Australian cave tour guide offered in Klingon
Boldly go where no alien tourist has gone before
An Australian cave system has become the world's first attraction to offer self-guided tours in Klingon.
Launched at OzTrek3 in Sydney this past weekend, the tour takes visitors into deep space, sort of, in the language of those whose foreheads resemble the attraction itself.
The Jenolan Caves are a National Park and tourist attraction in New South Wales, approximately 100 miles west of Sydney. Featuring 11 show caverns, 25 miles of underground passages, rivers and breathtaking rock formations, the Jenolans are one of the oldest cave systems in the world.
Trekkies on a recce
The caves' connection to Star Trek was established in a classic Next Generation episode, with the appearance of the USS Jenolan, a Sydney Class starship carrying Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott. In the episode, Relics, Scotty, chief engineer from the original Enterprise, was pulled out of suspended animation after 75 years in a transporter buffer.
Klingon experts Michael Roney Jr - aka naHQun - and Tracy Canfield flew in from the United States to record the translations, which become the eleventh language featured on the tour.
Guided in Klingon using a digital audio device, tourists can explore the Nettle Cave, the most popular cavern of the group, visited by roughly 200,000 people a year. How many future visitors will choose the Klingon option remains to be seen, but for many of the fanbois out there, it'll be worth the Trek. ®
COMMENTS
I see what you did there
You included a deliberate mistake just to smoke out the true fanbois.
Well, I won't play your game by pointing out Scotty wasn't the captain of the Jenolan. I'm a Doctor Who fan I tell ya.
Strategy Boutique Overdose
Let me first start of by saying I love the Caves. Been visiting there since I was a lad and just this year I took my own son to see them. Great stuff.
But for chrissake, I don't know whether they have got some new management in or perhaps have been seeing strategy boutique consultants on the side but there have been some ridiculous decisions made lately.
Top of the list is their "rebranding". For years they have had an official emblem that included an image of their most famous formation on with the normal crest and mottos that you would expect.
Just last year, some jobsworth knobend decided that this should be changed to a donut. Yes, I said a FRICKIN DONUT.
You can see both the new (top left) and the old (bottom right) on their "contact us" page here;
http://www.jenolancaves.org.au/index.asp?pageID=79&menuItemID=734
dang...
I thought this was about Nick Cave! ... moving on ...
