It was great to see these caves again. They must be some of the best decorated in Australia. Some of the wild caves are regarded as being world class in terms of their cave formations. My brother in law, Stuart, organised this day. It was necessary to book the cave tours in advance by phone. It was a popular time of the year and numbers for all cave visits are limited.
Three of us went – my sister and Stuart her husband and myself, but due to previous bookings, we could get all three of us on a visit to King Solomons Cave at 4:30 pm, but there was only room for two on the 2 pm Marakoopa Cave visit, but there was one space left on the 3 pm visit. That suited me OK, and while I waited, I looked for birds in the area.
Then at 3pm I made my way to the cave entrance. My sister and her husband were just emerging from their tour. There tour had been to the lower part of the cave – along the underground river. I can recall visiting that part of the cave many years ago. My tour was to the upper part of Marakoopa Cave – to a chamber known as “The Cathedral”.
After passing through chamber full of glow worms we climbed up a series of stairs that took us to different levels higher up in the cave. The formations along the way were excellent.
When this tour finished, we had about 30 minute to drive to King Solomons Cave about 15 km away.
This was my favourite of the two caves, and perhaps one of the best caves I have visited. The formations were stunning all the way through the cave.
Look at some of the strange “parsnip” shaped formations –
And some more strange formations here –
Above are some rim pools, and below some helictites.
On the walk out from the cave, I spotted this Bassian Thrush –
Another excellent and interesting day in Tasmania