Tasmans Arch

Useful Information

Location:	20 Tasmans Arch Rd, Eaglehawk Neck, 7179. (-43.0421258, 147.9509389)
Open:	no restrictions. [2026]
Fee:	Daily Pass per vehicle AUD 47.70. Holiday Pass per vehicle AUD 95.50. [2024]
Classification:	Sea Cave Natural Bridge
Light:	n/a
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Tasmans Arch, 20 Tasmans Arch Rd, Eaglehawk Neck. Tasman National Park, Tasman Field Centre, 5803 Arthur Highway, Taranna TAS 7180, Tel: +61-3-6250-3980. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

Tasmans Arch is one of several sea caves along the coast at the end of Tasman Arch Road in Tasman National Park. The Tasmans Arch track runs along the coast and offers numerous viewpoints. Several of the sea caves are collapsed, and so they actually form a short passage or natural arch which ends in a collapse doline. Tasman’s Arch, after which it is named, is arguably the most spectacular natural arch here. Patterson’s Arch, a little further south, is also well worth a visit. The trail between Tasman Arch Road and Waterfal Bay Road is about 2.1 km long, 4.2 km for the roundtrip. In other words if you take the trail you should plan about 1.5 hours. The site is well developed as a part of the Tasman National Park. The site is freely accessible, as far as we know there are no restrictions. While the site has no separate entrance fees, a valid parks pass is required for entry to all of Tasmania’s national parks. While there is a daily pass, we guess most tourists will choose the Holiday Pass which is valid for the whole holidays up to two months.

The arch is named after the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who was the first European seafarer to reach New Zealand, Fiji and Van Diemen’s Land. Van Diemen’s Land was the original name of the island Tasmania.

The rocks here are dolerite aka diabase a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock. Like basalt, it is formed by cooling mafic magma, but not on surface. It is formed as shallow intrusive bodies so the solidification takes much longer and the result is fine-grained and contains tachylite, a dark mafic glass. The most extensive of all dolerite formations worldwide, are found in Tasmania. Over a period of perhaps one million years, the magma penetrated a thin layer of Permian and Triassic rocks through several intrusion zones. The deposit has a volume of more than 40,000 km³.