Mole Creek Caves

The Mole Creek Karst National Park sits on the northern edge of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, on Pallittorre country, 70 kilometres south-west of Devonport. The park protects an extensive limestone karst landscape that contains over 300 known caves, with two open as commercial show caves: Marakoopa Cave and King Solomons Cave.

Marakoopa Cave is the more visually impressive of the two and is famous for its glow worm display, the largest in any commercial show cave in Australia. The glow worms are the larvae of the fungus gnat (Arachnocampa tasmaniensis), found only in Tasmania, and they emit a bioluminescent blue-green light to attract the small flying insects they feed on. The Underground Rivers and Glow Worms tour visits a vaulted chamber where thousands of glow worms cover the ceiling in what looks like a southern hemisphere night sky. The cave also contains an underground river, large flowstone formations and the famous Cathedral chamber.

King Solomons Cave is smaller but has more concentrated calcite formations including spectacular shawls, soda straws and crystal pools. The Coral Cave tour takes around 45 minutes and visits the highlight chambers. King Solomons does not have a glow worm display but is often regarded as the better cave for pure formation viewing.

Both caves are accessed from the Mole Creek township, a small farming village that doubles as the gateway to the park. The town is also famous for leatherwood honey, produced from the white flowers of the Tasmanian leatherwood tree which grows almost exclusively in the surrounding cool temperate rainforest. The Honey Farm just outside town has displays, samples and gift shopping.

Cave tours run year-round at fixed times every day. The temperature inside both caves is a constant 9 degrees Celsius regardless of the season, so visitors should bring a jacket even in summer. The caves are a standard inclusion on a Cradle Mountain or Tasmanian highlands road trip, and many visitors combine them with a stop at the Trowunna Wildlife Park nearby (one of Tasmania's best Tasmanian devil sanctuaries).