Best Glow Worm Caves in Australia
1. Glowworm Tunnel Road
Glow Worm Tunnel walking track is a short, easy walking track, only a 2.5hour drive from Sydney. It’s popular with families and Sydneysiders keen to see glow worms in their natural environment.
The track starts from the carpark at the end of Glow Worm Tunnel Road. Enjoy the easy 1km walk to the tunnel entrance, past an impressive landscape of tall forests, lush tree ferns, narrow gorges, and stunning pagoda rock formations.
The 400m-long tunnel was built in the early 1900s as part of the railway for the thriving mining industry at Newnes. It’s now home to thousands of glow worms that cling to the dark, damp walls. Switch off your torch, keep quiet, and wait for the worms to light up the tunnel with pinpricks of blue light.
On your way back, look for goannas and lyrebirds. If you’re lucky, you may spot a swamp wallaby or koala. During spring and summer, the walking track is dotted with yellow pagoda daisies, while banksias bloom in the cooler months.
You can also access Glow Worm Tunnel from Old Coach Road or from Wolgan Valley Road near Newnes. If you’re up for a challenge, the 7.5km Wolgan Valley circuit is a 4hr loop that features pagoda and Wolgan Valley views.
Source — Nationalparks.nsw.gov.au
2. Glow Worm Glen
The Glow Worm Glen Walk is located on William Street, on the right on the Moss Vale side of town. It is a one-hour return trip graded as easy to medium with some steep steps.
The walk is on a well-established track with some wet and dumps sections at the end. You need torches to be on this night's walk. When you are approaching the glen, you will hear water running and you feel humidity and freshness in the air.
When you get there you will be amazed and enchanted by what you see, but please remain quiet and try not to disturb the luminescent locals with noises and lights, they are very shy creatures.
What you will see is the pitch dark side of the stone wall filled with yellowish glowing bugs, just like a night sky decorated with stars, hundreds and thousands of them.
They position themselves in tiny cracks, seepage spots or any tiny spaces to which they can retreat when the weather conditions change in the outside world. Underneath the stone wall where they silently reside, there is a little creek running through the glen.
Source — Weekendnotes.com
3. Melba Gully Glow Worms
Known as the Jewel of the Otways, Melba Gully is one of the wettest places in the state. The gully has prolific plant growth and is a dense rainforest of Myrtle Beech, Blackwood, and Tree-ferns, with an understorey of low ferns and mosses.
Perhaps the most unusual inhabitants of the area are the glow worms, which can be seen at night along the walking tracks.
The 35 minute Madsen's Track Nature Walk departs from the picnic area, providing an adventure into a world of ancient, mossy trees and cool fern gullies.
Picnic tables, a gas barbecue, and toilets are provided at this site. Camping is not permitted.
Before you go
Conditions can change in parks for many reasons. For the latest information on changes to local conditions, please visit the relevant park page on the Parks Victoria website.
Be bushfire ready in the great outdoors. Refer to the Bushfire Safety section on the Parks Victoria website for tips on how to stay safe.
Source — Visitgreatoceanroad.org.au
4. Hells Hole
Hells Hole is located in Caveton, southeast of South Australia, about 450km from Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, and about 20km from Mount Gambier, South Australia's second-largest city.
Hells Hole is a very large sunken hole, up to 30 meters deep, full of dark blue freshwater, has existed for tens of thousands of years.
Hells Hole is a cave diving resort, diving in Hells Hole is a very exciting activity, but no experienced junior divers travel carefully, for safety purposes, everyone must obtain a diving permit from the camp management.
Before you can dive under Hells Hole, the license can be applied to the South Australian Forestry Department by e-mail at Recreationse@saugov.sa.gov.au. Those who do not know water can also enjoy the splendor from the platform at the top.
Source — Australia51.com
5. Naracoorte Caves
A trip to the Limestone Coast wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Naracoorte Caves. Recognised as one of the world's most important fossil sites, the caves offer experiences for all ages.
For more than 500,000 years, giant animals roamed the Naracoorte area. Falling into well-hidden pitfall caves, their fossilised skeletons were left behind, giving scientists a rare glimpse of long-extinct animal life.
Giant marsupials such as the wombat-like Diprotodon, Thylacoleo the marsupial lion and giant kangaroos lived in the area. These animals, along with others, have been recreated into life-sized models at the renowned Wonambi Fossil Centre.
The park's tourist caves boast a glorious display of stalagmites and stalactites. A variety of tours are on offer, showcasing amazing fossil and limestone formations.
Adventure caving, allowing you to crawl, slide and squeeze through tight tunnels and chambers, is also available. There is also an on-site café and campsites are available.
Source — Southaustralia.com
6. Tantanoola Caves
Buried within a cliff face and spectacularly decorated with stalactites and cascading columns, Tantanoola Caves are dramatic in every way.
Thanks to the unique dolomite bedrock, the sparkling peach and brown colours of the crystals are unlike those of any other known cave along the South Australian coast.
The caves have only been known since 1930 when they were accidentally discovered by two teenage boys searching for their lost ferret, which had scurried down the cave’s small opening after a rabbit.
The first tourism phase swiftly followed, however, access via rope climbs and makeshift water slides made viewing the caves a sketchy undertaking.
It would take around 50 years for the caves to reach their current, substantially less adventurous, state. Wheelchair-friendly pathways, handrails, and fixed lighting followed the handover to National Parks in 1980, additions that have made them some of the most accessible caves in the country.
Source — Goseeaustralia.com.au
Comments
Post a Comment