Thierings on Tour

This morning brought a 6am start, which was extra challenging for some of our late night party people who went to bed far later than they should have and normally do… cue send all the coffee to get us through an emotional rollercoaster filled day!

We were on the road by 6.45am heading to Undara National Park, and driving through the Atherton Tablelands so early was rather spectacular! The mist over the mountains was magical and photos really don’t do it justice, but here are a couple attempts from the car…

It was a very long drive and whilst I worked through some emails the girls watched a movie on the iPad.

We arrived at the departure point and hopped on our tour bus, which Scarly just thought was the best! (My poor deprived child!) it was a short drive to the national park and lava tubes from here and we saw some cute little wallaroos in the bush around us.

We got to hear a little more about the history and geology of the area. A few fun facts summarised below:
– volcano estimated to have formed about 300 million years ago
– volcano last active between 2.7-8 million years ago
– the lava would flow out of the top of the volcano and crust over as the outer layers cooled whilst the hotter inner part was still flowing and thus create the lava tubes we have today 
– lava was about 1,200C hot but to melt granite you need 1,600C

The first lava tube we went to was absolutely incredible! A giant arch of rock carved out millions of years ago with the most amazing patterns resembling marbling. It’s hard to fathom that once lava would have been flowing through it forming this cave / lava tube. With all the unusually high rainfall they have had in the area (1,600mm instead of around 700mm annual) there was a lot of water still at the back of the cave and so we could only go about half way in past the main archway.

Then it was a short walk across to the second lava tube. What I thought was fascinating is the landscape at the top… it’s all arid and dry, and then you have these lush almost rainforest like greenery right around the lava tubes! 

Scarly loved the echo in all the tubes, which made the guide’s job a little harder trying to talk over our loud little megaphone and meant that she had to frequently stand outside of the cave with mama until the presentation part was finished 😜.

The last lava tube went in very deep and everyone got a torch to explore. There were some little bats in there and with the water pooled so still it made some amazing patterns and reflections.

By the end of the tour the kids were rather restless and add to that yesterday’s late night and a long drive, we all had a long afternoon ahead of us. Working when we got back was a reprieve. Ha 

Anyway, in other exciting news – Izzy has finished all the Harry Potter books – what an end of an era…

Kms travelled – 350 (biggest driving day yet! Lucky it was without the van though)