Hidden roughly 3 and a half hours south-west of Cairns is one of the most amazing places I (Rochelle) have visited in Queensland, Undara Volcanic National Park.
Before visiting I had never seen a volcano before, truthfully I wasn't even aware that we had many volcanos in Australia. Turns our this gem of a spot is home to roughly 164 volcanos (insane right?).
So what do you need to know to make the most out of this trip?
The best accommodation is available at Undara Experience, we paid around $17 per person per night for an unpowered site. The facilities are great, including hot showers, flushing toilets, laundry and a pool.
Undara Experience offers different types of accommodation options, including more luxirious cabins or converted train carriages.
Highly recommend dinner at the Restaraunt and also the bush breakfast.
You are allowed fires at your campsites.
Undara Experience closes over the wet season, this means you cannot access the caves as the caves are by tour only.
There are plenty of walks that can be completed. We only stayed one night so we didn't get to explore everything.
Archway Explorer Tour
We did the Archway Explorer tour which is booked through Undara Experience. The tour lasted arouns 2 hours and the tour guide was extremly knowledgeable and filled us in on all of the histor of the surround volcanos, erruptions and how the tubes formed. 100% you have to do one of the lava tube tours, it is an incredible experience.
Kalkani Crater
Around 17 km drive from Undara Experience (you actually pass the turn off on your way to the accommodation) lies Kalkani Crater. Interestingly the volcano is actually dormant, meaning, it is expected to erupt in the future (just not the near future).
The kalkani crater walk is an easy 2.5 km circuit, there is a well maintained pathway that allows you to actually walk around the circumfrence of the crater. We did the circuit for sunset. The views were epic!
Flat Rock and Circle View Track
Being the mornign person that I am, I woke early for a hike and completed the Flat Rock and Circle View track. Ensure to take a snake bandage with you while hiking, this is dangerous country and prime habitat for some of the more venomous snakes such as the Taipan and Death Adder.
Don't let the threat of life-threatening snakes deter you though.
Flat Rock was truthfully a little underwhelming:
Circle View was much more rewarding and involved scrambling up some boulders to a 360 degree view of the surrounding area, including volcanos.
There are plenty more hikes available. If I had more time I would have loved to have done them all. I will definetely be heading back and will hopefully get a change to tick a few more of them off the list.
As you can see from the photos of the guide above, the tracks are coloured and marked which is very helpful.
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