Visiting Etheridge Shire Undara Volcanic National Park
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High in the Great Dividing Range on the eastern edge of the Gulf Savannah is the 5 ½ thousand square kilometre McBride Volcanic Province that commenced erupting some 8 million years ago and continued with increasing regularity until less than 100,000 years ago.
Undara Volcanic National Park is one of Australia's greatest geological wonders. The park is located 275 km south west of Cairns and boasts the best preserved and largest lava tube system on Earth, offering an unforgettable experience in the Australian Outback and satisfying the appetites of both adventurer and eco-traveller. Undara is an Aboriginal word meaning "a long way". Its story began some 190,000 years ago, when it erupted and the fiery molten lava flowed into a nearby dry riverbed. The external lava quickly cooled and crusted, but underneath, a fiery flow snaked it's way through, leaving a drained, hardened exterior to create long, dark, hollow tubes. Ancient roof collapses have since created fertile pockets where rainforest plants, insect and animal species now live. The lava tubes lie hidden beneath their own lush canopies of monsoon forest, incongruous with the surrounding woodlands. The vegetation has evolved from the time of Gondwana and is only found in a few rainforests throughout the world (Madagascar, for example). Just as the lava tubes are reliant on this ancient vegetation for protection, so too is the forest dependent on the tubes to shelter it from wind and fire and to provide rich lava nutrient and moisture. Undara spewed out over 23 cubic km of molten lava, enough liquid to fill Sydney Harbour 3-4 times. One flow from Undara travelled in a northwest direction for 164 km and is considered to be the longest single lava flow from one vent in the world in modern geological time.
Several of the tubes, or "caves" as they are often called, in the Undara Volcanic National Park are open to the public (others are still the subject of scientific research) but only on guided tours conducted by highly trained and knowledgeable Savannah Guides who are all members of the multi-award winning Savannah Guides Organisation. Savannah Guides is a network of professional tour guides with in-depth collective knowledge of the natural and cultural assets of the Tropical Savannahs of Northern Australia. Besides being interpreters with an intimate knowledge of their specific environments, they are also protectors of their specific locations. ACCOMMODATION & SERVICES Undara Experience |
The McBride system of volcanoes has some 164 craters and around 190,000 years ago the main Undara crater, the highest and most dominant vent, produced a geological phenomenon that is rare and fascinating, the Undara lava tubes. These dramatic lava tubes wind for in excess of 90 km underground, along an ancient stream bed and are now recorded as the most dramatic representation of this geological peculiarity on Earth.