Mud Springs Nature Reserve - QLD

off the road, low clay mounds rise through the scrub. Release valves for the Great Artesian Basin, these mud springs are spread all through this country and create permanent wetlands in an otherwise arid landscape.

From a roadside sign we learn that at 1.7 million square-kilometres, the Great Artesian Basin flows beneath one-fifth of Australia’s landmass and is one of the largest aquifers in the world. Its waters take about two million years to bubble to the surface.

The sign also warns although the spring tops are usually soft and jelly-like, “occasionally they do explode with a report audible for kilometres.