Day 01 – Cairns to Mt Surprise [325Km}

We left Cairns at 8.00am in the 24-seater bus that will be our transport for the next two weeks.

Our first stop was Kuranda, a little village on the Great Dividing Range. This village on the Barron River was inhabited by the Djabugai people for 10,000 years and Europeans since 1885. It’s a popular tourist destination now with a scenic railway and a cable car connecting it to Cairns.

From Kuranda, the next stop was Atherton, an agricultural town on the Tablelands. Interesting ‘old’ town with interesting buildings and modern facilities. The influence of the mining industry is quite evident.

One of the old hotels in the background. The foreground is a vehicle connected to an Opal Shop that runs classes in opal mining too (I think)

This old building is the Court House - the architecture is original

This theatre housed in an old aircraft hanger structure still performs Shakespearean plays!

Another two hours in the bus (with a brief stop at Mt Garnett) we came to the main attraction of the day – the Undara Lava Tubes.

Along the way was mainly farming country, with some windfarms.

When a flood volcano spewed out lava 195,000 years ago, the lava streams filled the valleys for miles and miles. As the lava cooled and formed a crust round the flow, the still liquid lava inside kept flowing. This left an empty ‘tube’ – the lava tubes of Undara (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undara_Volcanic_National_Park )

Some of the minerals on the walls of the tubes form some ghostly shapes!

The countryside is mainly Savannah – fire blackened trees up to 5-10 m tall in a sea of grass. These trees are the only ones that can healthily go through regular fires and regenerate when rains come. Excellent country for cattle.

Then on to Mt Surprise for dinner, shower and bed. End of Day 1; only 13 to go!