Undara Lava Tubes — Queensland Australia
The Undara Lava Tube system in Queensland's Gulf Savanna country is the world's longest lava tube system accessible to visitors — formed 190,000 years ago when a shield volcano poured basalt lava across the Atherton Tablelands and the outer surface of the lava flow cooled and hardened while the molten interior drained, leaving hollow tubes of up to 100 metres diameter and 160 kilometres in total length. The tubes' interior — smooth curved walls of black basalt, the ceiling a perfect arched vault, the floor covered in the debris of 190,000 years of rock-fall and wildlife — provides one of Australia's most accessible geological experiences. The Undara system is also one of Queensland's most significant wildlife refuges: the tubes' cool dark interior supports the only known refuge population of the greater bilby in Queensland, and the tube entrances at night produce extraordinary bat emergences of hundreds of thousands of individuals.
About this spectacle
Step inside one of Earth's geological wonders: the Undara Lava Tubes stretch beneath Queensland's Gulf Savanna in arching black basalt tunnels, some reaching 100 metres across. Formed 190,000 years ago as molten lava drained from its own hardened shell, the tubes present smooth curved walls, perfect vaulted ceilings, and floors littered with the debris of millennia. The interior air is cool against the fierce outback heat outside — a relief that visitors immediately feel. At twilight, tube entrances erupt with the spectacle of hundreds of thousands of bats spiralling upward in dense columns, their wing-beats audible as a collective rustle and rush. Guided tours move visitors through chambers of varying scale, illuminated to reveal the sculptural perfection of basalt. The surrounding Gulf Savanna woodland adds its own theatre: the sounds of nocturnal wildlife, distant calls, and — with luck — a glimpse of the rare greater bilby, whose only known Queensland refuge is here inside these ancient corridors of stone.
When to go
May — Sep
Getting there
Nearest airport: CTL. Nearest city: Mount Garnet.
Booking options
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