After buying our tickets at the Hastings Cave Visitor Centre we drove the 5 km down the gravel road to the cave parking area.

We then enjoyed a lovely walk through the beautiful Tasmanian forest to the entrance of the Newdegate cave. There were lots of ferns of all varieties and sizes.

Hastings Thermal Springs & Cave Prices (Oct 2012)

A group of people were gathering there and so we all waited for the tour guide to arrive. He began by telling us that there were 245 steps inside the cave. The stairs are all of varying heights so care must be taken when walking up and down the stairs in the cave.

There are multiple caves around this part of Tasmania Southern Forests, but the Newdegate cave is the one open to the public. In fact it is one of the most visited public caves in Australia.

The entrance to the cave, that is still used today, was found back in 1917 by a group of timber workers.

Then in 1919 the entire hillside was made into a cave reserve and in 1939 it was opened to the general public. Since that time it has seen many thousands of visitors and tourists through its entrance.

The rock inside the cave is dolomite.

Water comes into the cave and drips from above when it rains outside. Then if it rains up in the mountains the water flows down Mystery Creek and into the Hastings cave.

In the cave there were many different stalactites and stalagmites. We were not allowed to touch them, as they would become damaged.

There was one section in the cave though where there was a large flat stalagmite that we were able to touch as we walked passed. It was smooth and very cold to the touch.

Greg, Tehillah and I all enjoyed the tour walking through the cave. It was really interesting seeing all of the varied structures and shapes and sizes.

The colours when the tour guides torch was shone through some of the stalagmite and stalactites were truly beautiful.

At the entrance of the cave the guide showed us a few Tasmanian crickets that live just inside the cave entry. There was also a Tasmanian cave spider at the cave entrance too. The guide said that the spiders live all throughout the cave.

Location:

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Hastings Newdegate Cave Aerial View:

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Our next blog post will take us back down the dirt road to the Visitor centre for a swim and relax in the Hastings thermal spring pool.

Until then, Remember to Enjoy Life and Enjoy a Fun Tasmanian Holiday!

Leanne Annett <><

We awoke Sunday morning on our third day in Tassie to another gorgeous sunrise! We certainly were blessed with the weather each day.

We packed up everything for 2-day adventure trip and set off from Wyndham, Seven Mile Beach to drive across the south west of Tasmania.

You can watch this video to see some of our trip, starting with the lovely sunrise and then heading off over the Tasman Bridge over the Derwent River and on towards Geeveston and Hastings.

The view of Mt Wellington was nice and clear as we drove over the Derwent, unlike yesterday when it was up in the clouds.

Hobart To Hastings Aerial View:

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We continued through Hobart, down Davey St and on towards the Huon Valley. We made a short stop at the Casino and Entertainment centre for quick look.

It was really lovely seeing the reflections of all of the boats moored next to the casino. We also had a great view from a different angle of the Tasman Bridge over the Derwent again.

After we had taken some nice photos here we were about to set off when we saw a beautiful rainbow starting on Mt Wellington and then arching up into the sky towards the direction that we were headed. It was like a sign that God was going before us to bless us with a wonderful day.

We continued on and drove through Huonville, Geeveston and Dover. We even veered a little off track to check out the small seaside town of Southport, since we are from the Gold Coast and also have a Southport.

Along the way we went past a group of twenty or so kayaks heading south westerly down the Huon River. They were really paddling hard and moving at a good speed. You can see them in the video above and the photo below.

Then around noon we headed off down the dirt road into the Southern Forest of Tasmania towards Hastings.

In our next post we will get out tickets and head off for our tour of the Newdegate cave at Hastings.

So until then, Remember to Enjoy Life and Enjoy a Drive in the Country!

Leanne Annett <><

We relaxed as we walked along the trail from the parking area towards Sphinx Rock on Mt Wellington near Hobart, Tasmania. It took us close to 40 minutes as opposed to the 20 minutes shown on the sign at the start of the trail.

Mt Wellington Aerial View:

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We were surprised when we came close to the rock to see that a childproof gate has been installed to stop kids from running ahead and plummeting off Sphinx rock as there are no guardrails around the rock.

The gate is just like a swimming pool gate and so will stop children from rushing ahead of their parents. A great idea, in my opinion as the rock can be dangerous if care is not taken.

We were blown away with the glorious view that welcomed us as we came around the final part of the track to the rock. The view was so clear of the city and suburbs of Hobart down below with the Derwent River flowing along under the Tasman Highway Bridge.

The Tasman Bridge, the Hobart Casino and other landmarks were all clearly visible while standing on the rock.

After about 5 minutes of taking in the lovely view and getting some great photos and video shots we were surprised by the black currawong birds that began to fly around us.

When the first bird swooped in about a meter from Tehillah’s head only to land on a dead tree trunk a few metres from us, we were actually startled and wondered what the black thing was that came so close to us!

We relaxed when we saw that it was just a currawong. Then we noticed that more and more currawongs began to appear.

It reminded us of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, “The Birds” as we began to be surrounded by these black birds with bright, almost glowing, orange, yellow eyes.

After a while we realized that other visitors to the mountain must have fed the currawongs in the past. The birds were just being friendly and looking for a feed.

We got some lovely photos and really enjoyed our time on the rock.

Another great feature of the view from the Sphinx Rock is that you can look down on Hobart and the Derwent, but you can also look up at the Pinnacle and the tower at the top of Mt Wellington. It is pretty awesome. Sometimes even with clouds hovering around the tower on the pinnacle. Fantastic views both in the up and down directions!

We found that the walk back was only 20 minutes as we already had stopped on the way in for the photos and to enjoy the landscape and view.

In our next blog post we will start with our trip from Wyndham Seven Mile Beach, through Hobart over the Tasman Bridge and then heading southeast towards the Huon Valley.

Until then, Remember to Enjoy Life and Enjoy a Walk in a National Park!

Leanne Annett <><