Undara Lava Tubes and Kalkani Crater Qld

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The second must do experience as we crossed the Savannah Way, according to many fellow travellers, was to visit the Undara Lava Tubes. There are only two licences issued by the government to visit the lava tubes, and Bedrock Village Caravan Park where we were staying in Mount Surprise had one of those licences. We booked a full day bus tour, and headed out at 7.30am to visit Kalkani Crater. It was brisk walk to the top of the crater, and we proceeded to walk around the rim, learning of the history of volcanic activity in the area that formed the crater.

After enjoying morning tea at the foot of the crater, it was back on the bus to head for Undara Lava Tubes. Thousands of years ago, there was a volcanic eruption that was so enormous that enough lava was spewed out to fill Sydney Harbour almost 50 times! And it flowed so far, that it created the Undara Lava Tubes – the longest of their kind in the world. Despite what the name might suggest, they’re not small pipes that you might need to crawl through – they are more like enormous caverns that a couple of double-decker buses could drive through side by side. The longest of the lava tubes is around 160 kilometres long, and the next longest is around 90 kilometres long. Although each would have been a single lava tube at one point, lots of sections have collapsed over the years. That’s why the sections you visit these days look more like caves.

As it flowed along natural watercourses, the lava started to cool down from the outside first, so the edges of this river of fire solidified and formed a crust. This crust actually insulated everything inside it, keeping the rest of the molten lava hot enough to continue flowing along its path downhill, which is why they are so long.

In all we visited five different sections of the lava tubes, whilst enjoying a good lunch at Undara Wilderness Lodge in between. It was an amazing day to see what should be a world renowned tourist destination. There were colonies of micro bats in each of the sections of the lava tubes, and it is common for the snakes to gather outside the tubes at evening, poised in the trees to catch their evening meal.

The next day we walked down to Elizabeth Creek, located just near Bedrock Village Caravan Park, and were told by some train enthusiasts that the Savannahlander Train was due shortly. We walked down to the rail bridge that I again had walked across (this time no crocs and a much shorter bridge), and waited for the Silver Bullet train that starts at Cairns and ends at Forsayth. It is good to see Qld Rail retain these beautiful old trains and tracks.

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