Mary Valley National Parks

Back to lounging around Brisbane for now. I gave the ones I wanted to work for in Condamine a call, but got no answer back. No answer is an answer I guess you could say, so I am more focused on getting a trip on a sailing boat up the coast for now.

Chris came back from his Fraser trip and said it was well worth it, so should I ever come up here with a bit more cash to spend I might well do it. Jana and Chris continued up along the coast whilst I stayed behind in Brisbane. We said our good byes after watching some dolphins being fed in Tin Can Bay. I might have headed up with them, but they are doing it a bit to fast for my taste. Their aim is to be in Darwin in two weeks. Quite a feat if you consider that it's around four thousand kilometres they have to do in that time. Plus they are stopping at the Whitsundays for three days, too.

So the next few days were spent taking some walks in National Park when the weather allowed and reading books at night in my swag under star covered skies. I do lover my swag and don't even consider the initial cost it took on my bank account. I hope it serves me well in my lifetime, as that is how long I have insurance on it (or until the firm that made it goes bankrupt). Recently I have found myself really actively searching for camping sites. A, they are cheaper and B, I get to sleep in the swag which is really comfortable. The cold nights (around the one digit area) are no problem due to the sleeping bag. The only thing I have found not so good about it is the dew that accumulates in the morning, but that will happen in any tent if you keep all the entrances closed or you camp near to a foggy river.

The first day I had was a rather wet one, so no walks on that one. Instead I hogged down in to my car with a movie on my laptop which I had downloaded from the free WiFi at the previous camp site. In the evening I found myself a camp site at the bowling club in Kandanga. The next morning it took a long while to get my swag to dry, as the club is right next to a river that had mist come up really early in the evening and continued on through the night. The swag held tight as long as I didn't touch the exterior to much. 

The next day was nice and clear and I took a couple of walks throughout the state forests around Amamoor. Personally I thought that the walks down near Springfield were nicer, due to the more spectacular waterfalls they have along the crater of the extinguished volcano. In the evening I found an absolutely wonderful camp site near to Kenilworth. Really clean (I felt bad for walking in to the shower room in the morning with my shoes), friendly owners and I got to have a go with the free kayaks they supply. Whilst out on the river I spotted an otter and a kingfisher, rather rare occurrences back in Europe and no idea how lucky I am with that in Australia. After some soup for dinner I was back in the swag with a wind blowing around outside. Good for me, more wind means less dew in the morning.

The next morning I woke up pretty much before the rest of the camp and even after a shower and breakfast I left while most of the others where still asleep. The day was spent wondering what to do and contemplating what I should do until mid-August (from where on I have other plans lined up). I drove back to Gympie to refuel and on the way looked at Lake Borumba. I was hoping for some walk around the water, but I couldn't find any so carried on along the road. In Gympie I came to the decision to head back down to the Sunshine coast and do all the National Parks on the way. Whilst heading down I did another check on gumtree.com.au for any person sailing up the coast and found a fresh one I then proceeded to write to. To my surprise I got a return text back and after calling and talking to him swung my car around and started heading to Bundaberg. As it was getting dark already I pulled over in to a free camp site in one of the town on the way. Rather packed but considering I just have my car and a swag I can fit in nearly every where, compared to most other users of the camp site with their camping trailers. After that to write the blog with a battery depleted laptop which I am currently loading with my car battery.