CAPRICORN CAVES
Capricorn Caves showcases their largest and most spectacular caves, leaving you with lasting memories of ancient geological history, early explorers, the wonders of wildlife and special cave acoustics.
Tour guide Christian elaborates on its history. “This place has an amazing story that goes back, we think around 400 million years. Pretty much everything that we’re surrounded by here, all of this rock, comes from a reef that was once growing here. So we are literally surrounded by the skeletons of the animals that lived in the reef and there are skeletons just piled on top of each other.”
Paleontologists have said that these caves hold some of the largest deposits of fossils in Australia and the discoveries are incredible “In this cave, just behind us here, we have actually found fossils of rainforest animals. These animals date back between 300 and 500,000 years old. And we’ve come through found teeth of giant kangaroos and its teeth are well-designed to jump out of a tree and attack animals and tear them apart”
STAY: https://capricorncaves.com.au/
MOURA
Heading west, we come to the mining town of Moura, where there is a deep connection to mining. In the centre of town is a tribute which honours the men who lost their lives while working in the nearby mines.
Moura is often seen by travellers on their way west, like to Carnarvon Gorge and the Moura Caravan Park is our pick of accommodation in town “We’ve got 30 van sites, a couple of drive-through sites. And we also have about 60 cabins. We’re getting pretty much travellers from everywhere. Some have been over the border from New South Wales. So they’re coming through so they can take day trips to either Isla Gorge or Carnarvon Gorge, heading through further up the coast.”
STAY: https://mouraavcp.com.au/
EAT: https://www.countryatmospherecafe.com.au/
ISLA GORGE
A little further down the road from Moura are the immense and diverse landscapes of the “Sandstone Wonders”. Sprawled across almost 28,000 square kays, this rugged landscape is emblazoned with deep gorges and rocky outcrops. These mountain ranges are known as the “Roof of Queensland”.
Terri and Melissa are a quarter of their local bushwalking group, the Taroom Trekkers and we’re meeting at Isla Gorge.
“We’ve got three gorgeous gorges. This one’s the easiest accessible. Robinson Gorge, which is part of… It’s an hour to the west. It’s part of Expedition National Park. Over the other side of it to the west is Carnarvon. But ours is a little bit more private, which we like.
An hour south of Taroom is the Dawson River where you’ll find plenty of Red Claw. Local, Mat Bryan has fished these waters since he was a kid and has all the tips to get them into the pots “Structure is your biggest friend. With your water flow, put them on the downstream side of any sort of structure. Throw a couple deep and a couple in close. Figure out where they’re running. And once you figured out where they’re sitting, put them all out at the same depth, and you’re in for a feed.”
STAY: https://www.ozzyparks.com.au/locations/taroom-carvan-park/overview/
JONDARYAN
On our final leg of our road trip is the Jondaryan Woolshed, Australia’s oldest woolshed still in working order. This was the main shearing station from the mid 1800s…
and played a huge part in Queensland’s agricultural history. These days it’s a historical village that pays tribute to the days gone by and it celebrates the cultural and pastoral history of the Darling Downs.
STAY: https://www.jondaryanwoolshed.com.au/
Looking for accommodation? Head to caravanqld.com.au for a list of fantastic caravan parks which have a range of accommodation, from sites through to self-contained cabins.
