Sunday Drive 16/3/14

This mornings weather ended up being very nice for a change so I thought I would head down towards Byron Bay and go exploring. The beach ended up being not so good as the tide was very high, the waves very rough and the wind very strong so I headed inland for a drive. My original plan was to drive over and have a look at Nightcap National Park and then end up around Kunghur on the Kyogle Road and have a look for the Nightcap 4x4 Adventure Park where I will camping this coming weekend with a few people. However a closed road meant I had to take a bit of a detour through Myocum and Goonengerry, so I dropped in to look at the Gooengerry National Park but there wasn't much to see as the roads in the park were all service roads and closed off to traffic, although you could ride horses or puch bikes through.

Then it was back to Minyon and then onto the Minyon Falls day use area for lunch. The falls were completely dry and not much to look at but the view out away from the falls was pretty good.

 

All the maps I had suggested that there were roads going through the towards Kunghur but in realty they were all locked up. 

Then it was a couple of kms until Rummery camp ground which seemed to be a pretty nice spot with lots of grass, toilets and camp fire rings ($10 per night per adult to stay here). 

I started to head towards Nimbin as that seemed the best way around the nat park and back onto the Kyogle Road. I stopped off to have a look at Rocky Lake but couldn't actually see the lake but there was a very nice picnic area here. 

About this time I realised that the pump which pumps diesel from my auxiliary tank into the main tank was not working and that I really needed some fuel. A couple of little towns I went through didn't even have petrol stations so I was getting a bit worried as I couldn't remember seeing a fuel stop in Nimbin before. Turns out there is one and it was open on a Sunday arvo so I happily filled up and continued on towards the Kyogle Road. I headed towards Kunghur and did a little exploring but didn't find the 4x4 park - I'll need to email them to find out where they are. 

Out the other side of Kunghur I turned off to Clarie Hall Dam and stopped in at Crams Farm Reserve. This is a great day use area with nice grassy spots for picnics and boat ramp to put small boats onto the water. The water is pretty low at the moment but it is a very nice spot, unfortunately gates close at 5:30 pm and no camping allowed. 

Then I continued onto the Mt Jerusalem National Park. The first five or so kms into the park was a nice dirt road drive, you could see occasional glimpses of the surrounding mountains through the trees but there wasn't a nice lookout. 

Then a sign announced a drive to the dam wall (of the Clarrie Hall Dam) and the road started to get a bit narrower and much much steeper (downhill). It ended up being pretty narrow and looked like only trail bikes had been through recently. I followed it for another few kms and as it was getting late and the climb up the hill would be fairly challenging, I was just thinking on turning around when I found a largish tree across the road so I wasn't going to be able to continue anyway. I could see the water through the trees and it was only about 30-40 metres below so I wasn't too far away from the end. 

I had to reverse up the narrow track for a few hundred metres until it was wide enough to turn around and then I got to the steep bit. It didn't look nearly that steep coming down, so I selected low range and proceeded to climb up to the top again. The road was narrow and there were quite a few washouts and step-ups but the traction control on the Paj just kept it powering along and I didn't ever get to hear the beeps of death as the ABS heated up. 

After this I retraced my steps back to the main road and continued onto Murwillumbah and then onto the Pacific Highway for an easy cruise home. All up a mixed day of exploring as I found some roads on the map that no longer are accessible but I also found a rather nice 4wd track in the Mt Jerusalem National  Park.