Trauma and the Kookaburras

Sun., Feb 27th  We got up at 6am to a warm day with just a few clouds.  We wanted to update the blog for yesterday but the campground server and internet were down.  Decided to leave early and start heading south towards Sydney at 7:45 am.  On the road we met an "oversize vehicle" pilot truck followed by 2 police cars with lights flashing pointing for all to pull over and stop.  Two extra large loads then  came through taking up the whole road.  Thank goodness we had space to pull over at this point.



Shortly after that we had another encounter with the local authorities. 10:45 am .... a random pull over for license check, illegal flora and fauna and a breathalyser.  After the cavity search they finally let us pass ...... LOL.

After lunch, we stopped at Capricorn Caves just north or Rockhampton.  Unlike underground caves, these above ground ones are honeycombed into a limestone ridge and discovered in 1882.  It is believed to be one of the oldest tourist attractions in Queensland and has always been privately owned by families.  For $25 each we thoroughly enjoyed the one hour guided tour ... especially the "Cathedral Cave".  We experienced its near perfect acoustics as they turned out the lights and played Phantom of the Opera..... awesome!  They have live concerts here as well as weddings.  Very cool!  Only part Tracy didn't like was all the bats flying about and her loving hubby said "suck it up princess!".  The tour guide laughed and said, "What did you expect - it's a cave!"  At the end we had to do an "Indiana Jones" thing and negotiate the ZigZag passage with a candle and then cross the swinging bridge that swayed more than normal when a certain someone jumped on it!


We headed further south and at Rockhampton took the Capricorn Coast scenic route to Kinka Beach via Yeppoon. We are staying at the Island View Caravan Park.  It is across the street from a really nice beach with a beautiful view of Great Keppel Island for $22.90 for a powered site.
Poor Eugene was traumatized .... as he threw the chicken on the BBQ for dinner, a Kookaburras flew down to the grill and tried to steal it.  He had to fend for himself with the only weapon available .... the spatula to the beak!  Bird zero ... Eugene one!  The Kookaburras was no longer laughing.  Dinner was yummy complete with Aussie white wine.

Cheeky little kookaburras!

Tomorrow we head to Hervey Bay and Fraser Island.   BTW there are some serious outback campers here too.