Monday, April 18, 2011

Undara Volcanic National Park

The next day we headed to Undara Volcanic National Park where there are larva tunnels you can do tours through. 190,000 years ago the area was covered in active volcanoes which were erupting for 50 years straight sending enough larva out to fill Sydney Harbour 3 times over. This larva created a whole series of tunnels underground.
We went for a 4 hour tour which took us through a number of these tunnels. Some of the tunnels are only short and you can see all the way through because they have collapsed over time. While others are longer but end at a wall because they head further underground and have filled with sediment over time.
The tunnel we enjoyed the most was one of the tunnels which have filled with water due to the wet season and as of this year they are allowing people to swim through it. This was a fantastic experience, the water was a really nice temperature, and crystal clear, but the tunnel was pitch black inside so the guide had a head torch on to guide the way. There is actually a walkway with hand rail through the tunnel which they use when it dries out but we were able to either swim the whole way or walk along the hand rail with the water up to our shoulders. Great experience and can recommend it. Great assortment of accommodation there too, including old train carriages.
From there we went and walked up one of the extinct volcano craters.


It was very difficult to get good photos inside the larva tunnels due to the fact that it was pitch black inside them, but we gave it our best shot - we thought it was such a great experience.
Below is a You tube link, a video message and a little hello to all the teachers and kids in Yr 5 and Yr 3 at St Marys!

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