We arrived hot and sweaty at Undara about 4PM. Undara means 'long way' in the indigenous language and refers to the lava flow which went -yes- a long way from the Undara volcano, which erupted some 190,000 years ago. A world record setting 120 Kms. The lava was slow flowing which is needed to form lava tubes for which Undara is known and why we and other tourists come to the area.

In a nut shell lava tubes are formed when lava flows down a river course or gorge and the top cools and solidifies followed by the sides. When the volcano stops erupting lava the remaining hot lava just flows away leaving a lava tube. Once the Queensland government found out about the lava tubes they bought out the local farmers and made a National Park. There are miles of these tubes some close to the surface so it was a bit of a safety issue, so they claimed. One clever owner, who had the tubes on his land and had for many years been running tours was, as you can imagine, not too happy. After much negotiating he reached a deal whereby he would get a business licence to continue running tours and so Undara lodge was born.

On the way to the tubes we saw our first kangaroo with a joey in its pouch. I was so excited I forgot to take a picture, so you will just have to take my word for it.

After the tour, in the extremely pleasantly cool tubes (I really didn't want to leave), we walked up a small volcanic crater and I emphasize small. The area around Undara has 72 volcanic craters which have not erupted for a very long time but are not deemed extinct. We were plagued with tiny flies, especially Peter, who the flies seem to love, so we didn’t hang around.

We headed north towards the Atherton tablelands. It was so hot that Peter drove stripped down to his pants. I prayed we wouldn’t get stopped as it was not a pretty sight.

Slowly the scenery changed. The tablelands have a beautiful rich green covering of lush grassland and rainforest, as a result of a thick layer of nutrient rich lava broken down by heavy rains. So very different to the outback we were pleased to see the back of.

We were told that the area around the Undara lava tubes gets so much rain that it can get cut off for as long as 2 months at a time when the dirt roads turn to thick deep red mud and the lodge only keeps a skeleton staff on in case any tourists do make it through. The tubes occasionally flood and they have on occasions run swimming tours into them. This heavy rain affects northern Australia during the so called Monsoon season from December to March and as the name suggests can bring some heavy downpours. We planned to be well away before then.

We were heading for the small tableland town of Herberton which appeared following the discovery of tin in 1875 by James Venture Mulligan. He didn’t find large quantities of ore and so left. Later (1880) rumours that Chinese miners were planning to move to a new find, revived interest in the area and this time they found worthwhile quantities of ore. In fact they found one of the richest tin fields in Australia. Very soon the town of Herberton appeared. Expansion continued rapidly as mine after mine opened. The Chinese did make it to Herberton but mainly as gardeners and shopkeepers.

Herberton historic village (just outside the town) is a collection of all the old buildings brought together with everything else you can think of, and I really do mean everything else, from old vehicles, bulldozers, tractors, tools, car parts, food packets, household items, glass bottles, toys, books, magazines, typewriters, furniture, clothes and more. I must admit it was very well done and we spent a good couple of hours wandering around despite temperatures in the 30’s. Apparently, so a couple of Aussies told me, the weather seems to have gone from winter to summer with no spring hence the high temperatures.

Before the village we had popped into the Spy Camera museum in town. We do enjoy these quirky museums! A rather odd and intense man (as you might expect) has amassed a collection of old and rare cameras, including some spy cameras and opened it as a museum (as you do!). He gave us a detailed and very informative tour. I especially liked the pocket watch camera apparently used by Scotland Yard (to photograph suffragettes) and a Russian button hole camera from the early cold war years.

Later that day we visited a Bat Hospital where the owner rescues injured and sick bats and nurses them back to health before releasing them. They have a lot of problems with a tick that paralyses the bats. During the tick season they can collect up to 30 paralysed bats a day. Sadly, only a third are likely to survive. Any babies attached to the mothers have to be hand reared.

In one enclosure she had Flying Foxes which are just wonderful looking but do wee a lot as Peter found out when he nearly got a shower. Now as you can imagine hanging upside down could make weeing etc. a little messy so the bats actually turn up the right way for this process. Another thing I learnt was that not all bats have sonar, only so called Micro bats which eat insects and small creatures. Macro bats which eat fruit have eyesight better than ours so the popular phrase 'blind as a bat’ should be ‘blind as Micro bats’ -not quite the same ring to it.

Next day we passed through Atherton town stopping long enough to pop into what has quickly become our favourite supermarket Woolworths. No affiliation to our, now gone, Woolworths.

Our destination was Yungaburra as I had heard you could see Platypus in the wild on a small creek that passes through the village. We parked up and sat for a bit at a viewing station with no luck. An elderly couple I had spoken to in Atherton had said that it was best to walk along the creek so we set of and, can you believe, about 200 metres along I saw ripples in the water and there it was a cute little Platypus. I say little as I had imagined them to be a good 2 foot long but it was only about a foot. It was going along the bank in amongst reed and mud so Peter had quite a challenge taking photos especially as it was the bank we were walking along. I also referred to it as cute but the males have a spur on their legs with a painful venom in them. So not so cute. They have webbed feet, the bill of a duck, tail of a beaver, body and fur of an otter. It feeds its babies with milk excreted through its skin having no nipples. The babies are born with teeth that fall out when still young and are never replaced. Completely carnivorous it uses electro location to find their prey. They have no stomach and their throat goes straight to their intestines. No wonder early scientists thought they were being hoaxed. The plural is Platypodes as Platypus is a Greek derived word.

We popped along to the Curtain Fig National Park which has a famous "curtain" fig tree, an enormous strangler fig that has hundreds of aerial roots hanging down from its branches resembling a curtain. Its over 500 years old and was quite impressive.

The next stop was a large crater lake called Lake Eacham. It is crystal clear and good for a swim so was quite busy. The lake is actually the remnant of a Maar volcano. The lake is created when underground lava in the volcano superheats underground water that then explodes forming a massive crater which the superheated water then fills to make a deep (65 metres in this case) lake.

We walked 3 km around the lake which has many Saw-shelled turtles which can breathe like a fish through their bottoms, extending its ability to stay under water for prolonged periods. Now there's a trick!

We walked, the next day, another 5 km around nearby Lake Barine, the remains of another Maar volcano, where we also took a boat around the lake and saw a 2-metre long Amethyst python and Long finned eels.