Geotourism
Geotourism is rapidly being recognised as an exciting new direction for tourism surrounding geological attractions and destinations.
Geotourism is concerned with sustaining or enhancing a destination’s geographic character and includes the entire combination of natural and human attributes that make one place distinct from another.
Australia is fortunate indeed to host many of the most significant environmental and cultural reserves on Earth, and the Capricorn region is shaping up to be the palaeontological capital of Australia thanks to unique fossil deposits of dinosaur remains and an amazing rainforest menagerie frozen in time.
Dig the Tropic - Outback to the Reef
Take a magical mystery Geotour across the tropic of Capricorn. Be fascinated by the stories that unfold and discover how the preservation of our past might also predict our future.
Visit the ancient above-ground Capricorn Caves situated 23km north of Rockhampton. Specialist tours run by the Queensland Museum offer the dedicated palaeo tourist the opportunity to join them in uncovering the fossil remains of bulldog-sized ringtail possums, gigantic pythons known as mastoid snakes and Australia's largest fossil frog.
The story of the limestone of Camoo Caves in Mt Etna Caves National Park unfolds along an interpretive walk. The limestone of Camoo Caves is a 380 million year old fossilised coral reef which is proved by numerous fossil specimens. The cave is also famous for its bat inhabitants, among them the rare ghost bat, Australia's largest carnivorous bat.
Just 40km south-west of Rockhampton, the open cut gold mine at Mt Morgan is part of an historical tour of the town which includes man-made caves. In 1954 formations of the ceiling of these caves were analysed, and found to be 150 million year old dinosaur footprints - the oldest record of its kind in Australia.
Don't miss 'fossil digging' in Queensland
More and larger dinosaurs than any other state in Australia
Best dinosaur footprints in the world
Best and largest fossil marsupial sites in the world
Largest and best known Australian dinosaurs.
Large numbers of fossil mammal and giant animal (megafauna) sites
Best Jurassic dinosaur footprint sites in Australia
Equal best giant marine reptile sites in world
Best record of fossil rainforest faunas recording climate change
Australia's best elasmosaurs
Australia's largest dinosaur digs
Australia's best fossil collections
Don't miss 'sapphire fossicking' in Central Queensland
Immerse yourself in a gem experience and try your hand at fossicking in the Sapphire Gemfields. Just over 40km west of the town of Emerald, the Gemfields is the largest commercial sapphire fields in the Southern Hemisphere and a major supplier of sapphires to the world market. Here you can hire equipment, purchase a fossicker's licence and detailed maps, and even buy buckets of wash to sort through if you want to bypass the digging stage. The townships of Anakie, Willows, Gemfields, Sapphire and Rubyvale have their own special legends, history and character. So why not put a sparkle in your holiday and take home a souvenir with a difference!
Great Barrier Reef
Some parts of the Great Barrier Reef began to grow more than 2 million years ago, but most of the reef began to develop about 500,000 years ago. The approximately 300 small coral islands, or cays, in the Great Barrier Reef are accumulations of sand and coral rock. The southernmost reefs, known as the Capricorn-Bunker Group, lie closer to the mainland at the Tropic of Capricorn (the southern limit of the tropics), where the waters are relatively cool. Snorkelling, diving and day trips are all available from the Capricorn Coast and make a great start to the trail as the formations rise up from the sea bed.
www.gbrmpa.gov.au
Mt Jim Crow
Volcanic activity created Mt Jim Crow, a trachyte plug found at Mt Jim Crow National Park. The base and lower slopes of this impressive dome are covered in semi-evergreen vine thickets and hoop pines tower over the dry rainforest. Mt Jim Crow is important to the local Aboriginal people. A Dreaming legend tells the story of how this mountain was created by the rainbow serpent.
www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/park/index.cgi?parkid=67
CapricornCaves
The spectacular Capricorn Caves are a unique system of above-ground caves in a limestone ridge situated 23km north of Rockhampton, Central Queensland.
These ancient caves have been attracting visitors since their discovery by John Olsen in 1882. Today, they are the only privately owned show caves on freehold land in Australia. Tours range from easy walking, wheelchair accessible caves to wild caving adventure tours. Offering a caravan park and cabins amongst the bush, visitors can enjoy the native flora and fauna and first class facilities. The Capricorn Caves are open daily for hourly guided tours. Closed Christmas Day.
www.capricorncaves.com.au
Mt Etna & Camoo Caves
The story of the limestone of Camoo Caves in Mt Etna Caves National Park unfolds along an interpretive walk. The limestone of Camoo Caves is a 380 million year old fossilised coral reef which is proved by numerous fossil specimens. Mt Etna is one of the few places in Queensland where you can go caving. Access to some caves is restricted to protect the bat inhabitants, among them the rare ghost bat, Australia's largest carnivorous bat. Guided night tours of Bat Cleft on Mt Etna operate every summer (Dec to Feb) when you can see the spectacular nightly emergence of thousands of little bent-wing bats searching for food.
www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/park/index.cgi?noback=1&parkid=68
Mt Hay
Located 38km west of Rockhampton on the Capricorn Highway, Mt Hay is the site of 120 million year old Thundereggs, relatively round shaped rocks formed when exploding from a volcanic plug and they reveal a beautiful pattern when cut in half. Samples can be purchased from the Visitor Information Centre in Rockhampton as souvenirs.
Mt Morgan Historical Museum
Mt Morgan is a small historical town established in the gold rush days with a rich gold and copper mining history. Surrounding the mine is also the site of dinosaur footprints on the ceiling of the clay caves that date back 150 million years and are an eerie reminder of prehistoric times.
Blackdown Tableland
Rising abruptly above the surrounding dry plains, Blackdown Tableland protects spectacular sandstone scenery with gorges and waterfalls at the north-eastern edge of the Central Queensland sandstone belt. This is the traditional home of the Ghungalu people who have visited this place for thousands of years and left behind rock art, vivid reminders of their culture. Discover Aboriginal culture and see the stencil art along the Mimosa Creek cultural trail. Fit walkers can walk through open forest to a spectacular gorge at the bottom of RainbowFalls. Camping is allowed at the South Mimosa Creek camping area. The camping area has self-registration except during Easter, Christmas, school holidays and public holiday weekends.
www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/park/index.cgi?parkid=12
Blackwater - heart of the Queensland Coal fields
Blackwater is a unique town situated on the Capricorn Highway. It is known as the coal capital of Queensland and was built to service the Blackwater Coal Mine. Blackwater is one of the largest open cut coal mines in Australia, producing almost 14 million tonnes of coking and thermal coal a year.
Sapphire Gemfields
Prized since ancient times, Sapphires have been called the "gem of the heavens". Ancient civilisations believed that the power of wisdom was contained within this precious gemstone, enabling the wearer to find the correct solution to challenging obstacles. Sapphires have a hardness of 9 on Mohs' scale, second only to diamonds, and visitors can fossick for sapphires on the gemfields. Fossicking parks and bags of ‘wash’ are readily available for those seeking hidden treasures. Visit during Gemfest each year to see all the action and buying activities.
www.gemfest.com.au
Rubyvale Gem Gallery
Renovated from one of the towns original houses built circa 1914, it is now home to one of the most spectacular collections of Australian sapphires. The showroom displays sapphires mined and cut by Peter Brown, who is also recognised as one of the best gem cutters on the Gemfields today. Since finding his first sapphire 25 years ago, the mining, gem-cutting, and jewellery making have become part of Peter’s life long passion.
www.rubyvalegemgallery.com
Miner’s Heritage Walk-in Mine
At Miners Heritage you can explore the world of sapphires, gem-cutting and fossicking. A 30 minute tour of the mine allows visitors to observe the manufacturing process. The mine is located one and a half kilometres from Rubyvale, and is Australia's largest walk-in tourist mine. Gemstones and jewellery are for sale in the showroom so you can take home a memento.
Little House of Gems
At Little House of Gems your experience is educational and entertaining. Genuine Sapphire Wash with a generous addition of gemstones is available to help you learn how to identify Sapphires and Zircons. Fossicking equipment is supplied for you to use for free. Experienced miners are on call to help you.
littlehouseofgems@clearmail.com.au
Bobby Dazzler Fossicking Park
At Bobby Dazzler visitors can fossick for sapphires, sift through a bag of wash and take an underground mine tour. If your luck is holding up, find yourself a gemstone and get it cut as a souvenir.
www.bobbydazzler.com.au
Clermont Gold Fields
Be transported back to Australia’s early gold rush days in Clermont - one of the oldest inland settlements in tropical Queensland. First explored by Ludwig Leichardt in 1845, it wasn’t until the lure of gold attracted settlers in 1861 that the town flourished. Clermont today is a wealth of local culture and hospitality and hosts and annual Goldfest.
Carnarvon Gorge
In the Carnarvon Gorge Section of Carnarvon National Park, towering white sandstone cliffs form a spectacular steep-sided gorge with narrow, vibrantly coloured and lush side gorges. Boulder-strewn Carnarvon Creek winds through the gorge. Aboriginal rock art on the sandstone overhangs is a fragile reminder of the Aboriginal people who used the gorge for thousands of years. Rock engravings, ochre stencils and freehand paintings at Cathedral Cave, Baloon Cave and the Art Gallery include some of the finest rock art in Australia.
www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/park/index.cgi?parkid=49
www.takarakka.com.au
www.carnarvongorge.com
Winton, Richmond & Hughendon
Continue further west along the Tropic of Capricorn towards Longreach then Winton where Australia’s biggest-ever dinosaur was discovered. The fossilised remains of the massive animal were found on a remote sheep station near Winton, in central-western Queensland. Dubbed ‘Elliot’, the dinosaur would have stretched the length of five cars and weighed as much as five fully grown African elephants! Had he been alive today, Elliot would have easily been able to peek into the window of a second floor apartment.
Link to Queensland Museum Dinosaur web site
http://www.museum.qld.gov.au/features/dinosaurs/
