The sunset tour was mostly by vehicle spotting fauna and flora – lots of different species of kangaroo and wallaby, a Wedge Tailed Eagle and (after a short climb to a hilltop) a champers and orange juice with cheese platter while we took in the sunset – complete with distant rain shower caught in the evening light. This got us to the entrance of one of the Lava Tubes in time for the evening departure of the bats. From a platform halfway across the entrance to the tube we were able to watch the bats against the sky and were given several opportunities to ‘go mad with the flashes and photograph as fast as you can’ in an attempt to catch some bats in flight – Anne had more success than I did. We gave the evening campfire talk on stars a miss to get up fairly early for the Lava Tube Tour.
Pale-headed Rosella at Undara
Bats emerging from the lava tubes for the evening feed of insects
The Tubes are spectacular and the tour guide burst all the myths I had heard in the sixties of these mysterious tubes caused by volcanic actions that were unexplored and dangerous as they ran for ran for hundreds of miles, were big enough for cattle to disappear into, were sometimes filled with water and other times not and the air in them could be poisonous. These myths, however, reflected the early cattleman’s views for a hundred years of grazing in the area. Then one of the Collins boys (Brian) started to take an interest and get professionals out to investigate, study and survey the tubes. Based on the information he gained the Collins Family were able to buy up the relevant properties and deal with the Queensland National Parks people to have the area not only declared a National Park but to retain a licence to enable public visitation to this unique site. The statistics of this volcanic site are staggering with lava flows of 90k in one direction and 160k in another and enough lava to create these tubes or fill Sydney Harbour in six days but the flow went on for many many years.
Normally one can walk right through this passage, but after the heavy wet season this section is flooded
The only fruit bat in Undara - it became lost, died and then mummified!
Looking back at the roof cave-in that allows access to this part of the tube
Anne ventures into the knee deep water in the other section of the lava tube
In the afternoon Anne and I took a trip out to the Kalkani Crater which is a very neat volcanic crater now supporting a wide range of trees, shrubs and grasses so it is impossible to get a photo from the rim that does justice to this almost symmetrical crater.
In the morning we stopped at the Fourty Mile scrub to have a look at the rainforest there - so different from the savannah forest at Undarra. We saw this broad leaved Bottle tree - taller and slimmer than the ones at Roma
Broad-leaved bottle tree at the Fourty Mile Scrub on the Savannah Way
Anne here: One tip - if you decide to visit go out there on day, stay the night and do either your crater walk or the sunset tour, stay in the caravan park and then pack up and park in the public carpark before you do your day tour through the Arch cave. It will save you a night's accommodation. The facilities leave something to be desired at the price they are charging. Below is a link to Undara's website if you are interested in how these lava tubes are formed or in the microbats
Anne here: Somehow with all the up and down the mountains and out to Undara and then back into the tablelands rainforest area I developed a cold and of course some asthma so of course I could not do much walking for a day or two, so Jim took this pix of the Millstream waterfall for me just outside Ravenshoe.
No comments:
Post a Comment