Marakoopa Cave

One of two show caves in the Mole Creek karst beneath the Great Western Tiers, Marakoopa takes its name from a Aboriginal word for 'handsome' - and earns it. Two underground streams run through the cave, and its higher chambers hold one of the largest glow-worm displays open to the public anywhere in Australia, a galaxy of blue-green points spread across the darkened ceiling. The Great Cathedral chamber echoes, and the reflection pools double the flowstone above them. Wrapped in cool temperate forest of tree ferns and myrtle, it is among the most atmospheric caves in the country.