Central Queensland & Bundaberg Holidays - Dig the Tropic of Capricorn -

Central Queensland is shaping up to be the palaeontological capital of Australia thanks to unique fossil deposits of both dinosaur and Megafauna* remains and an amazing rainforest menagerie frozen in time.

Take a magical mystery tour throughout the region. 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

* Megafauna are the gigantic mammals and reptiles that came to dominate Earth some 2 to 3 million years ago, well after dinosaurs were extinct 60 million years earlier.

Don't miss 'sapphire digging' 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!

For more information contact Capricorn Tourism on 1800 676 701 or Queensland Museum on (07) 3840 7555.