Outback and Underground: The Undara Lava Tubes

After spending so long on the beautiful east coast of Australia, it was time to leave the sea and head inland for the next part of our adventure. Heading up across the Atherton Tablelands, the vegetation slowly changes from tropical rainforest to the quintessential Aussie bush as we drove towards Mareeba. When its morning tea time and you're in the region that grows and supplies 70% of Australia's coffee needs, you're in luck and a good cuppa is just around the corner.

Luke, a die hard expresso nut, loves a good coffee so a little visit to Coffee Works put an instant smile on his dial. What a find! We didn't have enough time to do the coffee tasting tour but a trip to the on site cafe was nearly as good and the kids thought so too with mini-milkshakes looking more like indulgent desserts. These guys have a beautiful gift shop and an amazing homemade chocolate shop, so there really is something for everyone regardless of whether coffee is your thing!

The further we meandered up into the hills, the greener it got and when we reached Ravenshoe, Queensland's highest town, the colours of the land are so vibrant we needed sunnies to take the edge off. Home to the Windy Hill wind farm, which generates enough electricity to power 3,500 homes with some to spare, the huge wind turbines pop up on the horizon and look perfectly at home amongst the green grassy cow paddocks and the cloud splattered blue sky. 

The kids were perplexed by these huge spinning wind catchers and it made me realise how far we still have to go in incorporating renewable energy into our current world. 

Back in the car and slowly we started to make our way further west, as our trip across the Savannah Way officially began. Luke and I had never driven this road before so it was all new to us too. Originally we were going to head back down the coast and turn westward at Townsville, but instead of backtracking, we thought we'd try the road less traveled and we're certainly glad we did!

The blink and you'll miss it town of Innot Hot Springs was our next stop. There's not much to the place but a caravan park which has capitalised on the naturally hot waters of the next door natural spring and has six pools of varying temperatures you can pay to swim in. Or like us, you can just head to the creek bed and dig yourself a hole and the warm water seeps up through the creek bed to meet you. But a sign might have been helpful with Luke nearly burning his foot off after sticking his toe in one of the pools! Yikes! The water was so hot you could cook your spaghetti in it! 

Bassie found himself a nice little warm pool and took a lot of tempting and bribing on our part to get him out of his beautiful natural bathtub and back into the car! 

 

After a big day in the car, we were over the moon to arrive at our destination - the beautiful Undara Experience and their catch phrase, 'Australia's Accessible Outback' was spot on. What a little slice of outback heaven. We set up camp and a fire and we could all take a big breath and relax after a busy day and get to bed, ready for our early morning tour of the Undara National Park's Lava Tubes!

  

We had heard from other travellers talk of visiting Undara and how special it was and we were so glad to go and see it for ourselves. Right in the heart of Gulf Savannah Country, the only way you can see the Lava Tubes is by joining one of the tours lead by the knowledgable Savannah Guides, specialists in this part of the country. We were off and at 'em early with our tour bus heading out at 8am, with us all still in shock frozen outback mode, after all three kids woke up during the night before crying because they were so cold! Coming from balmy Port Douglas, where summer pjs and a sheet were well and truly enough to get you through the night, we were truly unprepared for the 7 degree night out bush! 

A bowl of warm porridge and a hunt for our winter woolies, and we jumped on the bus and headed off to the Undara National Park. Our guide told us all about the history of the area and how it was once a huge cattle station owned by the Collins family, who were the earliest white settlers in the area, farming the land since 1862. Eventually this family applied to develop a tourist facility to showcase the Lava Tubes and handed part of the land over to National Parks, to protect this natural phenomena for generations to come. 

We walked down through two of the different Volcanic Lava Tubes, where rich volcanic basalt soils, covered in a sea of seasonal grasses, conceal the lava tube from above. The kids loved looking at the micro bats that have made the tubes their home and carefully stepped down over 'Larry' the huge Diamond Python that has lived under the bush walk steps for quite a while. Looking out from the dark inside the tubes was like looking through an ancient window to the Australian bush outside - a special place indeed! 

 

A walk to the near-by Kalkani Crater rim was definitely worth the extra effort as well, with views out over the plain and surrounding areas. 

But the lava tubes themselves aren't the only memorable thing about visiting this beautifully unique part of outback Queensland. The Undara experience itself is quite something. Along with a camp ground, a collection of restored train carriages make up the amazing accommodation. A terrific outdoor area which is designed to capture the limited rainwater the area gets is a great meeting place with top food on offer each night and more train carriages make up the amazing bar and are scattered around the dining area- the kids thought this was the best thing going! 

With nightly entertainment by the fire like trivia and music and a pool to cool off when its too hot to bush walk, this place was pretty special. We also made the most of our campsite fire with jaffles for lunch and marshmellows for dessert each night! 

 

 A special little care package from their Mimi was ready and waiting on our departure, hidden in the caravan for the beginning of our big week of driving ahead. The kids were wrapped and ready to roll!

Arley's Video Blog #7

The camera is rolling and Arley is back behind it again! How is this kid ever going to go back to the daily school grind? Time will tell!

Pulling Up Stumps: Port Douglas

When we first started planning our trip, we decided on one thing before we left - we needed a full week in Port Douglas, to properly unpack and unwind... from our...er... holiday...!! Sounds crazy now I type it, but unpacking and packing to move on to the next place each day or two can get a little tiresome. We knew the further we got up the coast, the busier it would get so we called ahead and booked our week at Tropical Breeze Caravan Park, the only park right in town and we managed to nab the last site, squeezed in amongst the annual grey nomads who migrate north for the winter... I bet they wish they'd been warned we were on our way!!

Port Douglas is a great base if you want to explore the Great Barrier and also, for us as we wouldn't be heading back out to the reef this time, to take day trips to the Daintree, Cape Tribulation and Mossmon Gorge and to simply enjoy the laid back vibe that the community has to offer. The major draw card for most to this tropical rainforest holiday spot is the balmy climate - warm days and just as warm nights, with a host of amazing eateries and cafes to tempt you and amazing coastline to enjoy. It's easy to see why Port Douglas is spotted with resorts and backpacker hostels and it's population is very transient because of this.

The kids enjoyed slowing down and not having to pack up each day whist we were here.  One of our favourite daily activities was jumping on own bikes and hitting the beach, riding on the flat, hard sand under the coconut trees. The kids also loved playing in the sand and collecting the coconuts....

A must-do whilst visiting Port Douglas is dropping by the famous waterfront markets that are held every Sunday morning. There's an amazing array of homemade crafts and art, skin creams, lotions and potions, children's clothes and jewellery but most importantly delicious local produce and treats to eat! We were in heaven with a cup of locally grown coffee and the kids were too eating their frozen Port Douglas bananas dipped in melted cacao! It's easy to spend a full morning here sampling the food and listening to the locals perform - like the captivating boy who played the wooden whistle with a lizard on his head! 

A stand-out stall at the markets has to be the coconut heads for sale made by the terrific coconut head carver who has been selling his amazing little creations here for 15years! Luke kicked himself that he didn't buy one of these beauties on our last visit but I'm happy to report, we will be taking home his twin this time around...

We took a trip up to the Daintree on the one day it sprinkled with rain. There was a bit of an eerie feeling about the place when we visited as a woman was unfortunately taken by a crocodile off the beach, just up from the ferry at the Daintree River crossing. The SES workers and police were still there investigating as we drove past Thornton Beach and it made me wonder whether people get a little complacent living with these creatures so close by?

We did a little rainforest walk which crossed over into the mangroves (all on pretty high boardwalks thank goodness!!) and I admit I screamed when Luke brushed my leg with the umbrella from behind... A little jumpy? Yep! And then Sage accidentally dropped said Bunnings umbrella off the boardwalk into the murky brown water below and despite hating the fact that we had technically littered in one of the prettiest places around, there was no way we were jumping in after it! Hope you're dry Mr Crocodile!  

  

We also visited the beautiful Daintree Ice Cream Co, which was a highlight for the kids, and us too! Walking through the lush tropical fruit farms and marvelling at the weird and wonderful fruits that these guys turn into little sample pots of ice-cream was amazing. The ice-cream (wattleseed, pineapple, raspberry and jackfruit) was pretty amazing too!

Cane toad races was the next must-do on Arley's list so we made our way to the Iron Bar for dinner one night and payed our $5 to watch a Steve Irwin wannabe with a very dirty sense of humour (which was thankfully above the kid's comprehension) get his seven cane toads out for a few races. Some of the contenders in the race to get to the side of the table (aided by a screeching party blower) were "Jerry Springer," "Aussie, Aussie Aussie," and "Camel Toad." Luke even got to hold one of these ugly creatures! Lucky him....

 

Mossman Gorge was next during our week of touring the sites in and around Port Douglas. The way the gorge is accessed has changed since we last visited and now, instead of hoards of tourists overwhelming the little car park at the National Park and following each other up and down on the windy, small road, there is a terrific tourist centre at the base of the Gorge with a lovely Aboriginal Art gallery and shop and a great cafe. For a reasonable price, a shuttle bus now takes tourists up to the gorge. The kids loved the bus as much as the bush walking and boy did we end up doing some bush walking - almost 6km in total, past beautiful flowing rivers and streams, wild pig tracks, amazing rainforest and another snake which made Sage scream so loud we thought a Cassowary had attacked her! The final walk ends at the beautiful riverbed of the Mossman River, where the kids couldn't help having a paddle. 

 

To end our week in paradise, we visited Wildlife Habitat and had Breakfast with the Birds. What a way to finish our terrific week in Port Douglas, surrounded by some amazing birds and eating a beautiful buffet breakfast that had the kids in disbelief that you could have eggs AND bacon AND cereal AND waffles AND fruit AND croissants AND an endless flow of juice.... they were on cloud nine. Luke and I thought that the Wildlife Habitat park was in need of a bit of TLC but the kids didn't seem to notice the peeling paint and creaky boardwalks. They loved feeding the wallabies and seeing a real-life 4.5metre croc up close and also touching a bunch of reptiles too. Port Douglas we will definitely be back (and next time maybe stay in one of your fancy-pants resorts instead!).