Share on Twitter Chris Jonkers, 67, has been exploring the swamps in the Newnes Plateau in the NSW Greater Blue Mountains for as long as he can remember. “I just find them fascinating places to visit. [From] my earliest age, I remember going to those swamps and seeing the wildflowers,” he tells The Feed. “They are the lifeblood of the landscape. They’re nature’s kitchen.” Chris and Juile Jonkers are concerned that the swamps are drying up and further mining could make things worse. The Feed Carne West was once one of his most treasured swamps. “It was so dense with ferns that you couldn't walk through it. It was totally waterlogged - full of butterflies and dragonflies, endangered water skinks and wildflowers.”