Friday, 13 July 2012

Exercise Wallaby - R&R Day Two Part II

Capricorn Caves

Just a recap from Part I, we were chilling at Zarraffa's Coffee using their wifi while waiting for the coach to bring us to the Capricorn Caves

I was actually disappointed to know that we are going to a cave and not to Keppel Island. I mean, what is there to see inside a cave, right?

How wrong was I!

As I found out later, Capricorn Caves is an ancient geological landscape formed from underwater coral beds over 360 million years ago. 

Pictures! 

The swinging bridge from the outside

Inside the cave, we clambered our way through caverns and labyrinths while the guide introduced parts of the caves to us and how those things are formed. 



The swinging bridge

Going down
Up...

Narrow passageway

Going up again

More climbing

As we reached the top, what greeted us was an underground Cathedral! Can you believe it? There is actually a Cathedral INSIDE the cave! Who would have thought?

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As the Cathedral is famous for it's natural acoustics, it is a popular venue for weddings, Operas and other special events. 

We were then treated to a spectacular acoustic performance. 


Our cheerful guide

We were told how the cave was first discovered in 1882 by a Norwegian migrant called John Olsen.

In order to let us experienced cave darkness, all the lights were turned off. It was so dark that we could not even see our fingers right in front of our eyes.

This was exactly what John Olsen went through - as we were told.

After exiting through the zigzag passage, we were led across the swinging bridge and ended up in their giftshop.



The Cathedral tour really blew my mind away. I could imagine how frightening it must have been for John Olsen to be inside that dark cave all by himself! 

Capricorn Caves offers tours such as this Cathedral tour and the Geotour where you could be archaeologist for a day and dig up marine fossils. 

Check out their website here.