Until now we hadn't actually seen any of Australia's deadliest creatures... this all changed when we stopped at Finch Hatton Gorge on our way to Rockhampton. Walking to a waterfall Mark stopped abruptly having noticed a snake sunning itself on the side of the path. The snake looked scarily like a Taipan (one of Australias deadliest snakes we had seen a few days earlier at the Billabong Sanctuary). Phil hadn't even noticed it and when he saw we had stopped walked back nearly treading on its tail!!!! A near miss...

Our confrontation with nature continued as we found our path blocked by an enormous monitor lizard....these can be vicious if you get too close... however it wasn't moving and so Phil decided he was going to step right over it...we yelled 'nooooooo' expecting him to be clawed....but it ran off...2 of Phil's 9 lives have surely expired!

Whilst in the are we also paid a visit to the Capricorn Caves...an above ground system of dry caves (fact for any of you cave enthusiasts out there...!!) The caves were great - we got to shimmy through narrow passages, cross rope bridges and brave a nest of 10,000 bats. The highlight was sitting in the awe-inspiring 'cathedral cave' in candlelight - listening to Phantom of the Opera! Apparently people get married in that cave... not sure that bat poo would really accentuate that expensive white frock!

The final highlight in Rockhampton was the Aborigine Cultural Centre where we got a demonstration of didgeridoo playing and had a go at throwing boomerangs...Kim was truly terrible at it and she had a horrible flashback to schooldays failing miserably to throw the javelin or shotput more than about a foot.