This morning just after breakfast we go to the Capricorn Caves, a limestone cave system right at the campground at the settlement The Caves.
Capricorn Caves are located 23 km north of Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. It was first discovered in 1882 by a Norwegian migrant John Olsen. He went on to claim the land under a lease hold title and open the attraction publicly in 1884. The property was later reclassified to free hold land and is today one of the largest privately owned caves system in Australia. The attraction is one of the longest running tourist attractions in Queensland (from Wikipedia).
The cave system has various entries, this one is in 5mins. walking distance from the car park.
There are some spectacular views up the limestone walls...
...the stalactites in the cave are maybe not as spectacular as in some other caves e.g. the Attendorn cave in Germany. But still quite impressive...
...and some steep stairs to climb...
...to then get into the cathedral cave. This cave is also used for wedding ceremonies as it represents a natural cathedral:
The kids had lots of fun...
...and loved also the rope bridge at the exit of the cave.
Some final words on the caves. When Olsen discovered them it was obviously not so convenient for him to make his way through as it is today. He only had some candle light and could not so well see that he walked on a thick layer of bat poo, the bats, spiders and other creatures not to mention. The guano was later removed from the cave and used as ferilizer in the early 20th century. However, when a company wanted to start mining the guano in large scale, the Olsen family saw the cave system endangered and stopped the whole mining. This will have saved this cave system from destruction as it happened to other caves in the area.
Our first contact with wild (kanga)roos we have in front of the cave where they are fed.
For the rest of the day there is not much to write as we are driving almost all of the day from 11am to 6pm.
On our way we saw (again) many road trains as they are typical for Australia...
And a couple of smaller bush fires.
After sunset we reach the BIG4 Adventure Whitsunday Resort at Arlie Beach. Although so late, the kids insist to test the adventure playground - which is fully understandable after such a long time in the car.
(the picture below is from the internet)
And tomorro we take a rest and enjoy the resort facilities :)
For Thursday we have made some special arrangements, wait and see...
—-- Artikel wurde erstellt auf meinem iPad
Position:Rockhampton - Mackay - Arlie Beach, Australia (450km)
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