Mole Creek occupies a valley between the Gog Range and the Great Western Tiers in the central north, not far from Tasmania’s highest point, Mount Ossa.
This is an area of fascinating limestone caves that have been forming over the past 450 million years and are now protected in Tasmania’s only underground national park. There are more than 300 caves and sinkholes in all, many featuring streams and springs.
Public tours are conducted through King Solomons and Marakoopa caves, and each give you a very different experience. King Solomons is noted for its lavish colours and formations, while Marakoopa is a wet cave containing the largest display of glow worms in Australia. For equally spectacular scenery, be adventurous and join a wild cave tours. You will journey through underground streams and squeeze between rocky passages with only a headlamp to illuminate your path – be prepared to get wet.
After navigating the caves, you can join a four wheel drive tour of the Mersey valley, visit a leatherwood honey farm, or try white-water rafting on the upper Mersey. There are many pleasant short walks in the area at Liffey Falls and Arm River. You’ll be rewarded by beautiful scenery on longer bushwalks at Lake Rowallan and the Walls of Jerusalem National Park.
There’s plenty of wildlife at Mole Creek – including the world’s largest barn owl and native Australian animals at the Trowunna Wildlife Park.
Mole Creek is home to little more than 200 people, most of whom earn their living from farming and forestry. It was named after of a small stream that veered underground, like a mole. The area was originally inhabited by Aboriginal people and was explored by Europeans hunting for fur skins in the 1830s.
The average maximum temperature for January is 21.5 degrees, while in June it’s 11 degrees.
Mole Creek is 72 kilometres (45 miles) west of Launceston. Take the B54 as far as Deloraine and the B12 from there.
