Day 82 - The Undara Lava Tubes

Undara Lava Tubes

Day 82 - Sunday - 9/8/2026

Today we went on a tour at the Undara Lava Tubes. Once we met our guide we got on the bus and then drove to the lava tubes were Claire told us how they were formed. The tubes formed about 190,000 years ago when the Undara Volcano erupted, magma shot out of the volcano at high speeds and filled a nearby valley. Then the top and sides of the flowing lava touched the cooler air and hardened into a solid roof and the hardened top worked like a blanket, keeping the lava below hot and liquid as it kept rushing forward and after a while the supply of new lava stopped, and the remaining liquid ran out the lower end of the stream leaving the colossal tubes of granite. 

The tube

The formation of the tubes took approximately 20 years and over time large chunks of it had fallen down that you could see quite clearly. As we entered the tubes there was a difference in temperature, surrounding the tubes was a very lush vine thicket and the temperature dropped by a couple degrees becoming much more humid. 

The vine thicket from inside a tube

In the tube there where a few micro bats flying around which would be almost impossible to spot without torches.

Micro bats

In some areas of the tube, you could also see some water dripping down to the ground. After that tube we went to a different tube where we had to walk through some thigh deep water to get to the end. 

Walking in the water

At the end of that tube, we started heading back to the bus and we saw a Walaroo. 

Common Walaroo

On the bus ride back to the we saw 2 Emus, but they were too far away to get any pictures. Then we drove to Granite Gorge but now that we were so close to the east coast it was a very different drive because of many things. Firstly, there were actually clouds, which I hadn't seen for pretty much the whole trip. Secondly there was a lot of different plant life like ferns and there were also a lot of farms growing mangoes and bananas and stuff like that. And finally, the Great Dividing Range with huge mountains. On the way to Granite Gorge, we stopped at Millstream Falls which apparently, I had been to in 2017 when I was 2 years old.

Millstream Falls

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