Nele & Andrew Around Oz: Archer Creek Rest Area, QLD (16km W of Ravenshoe)

Day 189 – 24^th August 2011

Archer Creek Rest Area, QLD (16km W of Ravenshoe)

After breakfast we drove to Georgetown with a quick stop along the way at the Cumberland Chimney and Dam – nice camping spot! A look at the information centre confirmed our thoughts that there is not a lot more to see or do here. So we decided to travel on to the Undara Lava Tubes and catch the afternoon tour as access is only via guided tours ($47pp). Undara Volcanic National Park is home to one of the Earth’s longest lava flows from a single volcano in modern geological time. A massive eruption 190,000 years ago caused lava to flow more than 90km to the north and over 160km to the north-east. Ancient roof collapses have created deep depressions in the tubes where unique ecosystems of rainforest plants and animals thrive. It was good to have seen but we are unlikely to return as it’s quite commercial as this national park is located on private property. Although you can camp at Undara, we were happy to continued on and passed through Mt Garnet, the gateway to the Atherton Tablelands and to us it also seems the beginning of civilisation again. We drove to a camping spot set up for the travelling public just after Innot Hot Springs where we had to give a soak in the springs a miss as it was getting too late (need to leave some stuff for next time!).

Oh yeah, on the way to Undara we went through Mt Surprise where a free car spraying is placed to prevent weeds spreading, but we considered this a very cheap car wash so decided to go through it twice – to make sure no weeds were left after the first round :-).