The incredible caves

By Reet Singh

TASMANIA, the holiday Isle, is the smallest state in Australia. It lies off the south-eastern corner of the Australian continent. It is separated from the mainland by Bass Strait, which is only 240 km wide. This shallow sea varies in depth from 55 to 90 metres. before the thawing of the world’s ice cap about 8,000 to 12,000 years ago, this stretch of water was dry land.

Flying from Sydney to Launceston, Tasmania’s second largest city, all I could see from the window of the plane was miles and miles of lush green forests. Tasmania’s scenic beauty is absolutely awesome and so clean — a visual treat after experiencing pollution in India. Launceston with a population of 66,286 stands at the head of the Tamar river, about 65 km from the northern coast, in a valley sheltered in the south by high mountains.

People are very friendly. It took time getting used to the Australian draw — Good day (pronounced as dayee) — at every meeting. Launceston has so much to boast of. It has produced world class batsmen who have played for Australia: David Boon and Ricky Ponting.

The other striking thing about the town was the food — from a Big Mac to a pizza or a KFC, home-grown Tasmanian gourmet products, Chinese, Indian, Malaysian, Indonesian, Thai, Greek, Italian, Lebanese, French, Mexican and german restaurants.

However, Launceston’s main claim to fame are the beautiful King Solomon and Maracoopa caves near Mole Creek. They draw hundreds of tourists each day. On either side of the road leading to the caves are high mountains, sharply marked with deep and tortuous valley, dark green under cover of the forests. In fact I saw the most incredible colours of green. The area is totally uninhabited and untouched except for birds like kookaburra chirping or for kangaroos and koala bears looking so innocent and dazed at a passing car.

What struck me was the spectacular ambience, the peculiar flaura and fauna and the stillness and quietness of the place. It actually takes you back in time. The caves are out in the jungle green with ferns and mosses. We were a group of 15 tourists and a very friendly and knowledgeable guide. Among the tourists were two retired couples from the USA. It was inspiring to see their zest, zeal and desire to travel. I was surprised to see everyone well clad in woollens. I realised why after I entered the caves how cold I was — the temperature dropping to -9 degrees celsius.

These are natural caves and remain untouched by the hand of man. The interior was dark and damp with no sunlight. Being in a cave is an experiene in itself. your voice automatically drops to a whisper. Just as we were getting used to the eerie surroundings, our guide switched on the lights. What I saw was the most strange underground landscape with beautifully oddly shaped limestone formations. The guide told us how the caves were formed over thousands of years of the underground water slowly dissolving the rock. It begins when surface water trickles down through tiny cracks in the rock to the water table, the level at which the underground area is saturated.

If the water table drops below the level of a cave, water may continue to seep in through cracks in the rocks.

The water contains dissolved minerals. As it enters the cave, some of the minerals crystallise and are deposited as speleothems.

A speleothem may be white, brown, red or multicoloured, depending on the minerals that form it. The best known kinds of speleothems are stalactites and stalagmites.

Stalactites are beautiful stone formation found in limestone caves. Most look like large icicles but some resemble curtains or straws with a hole through their centre. I especially took a photograph where these look like hundreds of rats together and one resembling an ash tray with a cigar.

Stalagmite is a stone formation that rises up from the floors of caves especially in limestone caverns. The caves were very well equipped with lighting that enabled us to see these extraordinary formations.

As we advanced, the caves grew deeper and deeper. It took us over two hours to see them. And at end of it, surprisingly I wasn’t cold any more.