Undara Qld 30 July 2017

Yesterday we travelled from Charters Towers up to Undara via the Gregory Development road, that is a road with a strip of tar about a truck wide and gravel on either side. When another vehicle is approaching, the smaller one gets off the bitumen and they pass safely. We saw this large truck coming, i got of as far as i could, right up to the edge of the 1m gully, and waited for  the truck to react. We weren't right off but we had no where to go. Finally he saw us and hit the brakes, leaving us with the disconcerting sight of his second carriage swerving right across the road. Fortunately the driver got it all back together and blasted past leaving us unscathed. We stopped at a tiny dot on the map called The Lynd, a neat and tidy but tiny roadhouse, for lunch before moving on to Undara.

Undara is home to the, rightfully, world famous lava tubes. Basically a huge stream of molten rock following a watercourse or valley, that has cooled and set on the outside while the inside has kept moving. Here is the interpretive boards placed by Queensland Government:

Lava tubes. Undara Qld

Lava tubes. Undara Qld

Lava tubes. Undara Qld

Lava tubes. Undara Qld

Lava tubes. Undara Qld

Lava tubes. Undara Qld

To take pictures is somewaht difficult: there is the brightest of white sunlight and the pitch black of the shadows, and there is the size of the thing. Basically you are trying to take a picture of a whole.

Anyhow here's a couple of snaps :

The Archway. You are looking at the top, or roof, of a lava tube. Underneath is  something like 20 metres deep and wide. The lava flowed down this way, cooling on the bottom and sides first, then the top, trapping the heat in and due top the gradient, the river of lava kept on flowing. When the volcano stopped erupting, the lava literally ran oiut leaving a hollow. Next time an eruption occured, another tube may well be formed over the top of this one. They say there are at least 10, but then it did take 8 million years before the volcanos went to sleep.

From inside the tube. In this case its closed at one end and open at the other. They only get to be open when the roof collapses.

Inside the largest lava tube cave in the world. A picture cannot describe how big this hole is, but something like 60 metres tall, 30 metres long and 100 metres deep. It has bats. The thing hanging down is a tree root from way up above. The tree roots will eventually crack the rocks and the roof will collapse. Not any time soon though.

Micro Bats, mega caves. Undara Lava Tubes. Undara Qld

There are a bunch of bush walks to choose from for your afternoon's entertainment. We took the hike up to The Bluff and took some snaps of the Resort and the countryside.

Undara Qld

Kalkani crater, one of the many dormant volcanos that gave rise to the  lava tubes. Undara Qld

Sitting here in the shade of 'Central Station', enjoying an ice-cream, Judy remarks that its just like looking out from a lava tube. And it is! Undara Qld

One of the many carriages, this one is a dining room. Undara Qld