It’s best to visit Pen Island under the cover of darkness — the surrounding waters are inhabited by a fire-breathing sea monster who’s favourite dish is human.
Safe on shore, Pen Island’s main recreational attraction is the BMX half-pipe. Snooker is available in back and side rooms have been made designated graffiti areas for your convenience.
Enjoy your stay!
As you enter St Paul’s Retreat you immediately get to the first junction room — a small room with a ladder leading up to a manhole cover.
Continuing on and up you come to a waterfall junction with a large tree branch seemingly lodged within the ladder. Use it to negotiate your way to the higher level pipe and continue…
The normally reinforced concrete piping converts to steel before you exit into the daylight, signalling the end of another awesome tunneling journey!
McElligotts Sarcophagus is a rare example of Australian colonial water storage technology. Discovered underground in 2002, this 19th century water storage tank held 270,000 gallons of water and serviced surrounding suburbs.
The tank is constructed of brick with a concrete floor and cast iron columns supporting a corrugated iron vaulted concrete roof. Cast iron ventilators penetrate the roof at ground level.
A dwarf wall divides the tank in two enabling one side to be cleaned while the other remained in service.
McElligotts Sarcophagus is the only existing tank of its kind. A similar tank was constructed at Burnside but has since been ruined by the Burnside City Council.
