For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

Meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.

London Open House day back in September was lovely and sunny. The Beetle was not in the country to accompany Padmasana as she usually does, to various places around central London to look around buildings opened to the public for one or two days only, culminating in a good fry up at the 24hr greasy spoon café in Smithfield. Next year, maybe!

Got the bus down to Liverpool Street, walked past the Gherkin (unsurprisingly not open this year, after the various states of security alerts London has had in recent months) and got in the queue for the Lloyd's Building. There was a long line of people, but it moved surprisingly quickly, and took 45 minutes to get to the front, where there was a stringent security check before being allowed up the escalator into “The Room”.

It's certainly impressive, a wonderful building and very modern. Saw the Lutine Bell and they also let you look through the “Losses” book: no sinkings that week, but there was one the week before, still entered in the massive book with a quill pen. Then you get a go in the fantastic “outside” lifts, up to the top, stunning views of the city, saw the dining room, lots of silver stuff, but the carpet was a little old and threadbare! It was a well organised tour and all too soon came to the end, so a speedy ride back in the outside lift down the outside of the building, which deposits you in a coffee/gift shop. It was well worth the queuing.

I then walked along Fenchurch Street to number 60, where there were no lines at the Vitro building, so was able to go straight up in the lift to the 11th floor to see great views of the Tower of London, the Gherkin and I could even see the London Eye.

Then headed towards the Guildhall, went past the Bank of England, humongous queues this year, people waited up to 3 hours, glad we did that one last year, soon found the “Touch London” exhibit. This is a scale model of the city, with all the buildings done to scale. Then saw there were no queues for the Guildhall itself, so I went in; it was fascinating seeing all the stained glass windows with all the different occupations. I liked the “Fletchers” window best of all, with its arrows.

Quick pit stop in Tesco's on Cheapside then on to the Royal Exchange to do the “City alleyways” walk with the London Guide. There were way too many people and the guide was barely audible above the traffic, but once we got going it was a fascinating 2 hours. I saw the door to the shop (now an optician) where Harry Potter went to buy his wand! Leadenhall market was interesting, this used to be a chicken market. Allegedly, a stroppy chicken refused to take its final journey and ended up being a pet to the people who worked there and when it eventually croaked, it had a state funeral! Eventually ended up near The Tower of London via St Dunstans. It was a really lovely interesting walk, though would have been better if they had done more of them to spread the crowds out a bit though!

Open House Londonis the Capital's biggest architectural event where London is turned into a living exhibition, giving thousands of Londoners the chance to experience buildings, and explore, debate and better understand architecture, engineering and design. All access is free of charge. Open House weekend is usually the third weekend in September visit the Open House website for more information http://www.openhouselondon.org.uk/important/general.html

The Jenolan Caves are around 164 kilometres from Sydney, in the Blue Mountains. They are set in a valley on the far side of the Great Dividing Range and 793 metres above sea level. I drove to the Jenolan caves from Mt Victoria. The drive took far longer than I anticipated because the road becomes increasingly windy, with single lanes and passing places perilously close to sheer drops. The drive ends with a huge rock arch which you drive through, up a hill and park up a hill the other side.

The Jenolan Caves were known to the local Aboriginal population for many thousands of years as Binoomea, meaning “Dark places”. History has it that the first European to discover the caves was the bushranger and escaped convict James McKeown. A report in the Australian Argus newspaper sometime between 1838 and 1841 says: “James McKeown was an escaped convict…whose presence on the main western road was for years excessively irritating to the settlers, on whose stores he laid an oppressive toll. Local pastor James Whalan set out to track McKeown and followed him up hill and down dale for miles. After they had covered about 20 miles the bushranger suddenly disappeared…The tracks led up to a wild cavern and into it…and burst again into open day, and the route lay along a rugged gorge for some three miles. Here the bushranger again disappeared…All about were evidences of careful cultivation, the bushranger having laid out quite a nice little farm. Satisfied that he had run down his bird, Whalan retraced his steps…When he returned home he told his brother Charles of the strange country he had wandered into. 'I have been through the Devil's Coachhouse,' he said. Next day a party was made up, and with the aid of troopers McKeown was captured. His hiding place was a huge hole in the mountain-side, known now as McKeown's Hole…McKeown lived to return from a long term of exile on Norfolk Island and to re-visit the scene of his former exploits.”

There are 22 major caves in the Jenolan system. Of these, nine are open for guided tours: the Imperial, Chifley, Jubilee, Lucas, Pool of Cerberus, River, Orient, Temple of Baal and Ribbon. The caves have strange features with odd names like 'Gem of the West', 'Gabriel's Wing', 'Lot's Wife' and the 'Bishop and Three Sisters.' You can also stay at the caves, though out of the Beetle's price range, at the Caves House, a really pretty looking building with cosy log fires.

In 1866 the caves were controlled by the Australian government. In 1867, Jeremiah Wilson was appointed as “Keeper” of the 'Binda', or 'Fish River' Caves. The Aboriginal word Jenolan (“high mountain”) was not used until 1884. During the early years, visitors were allowed to break formations and take souvenirs from the caves and some of the evidence of this vandalism can still be seen today. It was not until 1872 that taking souvenirs became illegal. In the 1880's Jenolan began to emerge as a tourist destination. Jeremiah Wilson, a keen caver explored the end of the Elder Cave and in 1879 descended a shaft and rockpile to discover the Imperial Cave. This was soon followed by the discovery of the “Left Imperial” in 1880 (renamed the Chifley Cave in 1952 after Prime Minister J.B Chifley). Development within the caves of pathways and the protection of formations along with electric lighting started in 1887. Even more caves were discovered in 1903, despite exploration being made only by candlelight. Today, over 250,000 visitors make tours of the Jenolan caves.

The Beetle visited the Orient cave. Times of all tours to the nine caves are on a large notice board opposite the ticket office. Allow plenty of time to get to the caves, and plenty of petrol in your car too, for between certain times of the day, you cannot return the way you came, you have to make a big loop.