Learning While Walking

Queensland Road Trip, May 2022

Let’s go on a road trip! Come with us to Townsville and west on the Savannah Way to Karumba on an adventure in far north Queensland. 

After going on two guided walks in Undara National Park, it was nice the next day to head off on our own. Seven bush walking tracks start from Undara Experience and we selected two of medium length with different themes. 

In the morning we walked to Atkinson’s Lookout. For most of the 3.84 kilometre walk there was no formed track; we followed white arrows pointing the way over huge slabs of pink granite. 

This walk focused on our natural surroundings. We found clumps of white paper daisies and wattle trees just coming into bloom.

We were intrigued by these very large ant nests but thankfully we didn’t meet the inhabitants. 

When we reached the lookout on a rounded dome of granite, we found a rather unusual cairn, perhaps a bush version of travellers’ stones. 

The view over the plain was dominated by Undara, the volcano we’d come to know well. 

Our afternoon walk, on a well worn path through the bush, was a history lesson. Watched by a friendly kookaburra, we headed off on the 3.6 kilometre Pioneer Track following the route of the first telegraph line, built in 1872.

Native Cypress pine trees were used for the telegraph poles. The timber’s termite resistant quality means that 150 years later some of the poles still stand beside the track. 

As we neared the end of the track a small timber cabin came into view. Constructed by hand using pioneering techniques, this slab hut is a replica of the first home built when the Collins family moved to this area in the 1870s.

With so many walks to choose from, we covered everything on offer at Undara – geology, geography, nature and history.

Joining Jo for Monday Walks

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