Undara Lava Tubes

<Rémi>
About 190,000 years ago many caves were formed in this area, when lava flowed in valleys.  The outside of the lava cooled off and went hard, forming kind of pipes for the hot lava to flow in.  The inside lava stayed molten and continued to flow until there was no more lava and the “pipes” were left as empty tubes.

There are 162km of lava tubes like this in this area, but most are covered by earth.

There is lots of volcanic rock around the area.

Some of the rooves of the lava tubes have caved in over time.  These are now the entrance points to the caves.

This cave is about 30m wide.

 

 

 

 

 

This coloured earth is throughout the caves and is called fireclay.

We went into a second cave.

The lava tubes provide very fertile soil as well as a path for groundwater to run in so there are small pockets of rainforest following the line of the tubes on the surface.

 

A bottle tree near the tube entrance.

The cave area provides a dry environment for bats, snakes & moths.

Micro bats hang from the roof.

 

A moth on the wall