Cataract Gorge
A river gorge on the South Esk about 1.5 kilometres from the centre of Launceston, with walking tracks along its cliffs. A chairlift crosses the First Basin, where people swim in summer, and a suspension bridge spans the river near its mouth.
- Where
- Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
- Grade
- Local gem
- Worth
- 10 points collected on site
- Coordinates
- -41.4461, 147.1194
Get the Cataract Gorge stamp
Open LOQAH when you are at Cataract Gorge. It checks where you are once, at that moment, and the stamp is yours: confirmed on site in gold and struck with the date. It goes into your Tasmania volume with your photos and a note.
Near Cataract Gorge
Cradle Mountain 101 km
A jagged dolerite peak in the Central Highlands of Tasmania, inside the national park it shares with Lake St Clair. Its outline rises above Dove Lake, which a walking track circles, and the Overland Track begins nearby.
Bay of Fires 105 km
A stretch of coast in north-east Tasmania from Binalong Bay to Eddystone Point, with white beaches, clear water and granite boulders splashed with orange lichen. Tobias Furneaux named it in 1773 after seeing the fires of Aboriginal people along the shore.
Freycinet National Park 118 km
Tasmania's oldest park along with Mount Field, founded in 1916 on the Freycinet Peninsula about 125 kilometres north-east of Hobart. Its red and pink granite peaks, the Hazards, look down on Wineglass Bay, a curve of white sand that walkers climb to a lookout to see.
Museum of Old and New Art 152 km
The largest privately funded museum in the Southern Hemisphere, set at the Moorilla winery on the Berriedale peninsula north of central Hobart. It shows ancient, modern and contemporary art from David Walsh's collection around themes of sex and death; he calls it a subversive adult Disneyland.
Maria Island 154 km
A mountainous island off Tasmania's east coast, about 20 kilometres long and entirely a national park, reached by ferry from Triabunna. There are no cars, wombats graze around the old settlement of Darlington, and the Painted Cliffs show swirls of coloured sandstone.
Salamanca Place 161 km
A row of sandstone warehouses from the 19th century on Hobart's waterfront, now galleries, cafés and restaurants. Every Saturday the Salamanca Market fills the street with stalls of Tasmanian food, crafts and produce.
Cascades Female Factory 162 km
A former workhouse for female convicts in South Hobart, in use from 1828 to 1856, in the penal colony then called Van Diemen's Land. Its stone walls and yards are now one of the 11 sites that make up the World Heritage listed Australian Convict Sites.
Mount Wellington 162 km
The mountain that rises behind Hobart, summit of the Wellington Range, known as kunanyi in palawa kani. A road climbs to the top, where boardwalks look out over the city, the Derwent estuary and much of southern Tasmania.
More hidden gems in Tasmania
Questions
Where is Cataract Gorge?
Cataract Gorge is in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. The nearest other LOQAH stamps are Cradle Mountain (101 km), Bay of Fires (105 km), Freycinet National Park (118 km).
How do I get the Cataract Gorge stamp?
Open LOQAH when you are at Cataract Gorge and get its stamp. The app checks where you are once, at that moment, and the stamp goes into your Tasmania volume, confirmed on site, with the date.
I have been to Cataract Gorge before. Can I still have the stamp?
Yes. Add it from Earlier trips in your Tasmania volume, with the date if you know it, or import your Google Timeline and LOQAH matches the places you were.
Collect your first stamp.
LOQAH is free on iPhone and Android, in India and 20 more countries, with more countries on the way. Stand at a place, collect its stamp, and keep every trip in a passport that grows.