Caving in Tasmania

TasmaniaCaving in Tasmania Baldocks Cave Croesus Cave

Visiting caves is a popular experience, and whilst some of the more established caves are enjoyable places that any tourist can visit, the so called “wild” (undeveloped) cave tour is something very different. Once you have had a taste of a “wild cave tour”, you will find the standard cave tour a bit tame.

Some of the cave locations include Gunns Plains Caves (in Northwest Tasmania Gunns Plains region) and renowned for striking formations of stalactites, stalagmites and rare calcite shaw; Hastings Caves (in the Southern Tasmania Hastings Caves State Reserve); Junee Caves (south of Mount Field National Park); the Mole Creek Caves (in the central north of Tasmania Mole Creek Karst National Park), that include Marakoopa Cave famous for its glowworm display.

We were staying in Mole Creek, and had decided on doing some of the caves there. This was a first time for us, as we have never done anything like this before and considering our ages at the time, both over 36 and 46, it was a challenge and an adventure that we were looking forward to.

Offering a half day or full day trip, we opted for the full day trip. The morning caving being more or less instructional, and to gauge what we could or could not do. The mud, the small spaces, the tight holes, the slippery slide down into a black abyss, squirming through “s” bends, crawling pass gaps that seem to drop into nothing, whilst scarey for one of us, certainly whetted our appetite. We were ready for the afternoon leg of the tour.

Mole Creek
The caves at Mole Creek are below farmlands, some located in the Mole Creek Karst National Park. These subterranean caves, about 200 of them from tiny spaces to huge cathedral vaults up to 10 km in width, are just west of Launceston. Some of these caves include:

• Baldocks Cave
  The second cave to be developed for tourist at Mole Creek, opened in 1908. The cave is a complex network of dry abandoned stream passages and lower water sections. Rapid deterioration and competition from Scotts Cave led to its closure after a short period of operation. The cave is recovering with active formation growth. Features of this cave include tree roots, geohistory, rich coloured formations and historic relics. Today, access is restricted via professional guides.

• Croesus Cave
  Discovered in 1896 and named after the legendary Lydian king, by a group of sureyors planning a rail link from the north west to the west coast. This is a large outflow cave over 2 kms long. The cave was first explored by the Tasmanian Caverneering Club in 1947, it is an extremely active streamway passage, with active gour (rimstone) pools, other formations and even evidence of life. Access is only available to limited numbers of club cavers by permit. The cave was gated in 1960 and access is restricted via professional guides.

• Cyclops Cave
  Spacious outflow cave being the resurgence of the “My Cave” stream, 190 m in length. The cave is well decorated and contains abundant fauna.
  
• Honeycomb
  A 3D cave with a network of fossil and active stream passages and daylight holes. Also contain glow-worms colonies.
  
• My Cave
  An inflow river cave with a steep entrance leading through rockfall to a decorated, sporty rift about 600 m long.

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TasmaniaCaving in Tasmania Baldocks Cave Croesus Cave