2 nights in Yeppoon
Trip Start
Unknown
1
115
130
Trip End
Ongoing
Yeppoon, Queensland, Australia
Friday, July 1, 2011
Following that we were on the road again on the Bruce Highway to Rockhampton. We made a photo stop at the Tropic of Capricorn.
In the evening we arrived to the Rydges Capricorn International Resort in Yeppoon. It was exciting to see wild kangaroos hopping about at the resort. I sat on my patio in the evening and watched a mother with her baby. It was like the travel channel only live.
July 2
On Saturday July 2nd we drove out to the Capricorn Caves. Together we walked through the cave. It wasn't really a "decorated" one but still a lot of fun to explore. The Cathedral Room inside of the cave was set up to be used for services or weddings. We all sat there for a bit. Our guide turned off the lights so we could enjoy the natural darkness of the cave while she played some inspirational music. Following this room, our delegation split into three groups to explore an easy, medium and hard part of the cave. I led our group down into the middle section. It was literally "down" as it gradually got lower and lower and lower. It began with a crawl. And all the while it was in pitch blackness save for one flashlight we had among us. Near the end it seemed like an impassable dead end, but we had to lay flat on our stomachs and crawl from one room of the cave into the next, crawling our like a birth.
Following our lunch, we drove to a cultural student to meet with the mayor and a government official. They discussed their system with the students.
In the afternoon we had a few hours of free time at the resort. I took a walk out to the beach. The width of the sand was so great and out in the distance of the ocean were small mountains with sandy beaches touching the water.
At 6PM we visited a crocodile farm. Despite the crocs and our dinner, I was most impressed by the visibility in the night sky. I only wish there was someone who could have explained the constellations, but it was still a thrill to see so many luminous stars. When I wasn't star gazing, the students used flashlights to look for the red eyes of crocodiles in the distance. We saw some close up in cages. Inside we had our dinner. The highlight there was a bowl of creamy crocodile chowder.
