Age of enlightenment

The teen was starting to panic. He was sweating; his face reddening. Increasingly frantic jabbing at the TV remote revealed not The Simpsons but televisual snow. An urgent call to reception brought the worst of news: an electrical storm the previous evening had knocked out TV reception throughout Jenolan Caves Resort. Our boy was out of his comfort zone (i.e., his darkened bedroom) and most unamused that the very thing that had drawn 19th-century visitors from Sydney to Jenolan - electricity - was threatening to bring his weekend unstuck.

But - who'd have thought it? - life without the telly can be tolerable, even "cool".

A century and a half ago, when Sydneysiders began travelling to Jenolan Caves, the expedition was not for the faint-hearted. Visitors began their journey by train, then there was a stretch by horse and buggy and, finally, a walk down the last eight kilometres. And the attraction was not so much the limestone labyrinth of the caves, but the marvel of electricity. The electric lights installed in Chifley Cave in about 1880 came only two years after the first electric street lights appeared in London; Sydney was yet to see such technological innovation.

Nowadays, the journey is a pretty effortless affair - about 21/2 hours, with delays for Blue Mountains traffic rather than weary horses.

The wow factor was much in evidence on our visit - the first knockout came as we rounded the last tight bend and saw Blue Lake on our left and the Grand Arch, a huge limestone tunnel ahead. On the other side of the Grand Arch, Caves House, a massive mock-Tudor heritage-listed guesthouse, dominates the Jenolan Caves Resort.

We had booked a family room in the motel-style Mountain Lodge, a short walk up the hill, and it turned out to be clean and comfortable, though nothing fancy. (The trundle bed had no wheels, and there was only UHT milk for our tea.) Caves House itself includes "traditional rooms" with shared facilities and "classic" and "grand classic" rooms with ensuites - though no televisions, lightning strikes or not. It also has a lounge, a library, games room, theatre and bar.

For the main game, we four cave virgins lined up for the first of two tours. I managed to get on top of my early claustrophobic panic and enjoy the light (and dark) show, though I was happy to accept the advice of our wry and knowledgeable guide, Wayne, that I probably wasn't suited to adventure caving. Happily, the teen and his 11-year-old sister were captivated by the underground spectacle.

Dinner and breakfast were part of our overnight package and were served in the rather grand Chisholm's dining room, all faded Victorian glory with towering ceilings, heavy drapes, oversized sideboards and colonial silverware. Entrees were a la carte, but the mains and desserts were from the buffet. The children arrived back with a little bit of everything - or, in the case of the teen, a lot of everything. The seconds were even better, and the desserts ... well, can a growing boy ever have too much pavlova and cheesecake?

My husband and I found the food passable - bring on the planned new kitchen and menu- and preferred the after-dinner entertainment: that is, the bit where the kids hared off to explore what was on offer in Caves House - namely a screening of Bringing Down the House, some pool and a few video games. Similarly, at breakfast the distractions bought us time for a second cup of tea.

Our time at Jenolan Caves was over all too soon, though we did fit in a walk by Blue Lake, where we watched a platypus at play. We also took a short bushwalk up to Carlotta's Arch, where you can see the lake from above, framed by the arch. On the way home we stopped at Oberon - burgers all round at the Snow Gum Eatery in the main street - and Lake Oberon.