Nature of Tasmania: Caves

Friday, 22 January 2010

Gunns Plains Cave

..... Limestone Cave

I haven't posted much of late. That's partly due to being busy and partly due to having broken my SLR camera. It seems the repair bill may be $300 or more so I taking my time deciding whether to repair or upgrade. In any case it meant that on a recent visit to Gunns Plains Cave I had to make do with a small compact camera. The images are not great but they at least give an idea of some of the magnificent formations within the cave. Some better quality shots can be seen in an older post here.

The public access to the cave takes you a little short of 300 metres in and to a depth of around 55 metres. Speleogists have mapped the cave to at least another 1 km.

In no particular order, here are the cave photos:

(Click on photos to enlarge)

#4 - Helectite

#7 - This shawl formation is reputed to be the largest in Australia

#10 - This stalactite looks like a giant uvula

#11 - The wedding cake. The dark areas are caused by bushfire smoke (possibly centuries ago) entering the cave.

#1 2 - The creek that flows through the cave.
Home to the Giant Tasmanian Crayfish which grows up to a metre in length.

Monday, 29 September 2008

Gunns Plains Cave

Gunns Plains Cave is located 20km south of Ulverstone. This limestone cave was discovered in 1906 by Bill Woodhouse while on a hunting trip. There seems to be two versions of the story. One that a possum eluded him by going down a hole into the cave and another where his dogs fell into the cave. Of course it's not hard to imagine that both are true if the dogs were chasing the possum. Since that time tourists have come from far and wide to witness the spectacular limestone formations. The area was declared a state reserve in 1918 and access was improved early on by making a new entrance through the side of the hill and building a concrete stair case which is still in use.

The cave has been cut by an underground river which still flows through it today. There are a good variety of cave formations (speleothems) including what is claimed to be the the largest shawl formation in the world.

When I was last there one cave spider was pointed out to me although it was in a crevice so it wasn't easy to see and was impossible to photograph. Easier to see were the threads from Glow Worms, Arachnocampa tasmaniensis, hanging from above. Other wildlife that has been seen within the cave includes the platypus and the Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Crayfish, Astacopsis gouldi (the worlds largest freshwater invertebrate).

(Click on Photos to Enlarge)