Caves, Glow-worms, Self-cultivation (Tasmania)

Today's destination: Marakoopa Cave in Mole Creek Karst National Park, Tasmania. 15 minutes drive away.

This cave would have taken hundreds of millions of years to form the way it is today. Water streams continue to run through it. Fern Glade walking track through a forest took us to the cave entrance:

The cave is made of limestone, which consists mainly of calcium carbonate deposited by rainwater. Carbon and calcium are also the principal constituents of bone mineral (carbonated hydroxylapatite). The cave feels like an external exoskeleton of sorts. It was full of various stalagmites (grounded), stalactites (hanging), and even helictites (sideways/angular), all forms of "speleothems" (cave formations). Helictites appear to defy gravity thanks to capillary forces; water adheres to existing material and climbs upwards.

Continuously, although especially in rich, unperturbed natural environments, I practice various forms of self-cultivation/meditation practices, in cognito. This includes jing, chi, and shen cultivation (to use the classical Taoist terms) -- respectively: connecting to the tissues of the physical body as I course through, running deep, relaxed breathing and bodily attention in tandem, and attuning to the interdependent aggregation of the rich environment and bodymind...

This runs seamlessly and virtually unnoticeable along with and through continued observation, analysis, enjoyment, conversation, thought, and presence/beingness...

The cave is home to "glow-worms" (Arachnocampa tasmaniensis), which are the bioluminscent larval stage of fungal gnats. Their controllable light, which permits colony-wide glow synchronisation, attracts flies (prey), which get caught in the silken threads they droop from the cave ceiling.

There was a stalagmite that reached the height of a human, which would have taken an over 10,000 years to form from the periodic fall of water droplets from the stalactites above it. This number was calculated from the following:

• 1 drop of water (0.14 mL) falling every 3 minutes (175,200 drops, or 24.528 L per year);
• 0.01% calcite in aqueous solution (10,000 L of water per kg of calcium carbonate);
• The stalagmite contained roughly (at least) 25 kg of calcium carbonate;
•  ≥ 10,192.4331 years

The return trip along the Fern Glade track that leads up to the cave [360°]:

Returned home to a tasty plant-based meal, prepared by the unrivaled Sarah: