Zach made his "bedrock" this morning with his stick pillow.




We left the kids with the grandparents while we did the Undara Lava Tube tour and Kalkani Crater rim walk. Undara means "long way" and the lava tubes were really interesting. It erupted 190 000 years ago and is the longest lava flow from a single volcano in the world at 160km long. The Undara Volcano poured out 1000m3 of molten lava per second. The tubes were about 35km from the crater and were created due to a combination of the gentle slope of the land and the speed at which the lava erupted. The lava didn't explode, it bubbled out and travelled at about 8km/hr. The lava at about 1220 Degrees Celsius would melt every thing in its path. As the air contacted the outside of the lava, it cooled it hardening the top and leaving the hot lava to flow beneath. Many tubes were discovered only when roof collapsed.






The lava tubes have flooded several times in the past, mostly around the time of big cyclonic events such as Cyclone Yasi and Cyclone Larry. The tubes actually flood from the water table below as basalt is very porous and it becomes so saturated that the water rises up. They still run tours through the tubes at this time with people wading through chest deep water....sounds like fun.











Back at camp Zach is saying "There's no time to play Liam, we have to collect sticks". Too cute.