Blogs from Undara, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 2

DAY 285 Firstly, thank you to everyone for a huge amount of Anniversary wishes, e-cards, e-mails, Cards etc, and thank you to the Wallaby Wanderers Darryl and Sarah for the Chocolate (Cadburys Flake) it was Yum!! Everyone’s kindness is always much appreciated. We woke this morning in the swag to the bird chorus, It must be a cockatoos conspiracy as they were right above the swag squawking their heads off, so we lay there looking in to the morning sunshine, watching the birds flying around and coming to terms with the day. We wished each other a happy anniversary, and snuggled back down in to our sleeping bag for just another 10 minutes. I eventually climbed out and went to make us both a cup of tea, asking Caroline to stay in the swag until ... read more

DAY 283 Oh that lovely Kookaburra morning alarm again, it is barely even a glimmer of light outside but they are welcoming in the day with delight. Of course it is too early to even think of getting out of bed and although the nights are not too cold, it is a bit too fresh also. I think Andy was up at around 7.00, with the kettle on and booting up the laptop, I enjoy a bit of a lie in, and a cup of tea was soon with me. I hear Andy shout that my Mum has written a poem, it seems that this poetry malarkey is catching, although it is the message section of the blog, the formatting is not there so I have reformatted and you can read it properly at the ... read more

Der Undara-Volcanic-Nationalpark ist ein Nationalpark in Queensland. Der Name Undara stammt von den Aboriginal und bedeutet "langer Weg". In diesem Park befindet sich neben einer Lavaröhre von etwa 100 Kilometern Länge, die teilweise eingestürzt ist, ein ausgeprägtes Lavaröhrensystem, das bei einem Ausbruch des Hauptvulkans der McBride-Provinz vor rund 190.000 Jahren entstanden ist. Der Undara-Vulkan eruptierte 23 Kubikkilometer Lava, die 1550 Quadratkilometer Fläche bedeckt. Die Hauptmasse des längsten Lavaflusses der Erde floss in Nordwestrichtung entlang des Cassidy Creek (Bach) und Einasleigh River (Fluss) mit 160 Kilometern. Besonders bemerkenswert ist der große Durchmesser der Lavaröhren im Nationalpark von teilweise knapp über 20 Metern und einer maximalen Höhe von 13,50 Metern. Zahlreiche Röhren sind eingestürzt, eine Einbruchstelle ist 900 Meter lang. Im Undara-Nationalpa... read more

Mar 31 An early rise at the Innot hot springs. Before breakfast, we decided to take a morning dip. The water was really warm (38 Degrees). Dad went into the ultra-hot 44 degrees pool. When he came out, he was steaming and was totally red below his shoulders (see picture). There was a river running near the campsite. We went down to check it out. In some places, the water was so hot, we couldn't put our hands into it. There was a dead frog and a dead fish because the water was so hot. The way to Undara Park didn't feel as bumpy or windy. There were many dead animals on the roads heading to the Outback. Undara is a volcano. The unique feature about the volcano is that it made tunnels called Lava Tubes. ... read more

The road to Undara was rather optimistically titled the Kennedy Highway, a grand name for what was essentially a single lane of tarmac with rough dirt on either side. If a car was coming in the opposite direction you were expected to drift your left wheels into the dirt so that there was enough room to pass. If a road train was coming in the opposite direction you were expected to get off the tarmac completely. The larger road trains trailed a cloud of dust and grit behind them like a comet's tail, which resulted in you driving into something akin to a sandstorm. There were very few settlements along the way, so it was a real back-country drive with few signs of humans. At some roadworks where traffic was only allowed in one direction at ... read more