It’s been nearly 400 million years in the making but on Wednesday (June 25th), the Capricorn Caves new GeoTour became an exciting reality.
While local tourism dignitaries - including Capricorn Tourism and Economic Development CEO Mary Carroll – made the trek north of Rockhampton for the official launch, it was a plucky bunch of Emmaus College students who hailed the inaugural GeoTour a success.
With formalities out of the way, the students began with a leisurely stroll… back in time a few million years of course to the Devonian Era, courtesy of our newly discovered Fossil Cave.
“Not a lot of people know that this area north of Rockhampton and around the Caves was once a shallow sea bed, much like the Great Barrier Reef,” Owner Ann Augusteyn said.
“So to finally to be able to show people some of these fossils that are millions of years old and explain how these caves were formed is very exciting; the students were just blown away.”
From here the intrepid explorers took a sharp left through one of Queensland Museums most significant geological dig sites.
The aptly named ‘Journey of Discovery’ then winds through one of the world’s oldest creek beds and finally onto the Karst for a bird’s eye of the surrounding area, stretching all the way to the Capricorn Coast.
It’s here that the students discovered the effects of rain and wind on the outer slopes of these limestone ridges, rare flora and fauna and evidence of early climate change.
“Basically it gave the students the chance to see first- hand the effects of Mother Nature on our natural environment, something they don’t get to experience in the classroom,” Ann said.
“After years of planning and hard work, the GeoTour really is a dream come true!”
Schools from as far northern New South Wales are now queuing up for their chance to step back in time at the Capricorn Caves.
“Our numbers are increasing by the day so as you can imagine the future is looking very exciting!”
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