With Karumba finally behind us - and we had a fantastic time there, swimming (in the pool), walking on the beach, building sandcastles - this entry finds us at Undara Lodge, home to the famous Lava Tubes. Our trip here from the Gulf was pretty uneventful stopping in Croydon our first night out (and pinching a couple of mangoes from the hundreds in the caravan park), taking Jude to his first playground in nearly 3 weeks (how has he survived?) and managing to get burn marks all up my upper right arm when trying to clean the electric bbq I fried a couple of eggs on for our lunch (I look like a leper).

A last minute decision to come straight to the Undara Lodge rather than stop in Mt Surprise has proved a boon with the tour to the tubes yesterday (more on that later), lots of bush-walks to do, wildlife spotting and last night singing round the campfire which Jude immediately asked to stay an extra night for tonight. (it's not on every night but at $15 a night this place is CHEAP) Happy to stay on tho can't stay as long as I would like cos when I stopped to stock up in Mt Surprise I discovered that there is no supermarket and all I could grab was 250g of bacon for $10 - (expensive pig, should have stopped and grabbed one of the dead ones off the side of the road!).

The Lava tubes are definitely worth a look tho I suspect that when I download my photos they will not do them justice because the overcast day made the lighting from inside the tunnels poor and a lot of the time it was just too dark to capture the beauty with the camera (like when he shone the torch on the roof and the water below was so still it looked like a huge cavern beneath as well as above us). An absolute bargain for us cos with all the rain they have had the last year or two the water has had nowhere to go and the first tube we went to you could see that at the bottom of the steps the water was covering the boardwalk. Imagine my delight when the tour guide said, 'if you're happy to get your feet wet just take your socks and shoes off and follow me in'. I thought he was gonna say we couldn't go in cos of the water and we walked out so far it was above knee height and I had to try and make Jude understand why I had to carry him and he couldn't walk himself. Loved it.

Last night's sing-a-long was fun tho we got rained out (or in actually, we moved from the fire to the bistro) and then this morning we booked for an extra night and then heading off for the 'bluff circuit' walk to get a bird's eye view of the national park and the volcanoes off in the distance and wind back around via the '100-mile swamp' (which actually has water in it still once again thanks to the excessive rain of the last few years).

The circuit was 2.3km long and Jude walked the whole way tho at one point he wanted me to carry him but as he had wet his pants not 1 but 4 times during the course of the walk I refused to pick him up at all. We stopped for him to have a rest and God Bless him because I wandered ahead a little (looking for butterflies) and when I looked back I could see him with his head in his hands talking away. I asked if he was praying and he said 'yes, I'm praying that Jesus will get you to pick me up'. (he also prays when he is scared God love him).

The walk was made interesting with the quick but scary visit by a black snake that slid across the path in front of us (about 4 feet I think and I heard a rustle in the grass just near me and I watched its progression and then out slithers the snake and across the path and gone again). We also saw lots and lots of little lizards and what I can only imagine was a big skink type lizard that was across the path and wouldn't move on til I poked it with a stick (photo will follow, anyone who knows what it is I would love for you to let me know).

From here we will be heading north to Cooktown via Mareeba and Chillagoe before eventually making for Cairns. For those of you on the Gold Coast, we will be catching the train down your way to spend Christmas with Dad and would love to catch up with as many of you as possible over the couple of weeks we are there. For now, keep well, travel safe and watch out for rainbows - you never know when one might colour your day!