The Road to Cairns.

After our chat with the locals in the RSL I decided that it may be a good idea to go direct to Cairns rather than going to Townsville and then up the coast to Cairns. So at Cloncurry after visiting the John Flynn place and the story of the Royal Flying Doctor Service we headed north to Normanton and as there wasn’t a lot there up to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria where there was even less. We then headed east again through Croydon, Georgetown and to Mount Surprise. It was then on to the Undara Lava Tubes. These are massive tunnels formed when the Undara volcano erupted and the outside of the lava flows hardened but the lava inside kept flowing. You would think they would be small and difficult to get through but they are to 19m high and nearly 1km long. They also are home to various creatures including micro bats which were happy to fly around for us to see them. We also walked round the crater of the Kalkani volcano. Our next stop was Atherton in the tablelands behind Cairns where we will probably go back to for a proper look. We then arrived in Cairns a month early.