Marakoopa Cave

Handsome Cave

Useful Information

Location:	330 Mayberry Rd, PO Box 172, Mole Creek TAS 7304. 74 km south of Devonport and about 25 km west of Deloraine, west of Mole Creek. From Launceston follow highway to Devonport, turn off at Deloraine onto B12 to Mole Creek. First turnoff from B12 8 km behind Mole Creek, turn left. (-41.578370, 146.288739)
Open:	Underground Rivers and Glow Worms Tour: OCT to MAY daily 10, 12, 14, 16. JUN to SEP daily 10, 12, 14. Great Cathedral and Glow Worms Tour: All year daily 11, 13, 15. Closed 25-DEC. Booking strongly recommended up to 14 days prior. [2024]
Fee:	Adults AUD 19, Children (4-17) AUD 9.50, Children (0-3) free, Seniors AUD 15.50, Family (2+3) AUD 47.50. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave River cave, Ordovician limestones. Glowworm Above Ground Caves
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	T=9 °C.
Guided tours:	D=80 min, St=500, Max=10.
Photography:
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Mole Creek Caves, 330 Mayberry Rd, PO Box 172, Mole Creek TAS 7304, Tel: +61-3-6363-5182. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

Marakoopa is an aboriginal word meaning "handsome", so Marakoopa Cave is the Handsome Cave. This river cave has the largest number of glow-worms in any show cave of Australia. They are endemic to Australia and New Zealand, but while they are common in New Zealand caves, they are rarely found in Australia.

This cave has not one but two cave rivers, huge caverns and speleothems. Notable are the rimstone pools. There are two different tours in Marakoopa Cave:

Underground Rivers and Glow-worms shows the lower chamber with its abundance of speleothems. This tour is easy and possible for all ages and levels of fitness.
Cathedral, Gardens and Glow-worms visits the Great Cathedral, a magnificent cavern of impressive size. The Gardens is a cave branch with delicate formations in beautiful colours. This tour requires higher fitness as it includes the stairway to the Great Cathedral.

Sometimes this cave is mentioned to be one of the rare "above-ground caves".