Day 58 Sunday 13th August

In the morning we did a few jobs and enjoyed coffee on the magnificent deck area surrounding the bistro, bar and reception area of the Undara Experience. Old restored railway carriages have been used extensively for luxury accommodation, restaurant/bistro and reception area. It has been done extremely well. We were booked in at 1pm for the Archway Explorer tour of the lava tubes. Our tour guide was absolutely wonderful, explaining so much about the history, geography, geology, flora and fauna of this area. Both Rob and I knew little about the volcanic area here and the existence of the lava tubes. The area was once a family-run cattle station with 6 generations running the station. The existence of the extensive lava tubes has been known since 1862. It wasn’t until the mid-1980s when the price of cattle dropped that the family decided to build the resort so it could be shared with everyone. Around the same time the Queensland government decided they needed to increase the percentage of area of national parks in their state and the Undara Volcanic National Park was declared. The Undara Experience opened to the public in 1990. Obviously the owners work very closely with the National Park rangers and the only way people can visit the lava tubes is through a guided tour. We visited the Archway Lava tube and the Stephenson Lava tube during our tour. There are many more lava tubes in this area but only a few are open for the public. There are also many extinct volcanoes in this area too. The Undara volcano caused the lava tubes and all that is left of it is a tiny rise in the land. If you want to know how lava tubes are formed…..google it because I’m sure I couldn’t explain it very well here! Our tour lasted well over 2 hours and we enjoyed every minute of it.

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