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.  

Rainbow Beach

Finally got the tax done today. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, actually, as it means I may get some money back. After breakfast that is what most of the morning was spent with doing, thanks to the internet.

Completing that we went of to the beach near Rainbow Beach. I wanted to have a swim myself, so whilst Jana went shopping I went for a dip in the “cold” ocean. 20°C water, for Aussie standards winter time. After the dip Jana was back and we went for a walk along the beach, four wheel drives passing us constantly. Got back after two hours of walking and went back to the camp, a quick shop for some supplies on the way.  

Cooloola Park Reserve

Woke up early due to going to bed early the night before. Sun set here about five at the moment. After breakfast we got the dreaded test of driving out. My Forester handled it no problem, but on the last stretch the bottom of the car touched the ground, so a no go for the Outback. In the end we managed to bend it round trees and bushes on a flatter track to the road, but I probably scared Jana off four wheel driving for a long time.

First thing we did after that was get some supplies from Coles in a neighbouring town and then headed to the camp site that Jana had seen the day before. First view not bad. It's a messy sort of farm place, but then again I have lived in “organised” chaos for a long time in Australia now. And we get free WiFI!

Checked in with the owner and then headed to Cooloola Park Reserve. We ended up doing a walk through the bush for 17km to get to a not very impressive waterhole, but it was the walk that we where aiming for. No snakes, fortunately, but we did get to see a Golden Orb Weave Spider.

After that back to the camp for some internet time.  

Brisbane - Rainbow Beach

Next day. 1^st of July. In Australia that means the end of the tax year. Good some of us backpackers are the tax return we can get. Normally you pay a couple of hundred dollars for a company to do it, but Christian had the good idea just to do it yourself with the tax office for help. I had tried a couple of days prior after Aaron had mentioned that you can do it yourself, but it failed at a connection between the tax office and the government site. New day, I'll try again.

After some breakfast we took our cars and headed to the train station. We didn't want to drive in to down town Brisbane for fear of horrendous car parking issues, so we took the cheap train instead. In Brisbane Chris guided us to the tax office. On the way we passed a paper sale guy who was producing aerobics at the same time. Interesting to see and it may have put the sales up.

We reached the tax office and it looked like they had just prepared for this situation. With a staff of personnel to help you and a lot of computers to do it on we got help immediately. Due to my try a few days ago I got in faster than the other two and had the tax office connected to my government side near immediately. To get to the point (as tax can be very boring) we half managed it after a few hours and then left as Chris has to be near Fraser Island by four in the afternoon.

Back to the cars and then we split up as I didn't want to trail straight behind them for 250km. I was going to follow the two of them up until to Rainbow Beach as I have nothing to do until Monday. Might as well see a lot of sand. They left before me but I must have somehow gone faster than them because I arrived a bit before them. Once Chris had said goodbye to go on his tour, Jana and me looked for a place to camp for the night. The place she was interested in had a comment that it was closed so we ruled that one out. In the end we got a permit from the petrol station for a camp near to Fraser and set of towards that.

It proved very sandy. Now then, I have a bit of sand driving experience with my car, so I got to a spot no problem. There where some other “proper” four wheel drives close by, so my estimate was that if we do get stuck we can get pulled out. As said, me no problem. Once Jana had a go at it with Chris Subaru Outback, it wasn't that good anymore. Got stuck really bad. No digging helped, so I went to the nearby spotted four wheel drivers (with a Land Rover). They said they had got stuck themselves that day and someone else pulled them out, and that they would help us. In the meantime the ones that had pulled them out had spotted Jana and helped take the car out. So we where surrounded by sand we weren't to sure we would get out of in the morning.

Had some dinner and went down to the beach for some nice view on to the stars before heading back and to bed.  

Brisbane

The night were cold as usual, but either my swag has gotten warmer, or I'm acclimating better to the temperature of the night. Really helpful that I have a mat underneath me and thick oilskin canopy to trap as much heat in as possible. Disadvantage was that I had a bit of due on the in- and outside.

We set of after some breakfast for the next camp site closer to Brisbane, from which we could access the city easier by train. Driving through the city on motorways and normal roads trying to keep up with a car you need to follow is a bit on the exciting side. Luckily Chris still has his blue eski on the roof which is easy to follow.

We reached a caravan site in Durra (outskirts of Brisbane) and got an un-powered site for two cars, so we all got it cheaper (10$ each). Parked, got the tents/vehicle set up for the night and did a wash before walking about 15min to the nearest train station. We seem to have ended up in the industry sector, but none of us minded. Got a GoCard, a tap on, tap of card. Every state has it's own, so you can pretty well start a collection. Try getting every one of them, except one from the NT (no trams there) and maybe TAS, but not to sure about the last one. After buying one we got on a train that took us towards the city. We exited about halfway along because Jana had heard of a place that does really good milk shakes. To get there we walked up and down about three hills and ended up in front of a florist, which also sold milk shakes. Ordered a few and after consuming them found out we could have saved us the hilly walk as there was a train station a lot closer. Eh, a bit of exercise has never harmed anyone.

We got back on to the train and went to Brisbane proper. In Brisbane we got some pictures printed out and went to have a look at a free ferry that goes along the Brisbane river. We took a look at the ferry when it came in and left. Really small (maybe for 25 people) and a long queue of other people in front of us.

Went back and had a look through the shopping centres and bought a card game in the end (phase 10). Went back on the train, walked to the camp site in the dark and after some dinner played phase 10 until late in to the night.  

Lamington National Park

Woke up in the morning a lot warmer than the one before. T-Shirt and socks most likely helped a lot. And a nice warm shower after breakfast was just the right thing for the morning.

As Chris and Jana were both going to Lamington National Park today I decided to tag along, as doing the walks with other people is most likely more fun than alone. Said good bye to Simon and headed of. We drove for quite a while and after passing through …. we carried on for a bit longer. Chris pulled over and sort of asked where we were as we seemed to have gone a bit to far. Turned around and went back to Canungra where we then turned of towards Lamington. To get there we travelled along a really windy road. The closest resemblance would be a pass in the Alps somewhere, just with a lot narrower roads. We got stuck behind a really slow driving vehicle towards the end, but got to the top in the end. At the top we went to the tourist information and asked what walks could be started mid afternoon (our time of arrival) to which we then got directions for a tree top walk and a waterfall.

We took the wrong turn for the tree top walk and ended up walking past the end of it, but doubled back and did it. Fun for those of us who aren't afraid of heights. 

After the tree top walk we carried on to the waterfall, which took a while of walking. It's surprising how late it can appear in a jungle like forest. Due to the canopy, everything is a lot darker, double so once you get in to valley and the temperature drops, too. We reached the waterfall in good time, but had to do some clambering over wet rocks to get to it in the end (which mostly went without a hitch). Pictorial waterfall, but after a few pictures we left again, as time (and the sun) where against us.

On the way back we stopped at the tree top walk again and climbed right to the top on to a platfrom. We couldn't do it before as there where so many people lining up for it, but the second try yielded better results with no one else there. The view was rather... pointless actually. All we could see was the branches. I guess it sort of can be an educational thing on the different layers of trees, but no view. Went back down and walked back to the cars (playing some table tennis on the way and feeding some birds). Hopped back in and set of for a camp somewhere near Brisbane. Chris has got an app that shoes all the camps in Australia, one I will be getting as well (probably).

After just managing to follow him along a packed motorway and city in rush hour (he had a blue eski on the roof which helped immensely) we got to a camp site and had some dinner before heading to bed.  

Springbrook National Park

The night was spent in stages of cold and not cold in the swag. The sleeping bag I got is good until about 5°C (they say) and the night was four. Funnily enough it was still warmer than some nights in the hostel. Just when the shoulder pocked out of the bag it got cold fast and my small toe couldn't be felt in the morning. Will have socks on the next night.

Once up in the morning I had a fast breakfast and after getting some directions from the Simon (manager) I set of towards Mt. Nimmel. A bit confusing as Mt. Nimmel isn't actually a mountain, it's more of a hill with a lot of mansions on it. Mansions because of the view. If you built your house right you had a clear view down over the Gold Coast. I could think that especially at night it would be rather spectacular. From the road you had a decent view, but there was always a tree or some housing in the way.

Soon after I carried on to Springbrook, a mountain village about half an hour from the Gold Coast. It borders one of the national parks (named Springbrook, wow!) and has some really good waterfalls. First of I drove to a lookout called “The Best of All”. It gave a really good view over an extinct volcano that was massive. Only the crater is left today, full of farms and villages and the lookout is situated on what used to be the lip of the crater. 

Coming back I took a walk around Purlingbrook Falls which has a large waterfall dropping down from the edge of the crater in to the surrounding valley. Got some really good pictures there, as the sun was also just the right angle to make a waterfall appear at the bottom of the falls. After about 6km of walking and seeing various fauna, flora and people I was back were I had started, and hungry. Cooked up some soup at the picnic site they had there and enjoyed some nice warm lunch. Temperature wise it is still cold in the day to. Must be acclimating to Australian temperatures, never used to think that 20°C was cold.

After lunch I drove on to a tourist place called Canyon View and was greeted with a stunning view over the surrounding mountains and the Gold Coast in the distance. Spending some time there I realised that they also had some walks going around. One was two kilometres, another one four and the last one 17. As it was mid afternoon and the sun goes down at about five I wasn't game enough to walk the 17km track, but from what I heard from others I didn't miss to much by doing the four. Passed three waterfalls, two above and bellow them and one bellow. You had to walk under two of them, but I got lost close to the first one and ended up on the other side of it (somehow). The second waterfall walkway was situated so that you did get a bit wet walking underneath it, but no massive drench. Carrying on I met no one for a while before encountering a group in front of me who had stopped. We both had the worry that we were doing the 17km one backwards, but some quick thinking on how we were situated geographical solved that problem (we were still on the right path). Reached the car again after a while and drove back to the camp-site after having an ice.

The two Germans where still there (Chris & Jana) and both of them are visiting Lamington National Park tomorrow, so I'll tag along with them. The weather is better now and I was recommended to have a look at it from both Iain and Leanne.

Dinner in the evening and then some camp fire warmth against the cold before going back to the swag for some sleep.