Chillagoe Caves – Undara Lava Tubes 2 Day Private Air Tour

Chillagoe Caves – Undara Lava Tubes 2 Day Private Air Tour

Described as a simply breathtaking adventure, our private charter flight departs from the Cairns General Aviation at around 8.15am. Guests have been dropped off with their overnight hand luggage and welcomed to the lounge where they meet their host pilot and are given a safety briefing before being weighed and settled into the aircraft for departure.

Our 2 day private charter flight to Chillagoe Caves and Undara Lava Tubes has a total payload of 500kg that allows a maximum of 6 guests including soft overnight bags so make sure you only pack what is of vital necessity.

The first day we head west to Chillagoe Caves where we are met at the landing strip and enjoy some local hospitality before we head out for a tour of these fascinating underground caves with a National Park Ranger.

We have a good look around the region and then head back to our private aircraft to re-board and make our way to Undara Lava Tubes National Park where we will be spending the night in beautifully restored railway carriages.

Tour times depend on flight time but we may have the choice of 2 tours this afternoon the first being at 3.30pm and the next is the wildlife at sunset at 5.00pm or an 8.00am tour in the morning.

The next morning we enjoy the bush breakfast where you take a walk into the bush to find a campfire setting where your hosts cook you up a big breakfast in amongst the volcanic rocks and native Australian wildlife that like to try and steal your breakfast.   

It’s then time to prepare for your scenic flight over the rugged red volcanic outback and head for the coastline of the Great Barrier Reef but firstly we will be passing some amazing gorges, ravines and lush green mountains and expansive lake systems on our private charter flight back to Cairns.

We all say our goodbye and guests depart in their private charter vehicles and head to their accommodation houses in Cairns.

About Chillagoe Caves   

Chillagoe lies within a belt of limestone approximately 5km wide and 45km long, extending from south of Chillagoe, north-west to the Walsh River and beyond.

The limestone was deposited as calcareous mud and coral reefs approximately 400 million years ago, on the bed of a shallow sea where Chillagoe is located today. Major earth movements folded and tilted the limestone and other inter-bedded sediments to an almost vertical position.

Over long periods of geological time, the limestone above the ground has been eroded by water, forming a set of distinct landforms called karst. Today, this limestone appears in gaunt pinnacled outcrops known as bluffs or towers that project up to 40m above the surrounding plains. 

The limestone below the ground has also been slowly dissolving away. Rain combines with carbon dioxide in the air and the soil to form a mild acid. This acid has seeped through cracks and lines of weakness called joints, dissolving the limestone to form underground caverns and tunnels and depositing material in the form of cave decorations of stalactites, stalagmites and flowstones.

About Undara Lava Tubes

On the western slopes of the McBride Plateau, open woodlands give way to the vast open spaces of the savannah. Here in Undara Volcanic National Park, rich volcanic basalt soils, covered in a sea of seasonal grasses, conceal the Undara lava tube.

This geological tunnel of global significance extends under a ribbon of remnant dry rainforest.

‘Undara’ is an Aboriginal word meaning ‘long way’. The park protects one of the longest lava tube cave systems in the world.

About 190,000 years ago, a large volcano erupted violently, spewing molten lava over the surrounding landscape. The lava flowed rapidly down a dry riverbed.

The top, outer-layer cooled and formed a crust, while the molten lava below drained outwards, leaving behind a series of hollow tubes.

Semi-evergreen vine thicket grows in the moist, sheltered entrances to some of the lava caves. The roofs of some tubes collapsed, creating ideal conditions for dry rainforest to grow and wildlife to shelter.

Rock-wallabies, insectivorous bat colonies and owls roost here in the cool. Birds shelter in the fruit-filled canopy and predators lurk in the tumbled basalt terrain to complete the food chain.

See more Cairns Outback Adventure tours.