The Glow Worm Caves at Cedar Creek Estate Vineyard and Winery, is a purpose built cave in which the local Queensland glow-worms Arachnocampa flava have been introduced. The caves are in a naturalistic style, with stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstone features (all man-made again).
Construction of the cave was completed in 2004 and glowworms introduced in September that year, ready for the October breeding season, with the caves opening to visitors in March 2005. It's envisaged that the colony will become self-sufficient. Insects for the glowworms are caught by daily sweep netting of the grounds and through buckets filled with rotten fruit that attract fruit flies. Humidity and moisture are controlled with a high-pressure misting system that is run every two hours, however, no other temperature control is utilised.
Tours consist of a seven-minute DVD (available in English, Mandarin, Japanese and Korean), photo opportunities in front of the stalactites and stalagmites, and finally a 15-minute tour through "glow worm alley". Visitors are able to see the glow worms under a red torchlight, and have access to a fully knowledgeable tour guide.
Tickets are available from the glow worm office, located outside cellar door, along with sweets, shirts, bookmarks, magnets amongst other merchandise.
A stalactite is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble and that can be deposited as a colloid, or is in suspension, or is capable of being melted, may form a stalactite. Stalactites may be composed of lava, minerals, mud, peat, pitch, sand, sinter, and amberat. A stalactite is not necessarily a speleothem, though speleothems are the most common form of stalactite because of the abundance of limestone caves.
Mole Creek Karst is a national park situated in the North of Tasmania, Australia, 168 km northwest of Hobart. It is located on the slopes of the Great Western Tiers to the east of the town of Mole Creek. It is the only national park in Tasmania created specifically to protect karst landforms. It is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site.
The Springbrook National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Gold Coast hinterland of Queensland, Australia. The 6,197-hectare (15,310-acre) park is situated on the McPherson Range, near Springbrook, approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of Brisbane. The park is part of the Shield Volcano Group of the UNESCO World Heritage–listed Gondwana Rainforests of Australia.
Tamborine National Park is a protected area split between the City of Gold Coast and the Scenic Rim Region in South East Queensland, Australia, 67.5 km (41.9 mi) by road south of Brisbane.
A speleothem is a geological formation by mineral deposits that accumulate over time in natural caves. Speleothems most commonly form in calcareous caves due to carbonate dissolution reactions. They can take a variety of forms, depending on their depositional history and environment. Their chemical composition, gradual growth, and preservation in caves make them useful paleoclimatic proxies.
Luray Caverns, previously Luray Cave, is a cave just west of Luray, Virginia, United States, which has drawn many visitors since its discovery in 1878. The cavern system is adorned with speleothems such as columns, mud flows, stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and mirrored pools. The caverns host the Great Stalacpipe Organ, a lithophone made from solenoid-fired strikers that tap stalactites of varied sizes to produce tones similar to those of xylophones, tuning forks, or bells.
Glowworm or glow-worm is the common name for various groups of insect larvae and adult larviform females that glow through bioluminescence. They include the European common glow-worm and other members of the Lampyridae, but bioluminescence also occurs in the families Elateridae, Phengodidae and Rhagophthalmidae among beetles; as well as members of the genera Arachnocampa, Keroplatus and Orfelia among keroplatid fungus gnats.
The Te Ana-au caves are a culturally and ecologically important system of limestone caves on the western shore of Lake Te Anau, in the southwest of New Zealand. They were re-discovered in 1948 by Lawson Burrows, who found the upper entry after three years of searching, following clues in old Māori legends. It later became a major tourist attraction for the area, as the part of the caverns close to the lake shore is home to glowworms. The unofficial name used by the national caving association is Aurora. The caves are geologically young and hence there is only one tiny stalactite.
Cave of the Winds is a cave in the Pikes Peak region of Colorado. It is located just west of Colorado Springs on U.S. Highway 24, near the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Tours of the complex of caves are given daily.
Arachnocampa is a genus of nine fungus gnat species which have a bioluminescent larval stage, akin to the larval stage of glowworm beetles. The species of Arachnocampa are endemic to Australia and New Zealand, dwelling in caves and grottos, or sheltered places in forests.
The Borra Caves(Borrā Guhalu) are located on the East Coast of India, in the Ananthagiri hills of the Araku Valley of the Alluri Sitharama Raju district in Andhra Pradesh. The caves, one of the largest in the country, at an elevation of about 705 m (2,313 ft), distinctly exhibit a variety of speleothems ranging in size and irregularly shaped stalactites and stalagmites. The caves are basically karstic limestone structures extending to a depth of 80 m (260 ft), and are considered the deepest caves in India. The native name for the caves is Borrā Guhalu where Borra means abdomen in and Guhalu means caves in Telugu language.
Tamborine Mountain is a plateau and locality in the Scenic Rim Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Tamborine Mountain had a population of 8,105 people.
The Waitomo Glowworm Caves attraction is a cave at Waitomo on the North Island of New Zealand. It is known for its population of Arachnocampa luminosa, a glowworm species found exclusively in New Zealand. This cave is part of the waitomo streamway system that includes the Ruakuri Cave, Lucky Strike, and Tumutumu Cave.
Gunns Plains Cave is a limestone show cave, near Gunns Plains in the North West of Tasmania, twenty kilometres from Ulverstone.
Cedar Creek is a locality split between City of Gold Coast and Logan City in Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Cedar Creek had a population of 861 people.
The Metro / Te Ananui Caves are a maze of limestone caves formed by the underground capture of Ananui Creek, a tributary of the Waitakere / Nile River. The caves are located in the Paparoa National Park in New Zealand, managed by the Department of Conservation. Parts of the cave system are accessible by cave tours and rafting, operated by a commercial tour operator out of Charleston.
Tamborine is a rural town in the Scenic Rim Region and a locality split between the Scenic Rim Region and the City of Logan in Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, the locality of Tamborine had a population of 3,950 people.
Tamborine Mountain Road is a continuous 24.1 kilometres (15.0 mi) road route in the Scenic Rim local government area of Queensland, Australia. Part of the route is designated as State Route 95. It is a state-controlled district road, rated as a local road of regional significance (LRRS).
Waikaretu is a rural community and caving area in the Waikato District and Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located 49 kilometres south-west of Tuakau.
The König-Otto-Tropfsteinhöhle is a natural karst cave near Sankt Colomann (Velburg), a district of the Upper Palatinate town of Velburg in the southeast of the district of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, Bavaria, Germany.
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