Saturday, September 26, 2009

Capricorn Caves and Mt Archer Qld

The view of Rockhampton from Mt Archer

Have you ever been in a Cathedral inside a Cave? It is quite a unique experience.

The Cathedral Cave

Yesterday we decided to go up Mt Archer which overlooks Rockhampton. Visibility was pretty poor because we are still suffering the effects of the recent duststorm which seems to be lingering about. There was a lovely bush lookout and a gorgeous little coffee shop and we spent a pleasant hours drinking coffee and listening to the many birds in the trees nearby. Afterwards we decided to visit the Capricorn Caves and opted for a hour tour. The caves themselves are not as good (in my opinion) as ours in the South West but quite nice all the same.

My best side walking through the caves

On the guided tour we explored a labyrinth of large caves featuring beautiful speleothems, amazing fig tree roots and little insectivorous bats. The Cathedral Cave is awesome with its near perfect acoustics. We then had to negotiate a Zig Zag passage with a candle and across the swinging bridge. Discovered in 1882 by John Olsen, the caves offer a special environmental experience, a rich dioversity of caves, remnant dry rainforest and rare flora & fauna.

The Cave entrance ( the tree roots have been growing for centuries and have altered the environment magnificently)

The air was quite pleasant inside the honeycomb limestone caves, naturally airconditioned which was great because it is very warm in Qld. Normally I get the heeby jeebies when in closed spots but I managed to do the whole tour without panicking apart from the big kid (DH) behind me rocking the swinging bridges. Afterwards we enjoyed a very pleasant lunch at the cafe where some of the other quests were bush turkeys.

One of the bush turkeys

We popped in to say hullo to Julie & Peter then ventured home for the night.
Talk again soon

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