Six months after flooding, Tasmania’s Marakoopa Cave reopens

The reopening of the Marakoopa Cave, six months after its forced closure following June's devastating floods, is expected to bring a much needed boost in tourism to Mole Creek in Tasmania's north.

Commenting on yesterday’s reopening, Haydn Stedman, Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service Senior Cave Guide said the infrastructure damage from the floods was extensive.

Stedman told the ABC “it destroyed our road bridge, compromised the lighting system to the extent that we had to rewire the whole cave.”

Mr Stedman said about 80 tonnes of debris had to be removed from the cave mouth and entry pathways by hand.

Mole Creek Progress Association President Michael Frydrych said Marakoopa Cave was one of the biggest tourist attractions in the area, commenting “some people are indirectly dependent on the caves because we do have a lot of attractions in the region, but the cave's cafe, they closed down basically, so we have people that are fully dependent on the caves.”

Although over $1 million has been spent on the Marakoopa precinct as part of Parks and Wildlife Tasmania’s flood recovery program, Frydrych said he was disappointed the road to the Walls Of Jerusalem National Park remained closed.

He added “the road to the Walls of Jerusalem, that's still not open and we really, desperately need that."

Marakoopa Cave contains spectacular decoration as well as the largest glow-worm display in any public-access cave in Australia.

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