Undara Lava Tubes 13 August 2015

After a lovely morning walking around Ravenshoe and chatting to the locals, we set off for Undara Lava Tubes, which are off the Savanah Way that stretches from Ravenshoe to Burke Town. We had expected dry, treeless plains, but we were surprised by the good grass cover and the multiple of small forests that dotted the landscape. The other aspect of the road trip that intrigued us was the variety of termite mounds we saw.

Depending on the topography and soil, there were short round ones, mini ones, long tall ones and even mounds that seemed to bubble out of the ground – very amusing. Some travellers have even dressed them up to look like mini people – but we would never do that!! We camped for the night on a property next to the Undara Lava Tubes. The tubes themselves are in a national park cut off from the original property and the camp ground is outside the park on the cattle station. The next morning we were taken on a tour of the tubes by the owner, who was very informative about the local flora and fauna and of course about the formation of the tubes. After a volcanic eruption the lava flowed down steep creeks and gullies (think of warm porridge rather than water). The walls and top layer of the lava cooled first, forming a hard layer and leaving a hollow tube for the remaining lava to flow through. Once the volcano stopped erupting, there were hundreds of Kms of hollow tubing left. This collapsed in places creating a warm wet micro climate and preserving the original flora.

While it wasn’t easy to get our heads around the geology, the tubes are magnificence in their grandeur – like ancient decaying cathedrals. We enjoyed our visit and our time in the campground – the owners have gone out of their way to make sure that visitors have an enjoyable stay. We even had an Aussie sing-a-long around the campfire and serenaded the Pretty Face Wallabies that come every evening.