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| The thermal
pool near Hastings Cave
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Hastings (including the Hastings Caves)
Interesting caves, forests and thermal pools
on the edge of the southern forests.
Located 104 km south of Hobart on the Huon
Highway, Hastings is a tiny inconsequential
little settlement which happens to be close to
the Hastings Cave group, the major attraction in
the south east corner of the island.
Hastings came into existence in the mid
nineteenth century as timber workers pushed
further and further into the southern forests
searching for stands of sassafras, huon pine and
stringy bark. At its peak the town had a port, a
sawmill and there were considerable numbers of
timber workers in the area.
In 1917 a group of timber workers discovered
three limestone caves. Only one, the Newdegate
Cave, is open to the public. It was opened in
1939 and can be reached along a road which was
once used as a railway for transporting timber
out of the area.
Things to see:
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| Newdegate
Cave |
Newdegate Cave
Newdegate Cave is about a 5 minute walk from the
car park through particularly beautiful
rainforest. The Department of Lands Parks and
Wildlife have produced a brochure (it is
available from a box at the beginning of the
walk) which, when combined with the markers at
various points along the walk, allows the
visitor to get some idea of the hardships of the
early timber cutters. There is an old logging
platform where logs were hauled from the
surrounding forest and loaded onto trolleys
which ran along tram tracks to the sawmill in
Hastings where it was cut and prepared for
export.
On one level Newdegate Cave is not
particularly special however there is one area
of the cave (Titania's Palace) which is simply
breathtaking. Located at the end of a large, and
fairly ordinary, cavern, Titania's Palace is a
genuine wonderland of stalagmites and
stalactites which has earned Newdegate Cave a
reputation as one of the most beautiful caves in
the country.
Inspections of the cave are held at 11.15
a.m., 1.15 p.m., 2.15 p.m., 3.15 p.m. and 4.15
p.m.
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| Old Log
Loading Platform in the forest on the
way into Newdegate Cave
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The Forest and the Trees
Further along the walk are stumps of trees which
were cut down and, by some accident or
oversight, there is a huge stringy bark which is
68.7 m high and estimated to be 450 years old.
The brochure also offers a guide to the flora
of the area and the visitor can easily identify
the tree ferns, kangaroo ferns, musk, silky fan
ferns and myrtle which grow in abundance on
either side of the track.
The Thermal Pool
A couple of kilometres from Newdegate Cave is
the Thermal Pool. The authorities have gone to a
lot of trouble to make the Hastings Caves
Thermal Pool at attraction for visitors. Set in
bushland the pools, which remain at a constant
28-30°C throughout the year, are surrounded by
lawns, good seating and modern picnic
facilities. The swimming area is positively
inviting.
Accommodation
There is no accommodation at the Caves.
