many tunnels in it
also.
Next, we visited a mine that was
abandoned c. 1910, called the Lady Girofola Mine. It once had a thousand people that were served by railway. NS said that in the 1970s there was much equipment
here but it was gone now, only a few iron bars and buckets remained. Houses once were numerous in the area, but
they were nowhere seen. It was easy to see that human presence vanishes
quickly, once an area is abandoned. We
climbed down into the mine, traversing steep slopes, but it was dangerous
footing. Then, JG was stung apparently by wasps, so we did not remain long.
< Aussie barperson.
Afterwards, we drove back to Chillagoe,
where we visited an abandoned quarry of white limestone. Here, giant 8-foot square blocks of pure
white stone lay outside the quarry.
Inside the quarry one could see where hundreds of blocks had been
removed. The drill holes for splitting
blocks were clearly visible. Leaving
the quarry, we drove to Dome Rock, a 150-200 foot high concave rock of smooth
granite. JG and JS climbed to within
10-20 feet of the top, where the sides became steep and too dangerous to
continue safely.
We lunched at the POH pub and
visited the General Store grocery that afternoon. There were more Bassett Hounds in the store than customers! Deliveries from Mareeba were weekly. All the meat came from Mareeba also as the
town’s only butcher had vanished! There
were no low-fat foods, for example, the milk was ‘full-cream’ or 4% milk-fat. The proprietor of this store was very
entertaining and funny. Later, when she
saw us walking from the Black Cockatoo to the POH, she accused us of
“pub-crawling”!
< Aussie barperson {“rabbit hat”}.
We had steaks for dinner at the Caves
Lodge. Exhausted from our travels, we
retired early!
11 January 2000, Tuesday
We breakfasted on sausage, eggs,
and even grits cooked by Marcia and brought by JS! These were almost certainly the first grits cooked and eaten in
Chillagoe! By 8:30 we were at the ranger
station and proceeded to Trezkinn and Donna caves. The ‘kinn’ in Trezkinn represents Vince Kinnear, one of the
discovers. These caves are maintained
by the park service and are lighted.
Generally, they have very high vault ceilings and many stalagmite
formations. One stalagmite was perhaps
15 feet high but only 6 inches in diameter!
One could see fossilized bones in a coral reef formation. These were deeper caves with steeper
entrances than those we saw yesterday.
Afterwards we proceeded to Balancing Rock, an interesting and
hard-to-believe formation. A large rock
perhaps 20 feet high and 8 feet in diameter narrowed substantially at its base,
where it was perched on another rock.
The balance was perfect but weathering at the base will surely allow the
rock to fall over at some point. The
question is when?
We lunched on hamburgers at the
POH pub, where we joked with the locals.
One Aussie began to refer to JT as ‘the cardinal’, apparently believing
that he was the boss of NS! JS
pretended on camera to be seeking a job as a bartender in Chillagoe, Donna the owner gave him instructions and
demanded that a dress should be worn.
Another duty would be to ‘show a little leg’ outside to attract
customers! After lunch, JT & JS
visited the Chillagoe smelters, whose smokestacks could easily be seen from
'downtown' Chillagoe. During the early
1900s, thousands labored here to extract metals from ore. The smelters were closed during the early
1940s. During the subsequent 60 years,
the presence of man has been much reduced.
Gone are the houses, buildings, and most equipment. The slag heap, smokestacks, and incinerators are all that remain. The high smokestacks on the hill, together
with the remains of the smelters are a well-known site for beautiful panoramic
photos and have been a sight for professional photographers. If you see information about Chillagoe, a
picture of this area will almost certainly be included.
After viewing the smelters, we drove to
a hill on the other side of town which had a nice overlook. There was also a large water cistern and
meteorological station there. From the
overlook you could see all of Chillagoe.
NS pointed out open areas where thousands of people once lived. But there was no visible trace of their
dwellings now. One thing that does
remain is the concrete and brick vault of the Australasia bank across the
street from the POH, this vault is invincible and could be used again with a
little maintenance! There is nothing
left of the bank building, however, so that would need to be re-built.
Later that afternoon, JS visited
the Chillagoe library, housed in the old courthouse. It was open 2 days a week and one can order books from
Mareeba. Sylvia Cockburn, the librarian, was delighted to show off her
facility. She was very knowledgeable
about the history of Chillagoe, and showed me several books with pictures and
narrative about the town in early 1900s.
At one time, there were 10 hotels in Chillagoe! The number of bars and pubs at that time is
uncertain but probably >10!
For dinner we had roast chicken and a
salad served by Coober and cooked by Marcia at the Caves Lodge.
12 January, 2000, Wednesday
This morning we had our
customary breakfast of cereal, eggs, sausage, bacon, and grits! By 8:30 we headed toward Castle Cave, which
was beyond the aboriginal drawings past the ghost town of Mungana. To reach the cave we had to summit a high
ridge of limestone. It was not too
difficult to climb up but you needed gloves because the grooved rocks would cut
you easily. Climbing back down we found
ourselves in a thick forest of brush and trees that was hard to traverse. Finally, we entered an area surrounded on
all sides by high, towering rock. It
was quite spectacular, like being in a cathedral. Continuing under an overhang, we came to another cathedral-like
area, whose floor was littered with debris and mud. JG and JS climbed a 10 foot ledge that was a fake floor. We had to stand on someone else’s back to
get to the top of the ledge! Following
another tunnel, we came to a deep ravine with high rock walls. Although we
could peer down into the ravine, it was too steep to go further without a
rope. So we carefully climbed down the
ledge. Exiting the cave NS suggested we
return via an easier route. Traversing
the heavily overgrown area in a different direction, we had to climb a 30-foot
treacherous ridge, which led to woods.
But we were out of the rocks!
But we had no idea about how to get out of the woods, we were lost! After walking for perhaps two KM, we encountered
a road that JG and JS took. We eventually found the aboriginal paintings and
then the truck. We got in the truck and
on the way out we drove past where JT and NS were waiting in a moment of humor.
JG deliberately held a bottle of cool water to his lips as we passed by! When we turned around to pick them up they
were standing in the road exasperated!
So our “shorter route” had been well out of the way!
It began to rain as we drove back to
Chillagoe. At the POH pub, an interesting character had arrived who wore a hat
with a skinned rabbit {or was it a giant Aussie rat?}. After hamburgers, the
owner, Donna, gave us a tour of the hotel.
They had re-finished 3 rooms and were working on others. They were also working on the gardens.
Later in the afternoon, the
three Jays drove out to the abandoned Red Dome Gold Mine. The gates were locked so we had to park and
walk 2 KM to reach the huge 900 foot shaft.
The road for excavation spiraled down into the deep mine all the way to
the bottom of the pit. However, this
circular road had washed out from huge landslides and it was no longer
usable. A sign remained claiming that
one million ounces of gold was extracted.
There were no buildings left and only one abandoned hoister. We left abruptly because of rain and
numerous bothersome insects!
13 January, 2000, Thursday
This morning we had our customary
breakfast. When we asked, the owners
claim not to know about pancakes and waffles!
This morning we left for Carpentaria
cave, again toward Mungana, turning right at the Arches Cave sign. We continued past the aboriginal drawings
and took narrow dirt road to the left.
Entering the cave, we found a confusing warren of routes to many
chambers. Once could get lost here
easily. NS fell so we continued on our
own. The routes led to several
chambers, some completely dark, others with small light sources at the top. Previous visitors had left signs in this
cave: X-roads, 3-Ways, Pixieland,
Flag-Pole Cavern. There were no
directional markers however.
We came to a very low passageway that
we had to crawl through on our bellies.
Afterwards, JS lost his camera and we searched for about one hour for
it. It was later found in a secret
pocket of his backpack! Next, we
attempted to exit the cave but found ourselves repeatedly lost. Luckily, however, we studied landmarks and
found our way out. NS was resting by
the truck and took pictures of us covered in mud!
We stopped at the POH for lunch
[without taking a bath or changing clothes] where we found the same crew
drinking XXXX beer {which the Aussies refuse to export because it is too
valuable!}. We had a lot of fun
swapping Aussie and US slang. For
example, the Aussies say “take-away” instead of “take-out” in restaurants. We became experts at saying “Good-day,
mate.” The “mate” is pronounced “mite.”
At 14:00 JS & JT drove toward
Mungana to reach Arches cave. This cave
had several caverns open to light and was easy to traverse. Green lichen had colonized the walls and
there was also phytokarst. This was a
pretty, well-lighted cave.
On the way back to Chillagoe we stopped
at a large limestone formation on the right of the road where we looked for
more caves. After climbing the
formation we encountered a deep shaft too steep to traverse. This may have been a cave called Haunted
Cave but we never found out for sure.
After returning to the lodge we found
NS engaged in a conversation with two dedicated cavers who had been north of
Chillagoe. They said they left the
roads completely and went into remote areas searching for caves. They took all their food, water, and fuel
with them for survival, staying for two weeks.
14 January, 2000, Friday
For breakfast we had
pancakes and sausage! So our mention
and request for pancakes had paid off!
These may have been the first pancakes served in the Caves Lodge!
Fossilized clam in
cave rock>>>
At 09:00 we walked
to the ranger station where Lana and two rangers joined us. Our destination was Spring Cave. We proceeded toward Mungana and turned left
on an overgrown trail through an area with high grass. After about 15 minutes of difficult travel,
we parked and walked left toward a rock ridge.
There was a hint of a path but it was mostly overgrown. We climbed a low rock ridge and turned into
a forest. Here we crossed a picturesque
stream that would have made an incredible location for a house! It was heavily
shaded and was filled with boulders and well-worn rocks. Blue butterflies flitted over the banks of
the stream. We then climbed up a dirt
and rock trail until we ascended another ridge. From the top we saw an enormous vaulted cave entrance that was
must have been 150 wide and 100 feet high.
This was the largest entrance we had seen. The floor had to be reached by climbing down about 50 feet over
large boulders. Reaching the floor, we
found many rocks covered by green lichen.
We spent about an hour exploring several high, vaulted caverns. There were good examples of false floors and
tall, thin stalagmites. This was
definitely one the largest caves we encountered; the exit was spectacular as
the sky was framed by the huge entrance.
Lana pointed out where decades ago, someone had blasted several rocks
there, perhaps to gain entrance more easily.
Returning to Chillagoe, we
lunched at a combination gasoline station, bar, and restaurant. Later JG and JS climbed one of the tall
pinnacles across from the Black Cockatoo for a nice view of the town.
At dinner we enjoyed
digeridoo music together with an enactment of the Crocodile Dance played by two
aboriginal children, a boy and girl. In
this dance, the crocodile pursues the girl on the river bank and takes her for
his wife. We filmed the event and gave
the kids and their mother some Power Bars as a treat! Our lessons on the didgeridoo were a disaster!
15 January, 2000, Saturday
<<< Beginning of stalagmites
At 9:00 we met Lana
and two rangers with their wives to go to Geck Cave. It was reached by turning left from the entrance to the Red Dome
Gold Mine, then following railroad tracks to a field where we parked. We walked down the tracks for ~1KM and
turned left through grassland. After 15
minutes we reached the cave entrance.
This cave had visitors from the railroad many years ago. We saw rotted remains of ladders leading
down the steep entrance. After
traversing a tunnel, we reached a large cavern with a muddy floor like a
quagmire. After exploring several tunnels,
we climbed out of another entrance to the cave. This entrance was surrounded by high walls and was not a good way
to get out. Re-entering the cave we
found a dead-end with a ladder that led to a remarkable formation like a wide
stalagmite formed by dripping water.
This formation was bright orange!
We then came through some very tight tunnels that we were barely able to
get through. Eventually, we ascended
the steep entrance through the rubble and make our way out.
So we walked the deserted
railroad tracks again back to our vehicles.
Reaching the POH, we found the same cast of Aussie characters as
always! This included rabbit-hat who
had an ongoing battle with his dog that wanted to enter the pub! We spent the afternoon chatting with the
folks at the pub, preparing for our return to Cairns. We wrote our message on the pub wall: "Greetings to Chillagoe from the 3 Jays, those dirty guys
from the states & Nick, their confessor." I also added my e-mail address, the first
on the POH wall! One notable fixture at
the bar area is the control panel from a theatre in Chillagoe that was running
in the 1920s. This panel is about 3
feet square and its back is of heavy white marble. Several voltmeters [6 inches
in diameter] and hand-thrown switches are attached to the marble. It is a nice
example of early electrical engineering!
16 January, 2000, Sunday
We had our customary
breakfast of eggs this morning. We
always used our special sauces that we brought with us: Tomato Pickle and
Tabasco. The Aussies always put Vegemite on the table and JG is the only one
who will eat it! By 7:30 we are saying
goodbye to Marcia and Coober, our delightful hosts.
Leaving Chillagoe we pass
the now-familiar towns of Almaden {23 people}, Dimbullah {an Italian town with
an impressive cemetery of brick mausoleums}, and Mareeba. Arriving in Cairns by 11:00 we stop by the huge cane fields and the
house of Tom Robinson to drop off Nick's books. After checking in our hotel, the Mercure, and dropping off our
luggage, we returned our vehicle to Budget to swap it for a station wagon. We had washed the truck in Chillagoe with
JT’s torn shirt! It was now hanging on
the front of the truck as an emblem!
Next we stopped at a
tourist desk and booked scuba dives. JS
was to take a scuba SSI course at Down-Under Diving, while the others would go
diving or snorkeling on a boat going to the Great Barrier Reef. We returned to
our hotel and met Jay Kaplan, the 4th Jay in our party! By 18:00 we were dining at Charlie's, a
seafood buffet recommended by Nick. We
had a delightful dinner there, said our good-byes to Nick, and made our way
back to the Mercure Hotel on the Esplanade, ready for sleep!
17-18 January 2000, Monday
& Tuesday
JS took the first
two days of the scuba course, partially in class and partially in a 16-foot
deep pool. The 3 other Jays went diving
or snorkeling. A total of 12 people
started the scuba course but 3 dropped out.
JS was the only American in the course, most of the others were
European. This course was intense with
a lot of practice on emergency recovery from loss of regulator mouthpieces and
facemasks.
Balancing Rock
near Trezkinn cave >>>
19-20 January 2000,
Wednesday & Thursday
JT and JS boarded the
Scubaroo transfer boat that would take us some 70 KM out to the Atlantic
Clipper near the Great Barrier Reef. The
AC is a brigantine that was built in the 1980s; it was battered and re-fit
in storms early in its career. We started our first open-water dive by
13:30 at Nicholas Cay. There was a
large technicolor fish hanging around the anchor chain. We dove to 14M depth and practiced mask and
regulator removal and retrieval on the bottom there. Next we proceeded to the Atlantic Clipper and Norman Reef. At 16:00 we did another dive with a similar
practice session. On Thursday we did a
6:30 dive and concentrated on buoyancy control but no more mask or regulator
replacements. We moved among the reefs
which were shaped like vast canyons. We
saw blue starfish, sea whips, and lots of fish. A one-inch transparent fish traveled up and down the sea whip,
never leaving it as we moved it around.
This dive was our last certification dive! We then moved to Saxon Reef where JS and JT dove together. Moving between and over the reefs, we
spotted many colorful fish including those living within the coral for
protection.
By 14:00 we boarded the
Scubaroo and headed back to Cairns. We
had dinner at the Taste of China.
21 January, 2000 Friday
After breakfast in
the hotel and shopping early downtown, we drove north of Cairns for about 70 KM
to Port Douglas. The drive was along a
spectacular winding road nestled between the mountains and the sea. The mist
from the rainforest made everything a deep blue or purple color. There were superb beaches but no swimmers. This is because of the stinging jellyfish
that can be fatal. They had 'fenced
off' some areas with mesh nets where people did swim. We stopped at a spectacular resort, the Sheraton Mirage, on the way up. This resort had a 5 hectare swimming pool that wrapped around
buildings. The pool even had bridges
across it. There were few guests here,
however.
Arriving at the marina in
Port Douglas we saw beautiful sailboats but it was very hot for sailing! After an Italian lunch we walked through a
shopping center where one shop sold many brands of Cuban cigars.
We next drove to the
Daintree Forest, a beautiful example of a rain forest on a mountain. We walked down paths to a small river that
flowed over giant smooth boulders, about 15 feet high. This was a very picturesque place to swim
and relax. Leaving the Daintree, we
drove back to Cairns and had dinner at our hotel. This was the last dinner the four of us would have together
because JG and JK were leaving for the wilds of New Guinea the next day. The were traveling to Port Moresby and on to
the Sepic River and eventually to Mt. Hagen.
Note: if they get lucky and make it back to the states, information
about their experiences will be added as an addendum to this journal. Otherwise, condolences will be in order.
22 January 2000 Saturday
On our last day JT and JS
drove downtown to do some final shopping. We spent time in an aboriginal shop
talking with a 
interesting man who
was half Scottish and half aboriginal.
He explained aboriginal totems such as the crocodile, the bird, and the
roo. He also described how walkabouts
take place. Finally, he played the
didgeridoo for us!
<<<Dining at
Charlie’s in Cairns-Nick Sullivan & the 4 Jays!
That night JT and JS dined
at Tawny's which was the best restaurant we had tried in Cairns. It has excellent seafood and we recommend it
highly. We retired early to make our
6:30 a.m. flight on the next day.
23 January 2000, Sunday
Today we were to
proceed some 12,000 miles to the east coast of the US. At the Sydney Airport we could only find one
place to eat on the international side and wondered how they would feed folks
coming to the Olympics! On the Sydney
to LA flight we were both lucky and had open seats by us! Arriving in LA, we claimed our luggage and
said goodbye after this incredible journey!
JS returned to Atlanta,
finding the city locked in an ice storm with no electricity!
Jay Tolson exploring false
floor of a cave.>>>
THE END!