Day 98: Rest day

May 19, 2021

Today was a rest day so I could go on a half-day guided tour to visit the Undara lava tubes.

The tour started from my campground at 8:15am. It was a small group with only 3 others.

We went to the Undara Volcanic National Park and walked 2.5kms up and around the rim of the Kalkani Crater.

The Ewamian are the indigenous people of this area.

Pretty-faced wallaby.

It was a short walk to the top.

We walked around the rim in about 30 minutes.

Then we had morning tea with home made cakes and cookies. They supply 20 pieces regardless of the size of the group. So I ate 5 pieces.

We drove a short distance to see the lava tubes. It is a restricted area, the public are not allowed to enter. Two companies have a licence to visit with tourists.

This bottle tree had old marks in the trunk where the indigenous people used to climb the tree to harvest the seeds to make flour.

The first lava tube is called the Mikoshi Cave.

It's hard to see the scale in the pic. It is 18 metres high and 13 metres wide. This wasn't very long so we could see light at both ends.

Then we went in to the Wind Tunnel lava tube.

It was massive and long. We had to use torches to see our way as we walked through it.

There were two micro bats inside.

The bent wing bat.

The horse shoe bat.

Both were tiny. About 10cm tall and weighing 20 grams.

Granny's cloak moth.

The Undara lava tubes at 160 kms long are the longest in the world.

I wanted to see them because if people are ever sent to Mars to live, they will have to live in the lava tubes to avoid the radiation. But the guide didn't talk about this.

Common wallaroo.

We also saw an Australian bustard. They are about 1 metre tall and can weigh 12 kgs.

He ran across the road in front of the bus and I couldn't get a pic.

We returned to the campground at 1:30pm and I went to its cafe.

The cafe has excellent food and everything is made on-site.

It is worth stopping here just for the food.

In the late afternoon I walked down to Elizabeth Creek looking for freshies. Four of them heard me and splashed into the water before I saw them.

I'm sure I'll have other opportunities to see them.

Bin chickens.

I bought this lentil and veggie pie in the afternoon and kept it in the camp kitchen for dinner.

It was fantastic.

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