Perhaps the biggest surprise at Mt Surprise was the stellar mobile reception we had here – far better than our Cairns abodes (or home for that matter). We are approximately 100km west of the coast and are surprised at how quickly the landscape turns to scrub. It is really hot and dry out here!
Got up early and visited the Kalkani Crater which is part of the Undara Volcanic National Park. Walked to the summit of the crater which provided us a good vantage to survey the vast expanse of the rest of the park. Not much to see really – it all blends in to the surrounding scrubby plains! This is probably about the point where we realised that green shading for National Parks on maps can be somewhat deceiving J. Joined our tour of the Lava tubes at the visitors centre. The Lava Tubes blew all of our expectations out of the water, and we were all amazed by the sheer scale of these caves. There was much adventure climbing up and down rocks and into dark little holes that opened up into massive caverns. Spotted many little bats and some sick looking lost toads along the way. The tour guide was very good and seemed to enjoy having the kids along and Dylan’s bottomless bucket of questions and observations.
Returned to Bedrock Village to get some lunch and cool off in the pool. Went to visit the man in the post office/everything else shop for a fossicking permit. Oh yes, we will make our fortune here! The man was dubious about the amount of daylight and the lack of equipment we had. It was 40kms of dirt road to get out there and a return journey made more exciting by wandering cattle and kangaroos appearing out of nowhere – but that didn’t stop us and off we went in search of topaz and other riches. After realising that fossicking is very addictive, we left the fossicking fields half an hour later than anticipated (with a very modest haul :() as the sun was starting to set. A frantic drive back to the campsite got us back half an hour late (but still in time) for our pre-ordered dinner.
Returned to Bedrock Village to get some lunch and cool off in the pool. Went to visit the man in the post office/everything else shop for a fossicking permit. Oh yes, we will make our fortune here! The man was dubious about the amount of daylight and the lack of equipment we had. It was 40kms of dirt road to get out there and a return journey made more exciting by wandering cattle and kangaroos appearing out of nowhere – but that didn’t stop us and off we went in search of topaz and other riches. After realising that fossicking is very addictive, we left the fossicking fields half an hour later than anticipated (with a very modest haul :() as the sun was starting to set. A frantic drive back to the campsite got us back half an hour late (but still in time) for our pre-ordered dinner.
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