Well the mozzies had not taken a holiday as they were as hungry as ever when we woke up at Capricorn Caves this morning. Luckily they had not found their way into the caravan although we did find a couple in there later in the day. There was a lot of slapping by all waiting to take the 9am tour into the caves but once we got underground there were no mozzies.
Even though the Capricorn Caves are limestone caves, they are dry caves due to a lot of air movement so there is a lack of the usual stalagmites and stalagmites. What they lack in features, they make up with history, stories and a cathedral cavern where operas are held.
Many years ago, a thriving guano industry was centred here due to the bat poo through the caves and we managed to see some bats on the ceilings and flying around during the tour. There were a lot of timber bridges and stairs to negotiate as well as a zig zag squeeze. A very different cave experience from your normal cave tour but still enjoyable.
A quick run to the car to avoid the mozzies and we headed north towards Mackay. Another good travel day with 27C but there was some patchy cloud cover. The countryside changed from the cattle grazing around Rockhampton to sugar cane fields as far as the eye could see when you got to Mackay.
Pulling into the caravan park at Mackay, we booked in at the same time as another South Australian couple with a Silverline Outback. After setting up, it was happy hour with Rob and Cheryl from the Barossa who have been on the road for a year. Good company but it all comes to an end on dusk when the bities start biting.