I'm visiting Brisbane this week for work. Before returning, I have a weekend to look around. Surely there are caves? I have been to Australia before, for skiing and climbing... but not visited any caves. And I'm desperate for "collecting" another country that I've caved in :-)
Unfortunately, there isn't so much near Brisbane. The best caves are 20+ hour drives away. Actually, only 11 hours, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney there are for instance the Jenolan Caves. But that's still a two-day drive in practice. And I'm already flying enough and not have enough time to spend a day in the airline system to fly from one place to another.
What I'd *really* like to go to though is the Undara Lava Tubes. Been missing visits to lava tubes, albeit been in them in Iceland... Undara seems like a wonderful place to explore! However, 20+ hours driving.
But what's there around? My best bet seems to be the Mount Etna National Caves Park and the Capricorn Caves, 7.5 hours driving north of Brisbane. Maybe still doable?
Below you will find my Google Maps list of caves that I've found within the 10 hour or so driving range from Brisbane. Some a bit further.
The link to the Google Maps list is here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/13yKzDm19BvH14cg8. I have also listed the places below:
Post Scriptum: More information about the caves I actually visited can be found from these later articles:
Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko, map picture is a snapshot from Google Maps. All rights reserved.
This article was originally published in the Planetskier Blogspot article series.
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