ONCE AGAIN THERE IS A LOT OF DETAIL AS IT IS OUR RECORD, BUT YOU MAY BE INTERESTED

Our Previous Caravan Trips

Trip Map April 2011

We did not leave home until about 1 pm. Drove through the Northern suburbs of Brisbane to get to the Bruce Highway. As we have done this part of the journey many times before it was pretty uninteresting except that we where towing the caravan.

We got to a free camp just south of Gympie (SIX MILE CREEK REST AREA) about 3:45 and after setting up set off for the supermarkets to get supplies for the next few days.

We used the fee BBQ to cook sausages for tea in the dark. Luckily I (Geoff) had set up a 12 volt power socket that can be run out from a lead from the front of the van and I was able to run a light from it.

We both did not sleep very well because we where so close to the road (Bruce Hwy) and even though the traffic did die down it did go all night.

Area sufficient for around 10 vans and it was full. Clean toilets and free bbq.

Photos 5/4/2011

We woke rather early, mainly because of the truck noise. Marg cooked some chicken drumsticks on the fee BBQ so we could eat them cold later on. We set off about 10 am and drove to Tiaro and checked out the Tiaro Memorial Park free camping area behind the pub and info centre. It was ok but pretty much in the middle of the town but fairly private. Grassy, treed so would be good for an overnight stop. I (Geoff) took advantage of the free shower behind info centre. Only problem was it was a timed one where you press a button to make it work and have no idea how long they give you. Then when it does stop running it will not start again for some pre-determined period which again their is no indication of how lone that is. It would have been nice if they had a sign to say what the times where.

The headed 1km north of Tiaro to the turn off (left)to Petrie park. It is named after a Mr Petrie who navigated the Mary River in 1842. It is a very nice area leading down to the river and so is a bit steep with only a couple of flatish sites. No doubt that is why their is no one else camping here. But perhaps more people will arrive later. Sealed all the way (2km from hwy)

Our only company was a lady fishing for a few hours and cars came and went, but we had the park to ourselves for the night. Toilets 150 steps, upj hill. No water (but we had our own). River had been 19 metres high in flood recently. On arrival, because of slope had a few goes at raising the front of the van. Close enough we thought, as just before going to bed, found the fridge was not working as not level. Had to get out in the dark, raise the stabiliser legs, take out the chocks, lift van on and off the car a few times to get the jockey wheel right so we could raise it more. Eventually got the level right and kept our fingers crossed the fridge would be working in the morning. Light rain over night but didn't amount to anything, luckily as ground was still soaked, just solid enough, but a heavy downpour may have made it difficult to drive out.

Photos 6/4/2011

Awoke to find fridge was cold, but had just run out of gas. So went back into Tiaro, had a shower, couldn't get gas, so went into Maryborough and eventually found someone who actually refills gas bottles.

Didn't spend any other time in Maryborough and headed for Apple Tree Creek rest area just north of Childers. I (Marg) had a quiet thought for the unfortunate backpackers as we passed the Palace Hotel in Childers. Apple Tree Creek was a bit disappointing as it was right on the hwy. Would have been OK if pulling in late. Long internal road next to extensive grassed park, picnic tables, toilet. Parking on the inner road. Decided to move on to a quieter place. Travelled to Booyal Crossing. After travelling over a couple of kms of gravel, arrived at the crossing in flood. All riverside areas had been badly damaged in recent bad floods. Back-tracked to main road and went west to Biggenden on way to Mingo Crossing meaning we have done almost a circle back to the same latitude as when we headed off this morning. Decided to stop at Mountain View Caravan Park at Biggenden ($22 for 2 nights for powered site - excellent value). Geoff and I were able to scrape together $19 as the caravan park did not take credit card. We offered to go back into town to get cash, but the guy said 'close enough, but no receipt'. Facilities very clean, tiled showers, camp kitchen, grassed site, we had a treed/ half shady site.

Photos 7/4/2011

Travelled to a nearby National Park over unsealed roads, tracks really, with low ruts and high road centres with grass. Finally found a turn-off and down an even smaller road, past the Jim Hardy Grate and over dirt causeways we came to a picnic area would you believe. Picnic table, tank, but no toilets. Walked a little and came to the national park boundary and the start of a walk to the summit - about 3km. Thought we would walk for a while, but it was almost straight up and eventually we (I, Marg) ran out of puff. As we headed back down it started to pelt down and whilst we got soaked (yes the raincoats were back in the van) my concern was getting back out of the roads. The side of the roads filled very quickly, but luckily we got out to a sealed road OK.

Found a petrol station in town. Biggenden is a quaint town, large, wide streets with the main shopping street divided by a raised concrete/brick garden bed full of roses all the way down the street. The takeaway store is typical of one in a country town with tables and chairs with table clothes and flower vases, it also had tourist information right next to carpet and floor covering swatches. Through another door was the dining room, with 3 tables and 70's wood panelling on the wall and other equally modern decor. They had really crunchy potato cakes made with so much oil you could lubricate your car with.

Weather has been windy, cloudy, sunny, pouring rain, then the whole cycle starts again. It hasn't been cold though, just right. Stayed at Biggenden, Mountain View Caravan Park

Photos 8/4/2011

Met the couple next to us and chatted much longer than we expected. Headed of to find the Saturday market. Drove down every street and eventually found it. Very small but nice to see a small town in action. Headed off for Mt. Walsh and arrived at a picnic area. The track was very narrow from the start, bordered by very long grass. Picked up the stick left by the sign that said only experienced walker should go beyond that point and started our walk, bashing the ground to let the snakes know we were coming. I was worried about ticks also. I gave up about 500 mtres in (or should I say, up) It was very steep. Geoff kept going. When I got back to the car I got out the binoculars to see if I could see him. He rang me and I could see a white pin prick against the green and yellow mountain. He was very high up. At least I knew he was still alive. Whilst waiting a car pulled up with a dad, three kids, approximately 3, 5 and 7 years old (the two younger being girls, both dressed in pink). The older girl said they were going for a walk and, as the dad didn't know this place I told him the track was very narrow, very long grass and very very steep. He just said, we'll see how they go. What did I know, after Geoff arrived back we looked up and I thought I could see them. I got the binoculars out and, yes, I could see what looked like a pink caterpillar moving up the mountain. They were at the same spot where Geoff decided to come back down. I could just imagine the dad carrying the two girls all the way down.

Found a tick on me. I was itchy yesterday but took no notice, so it wasn't all the grass we walked through for the last two days, but ironically one stretch of 1 metre walking through grass/weeds near the Mary River 2 or 3 days ago.. Anyway, we keep a closer check now.

Weather improved today a little. Still some rain, but mostly dry, party sunny. Decided to stay again at Biggenden for next two nights. $22pn but as we didn't get a receipt for first two nights, the guy said we could have the $22 for two nights deal again.

Photos 9/4/2011

Woke to a lovely day, did the laundry, cleaned up the van and walked into town. Biggenden is a smallish town with very wide streets and no new buildings. A real blast from the past. Old verandahs. One of the shop fronts was just that, when you look through the glass doors, there was a back yard with grass, etc. There was a dressmaker and computer repairs in the same shop. Bit like to takeaway down the road selling carpet. We walked back another road past the cattle saleyards where there were heaps of trucks delivering cattle. All throughout the day and night you could hear the cattle, I guess they knew something was up after havingt been pulled from their quiet existence. Sat outside the van for a while, brought in the washing and another day had gone past.

Foggy this morning then cleared to a beautiful day. Packed up and found the brake lights didn't work on the van. Before searching for an auto electrician Geoff fiddled with the wires again and, behold, the lights worked. We didn't ask any questions, just jumped in the car and went. We wanted to look at the craters at Coulston Lakes and Geoff was trying to convince me it would be OK to take the van up an almost cow trail to the top. Upon reading the sign, it said the road was not suitable for anyone, let alone vehicles, due to recent flood damage. Stopped at Ban Ban Springs to check out the free stop and it had a natural spring. It has been meeting place forever by the Aboriginal people. Moved on to Gayndah, checked out another free stop on the edge of town and then travelled to Claude Wharton Weir free stop. Went back into town for food and Geoff got his fix of lookouts. The Weir park is smallish, and overnight we have 4 vans and a backpacker combi, so a bit of security in numbers. It rained heavily for a while, but I think we missed the worst of it (lots of dark cells on the radar).

Photos 11/4/2011

Tuesday 12/4/2011 Gayndah to Ceratodus Rest Area (north of Eidsvold)

Woke to a cloudy morning, but cleared up shortly after. 5 back packer campervans and two tents had arrived overnight. Think most of them are fruit pickers. Ed, the guy whose caravan was next to us said someone has pulled up early in the morning (as he was walking to the loo). Ed looked back and saw the guy go in between two of the vans. He was suspicious so he kept an eye on this guy, who then went through the barbed wire fence behind the vans and emerged with a black bag - I'll leave it up to your own conclusion. It is a major citrus growing region - shades of Griffith?

Headed off towards Munduberra and diverted to find the Ideraway railway bridge (inverted steel truss) (There are photos on internet sites). Searched high and low but couldn't find it. The brochure gives you an approx. location but that didn't help, even after getting on to the internet with heritage bridge sites, they still didn't give a location. Miffed, we headed off having gone 20km out of our way for nothing. Along the way we noted any good stops for future reference, did a circuit of Munduberra, got petrol in Eidsvold and stopped at the Ceratodus Rest Area (10km north of Eidsvold). The countryside is undulating, treed and quite green because of the rains. All along any minor roads for the last few days, there is major flood damage.

Anyway, decided to stay overnight at Ceratodus Rest Area, a huge grassed area, treed around edges and a relocated railway station with photos and other historic bibs and bobs. Only one other vehicle (motorhome) there and we probably had more than half an acre to choose a site from. After repositioning the van for 1hr, yes 1hr, we decided on a spot (Geoff had given up and went to look at the memorabilia whilst I continued to move the van). In my (Marg) defence, we had to avoid the previous vans waste wet spot, the greasy spot, the charcoal left by a fire, the prickly weeds, still be positioned in the shade for as long as possible and most importantly for the van to be level. Due to not finding the bridge, I wanted something to go right. Who says I'm Obsessive Compulsive? Anyway, we were both very calm about it (even though the council workers having lunched kept looking at me moving the van) all worked out, we didn't argue over it and we went for a small walk to look at another railway bridge, but not as spectacular, but nice. There were toilets, water (not suitable for drinking), a free bbq and tables (we were parked away from most) but only about 70 steps from the loos. Sky was clear and millions of starts. Got to sleep at 7.30pm.

Photos 12/4 2011

At 4.30am the stars were still brilliant - I saw a satellite and I haven't seen one since Heathcote. Woke to a beautiful morning at 6.30am. Had a reasonable night sleep. Truck came in at 12.30am and left at 4.30am. Luckily we had the whole field to chase the sun to sit in for breakfast as the shade moved quickly. Set out for Wuruma Dam only 38kms up the road. Wasn't sure if it would be bare barren earth leading down to water, but it is actually quite a nice place. Boaties with generators and dogs, other than that the camping area is grassed, bit slopy, right on the lake and reasonable shade. We forget we are inland Queensland and the days are still warm at this time of the year - bit hot to walk, but lovely otherwise. Only toilet is on top of the hill and luckily there are around 5 flat spots, grassy, one level just down from the toilets, so we pulled in there. Nice spot, only moved the car twice before settling. Van and awning overlook the lake. There is a picnic table just near us and drinking water from tanks. We have decided to stay two nights before heading home. Went for a walk to the gravel launching ramp and will see the dam on our way out (we didn't unhitch) which is two peninsulas over. We will just relax and look out over the water, very nice. Boats and plenty of activity on the water were happening on our arrival, but after our walk all was quiet, almost like a siesta. Very peaceful for a few hours everywhere. Geoff kept counting the number of Apostle Birds in their group as he says there should be 12. Had lunch and finally got to read for more than 10 minutes - at last. Went for a walk around the lake on the other side of our camp at 4pm and on the way back started talking to a couple in a van. At 5.45pm we were racing back to capture the sunset (we hadn't walked that far - Geoff had met another person just as keen to talk as he does). Finally got out the gas bbq for the first time to cook dinner and we realised we had the best view of the sunset from our picnic table up on the hill. Tired out from all that reading and sitting we got another early night.

Photos 13/4/2011

Woke to a completely foggy morning, but it lifted fairly early to a beautiful day. I am enjoying all the good weather this trip, even the rain came and went and the days have been lovely. First time since we've had the van. Sat around most of the day and got more of my reading in and then decided to go for a walk. Again we found another couple and talked for about 45 minutes. Picking up snippets of information about fridges, off-road, etc. etc. We were ready for the sunset this time and took what seemed thousands of photos again. Geoff saw a shooting star. A lot of the photos of Geoff have him looking at his phone, but he says he was either looking at its GPS when we were walking or reading a book when sitting. He has many of Jules Vernes' books on his phone. Photos 14/4/2011

Got 10 hours sleep last night. Woke to a partly foggy morning, but enough light at sunrise to get some good photos. Packed up and stopped at the dam on the way out and saw the effects of the flood on the river below the dam. Wuruma Dam lake has been the highlight of our trip lovely and peaceful, treed, grassed, a little sopy at lake level but still good for vans. Reminds us of Fraser National Park or Eppalock Lake a bit. Apparently the arm we were on has been dry for the last 10 years and now it is full. In fact all the dams are full and everything is green and the grass is head height in many places. Anyway Wuruma Dam is nice. Headed back through Eidsvold and stopped a little longer at Munduberra for supplies and the park for lunch. Again, the Burnett River has left its mark after it flooded. Apparently there are a number of dams which eventually flow in to Bundaberg and because they were all full at the time, that's why Bundaberg flooded.

Travelled on the Munduberra to Durong road. 100 km of nothing but state forest, scrub. The road was mostly good, narrow in parts, little traffic thank goodness as you needed to pull over each time. Was overtaken by a B-double (on the wider section), but did not see any Road Trains on the section where they were allowed. At Durong, headed east towards Tingoora. Found the rest area we were seeking and there was no-one else there. A nice spot just about 150mtrs off the highway (right turn opposite the pub) at the sports oval, toilets and a couple of peppercorn trees (one of my favourite trees) and a little scorers shelter (the field has a cricket pitch). After much debate between Geoff and I as to whether we were allowed to stay as there were no signs (some entries to the website we follow could have been put there by someone who stopped without permission) Geoff went and asked at the pub. The bar lady said she thought it was OK, a patron said it was a designated camp area, it was free and so was the power (the power box of which we had found earlier) so we believe we had heard from the highest authority in the land. So we decided to stay, although I was quite apprehensive, but settled after a while. Geoff cooked his chips on his inverter cooker (it was Friday after all) and got to utilise the microwave. We went to bed early so we could be out first thing before all the junior cricketers arrived. Not only am I obsessive compulsive I am also paranoid. Felt easier when another van pulled up about 8.30pm. The live music started at the pub about 8.30pm but we could just barely hear it and had a good night sleep.

Photos 15/4/2011

Woke at 5.30am and shortly after, a lovely sunrise. Headed off early about 6.30am (no junior cricketers arrived) and traffic very light. Passed another rest area and duly noted. Stopped at Kingaroy to get fuel, wanderd through the markets at the Senior Citizens (had live music and songster and not sure how the local residents would feel about that at 7.30am Saturday morning, no matter how mellow the song). The peanut van had been moved since our last visit, I think now a somewhat forgotten icon, siting on the corner of a service station. We took our photos at the peanut photo spot - only because there was no-one else around. Headed through Nanango, Yarraman, Blackbutt, found a lovely 20hrs max stay at Benarkin, free hot showers, opposite general store (for those who may travel that way), at the site of old railway station where the old tracks are now a Brisbane Valley Heritage Walk. Stopped at roadworks for 15 minutes just before coming down the range - think they were just harveting the plantation timber on the cliffs over the highway. Stopped at Moore with Saturday markets in the local hall then stopped at Esk at another market. We NEVER are in the right place for markets and today we stopped at 3. Bananas $5kg at Kingaroy market ($15.00 kg at the moment in Brisbane due to the cyclone). Once again Geoff got talking, to a local this time at the Lions Club sausage sizzale at the Esk market. The guy had had a really interesting life or was a pathological liar. After 45 mins waiting in the car for Geoff to finish his conversation with this guy, I rang him from the car to give him a hurry up. Apparently this guy had gone to Oxford Uni, paddled to London from Oxford, had done a lot of research into Freemasony and ancient civilisations and told the Egyptians their artifacts were counterfeit, his father was in the secret service and showed him some film of the development of the dam-busters bomb, so at 14 years of age he rode from Oxford to Cambridge to tell the guy who developed the dam-busters bomb he had got his calculations wrong (and apparently that's why it was eventually perfected), danced with a Russion KGB (but she wasn't a spy, they are different apparently), was a sort of spy himself (or at least his father was), and he looked 65-70 but said he was 80. All dad did was buy a sausage from him and the conversation went from there. We finally moved on to Wivenhoe Dam, the culprit that flooded Brisbane. Checked out the camping areas and headed for the spillway. The dam wall is probably about 1km long and part of the main highway. As you cross the long dam wall you get a glimpse of the damage caused at the spillway to the river below and even the concrete observation deck with was damaged. Unfortunately the road to the spillway was closed so couldn't see close up. Arrived home about 2.30pm. Day had been cloudy and drizzly, but a reasonable day for travelling.

Photos 16/4/2011

Great weather, mid- to high-twenties, nights were mild. Found some nice places, did some strenuous walks, picked up a tick (only one this time), did some compulsory (if we wanted to see something) dirt road travel and some creek crossings a little dicey and saw during the whole trip all creeks and rivers had flooded and the major damage flooding had caused in the whole region. We were lucky in the timing when we went. We met some nice people - half of which we got their life story but still nice people, contributed to by Ruth and George, Ed, Julie and Tony, Adrian and his wife, Cory and Anna and finally Ron at the markets.

Trip Map April 2011