Koreelah national park trip.

Decided to try out the camper with a quick overnight trip. Did my normal Saturday morning shopping and chores and threw some clothes and fresh food into the camper and headed off. Left home around 11'ish and headed off north and then west. Ended up at the park at Rathdowney where I made some lunch and had a quick break.

Then I headed toward Boonah and took the Lake Maroon turnoff. Followed White Swap road until the Head Gate Road turnoff and went right. Then it was up the hill mostly through the Koreelah national park and then headed west to the Condamine river road. The river was pretty low so the 14 or so crossings were no problem. Around the end of this road near Killarney I could see some very dark clouds to the south west and the wind had become very strong. On face book Shane said he got hammered with rain and wind around Mt Barney.
I had originally planned on staying at Koreelah nat park but Shane also suggested Tooloom Falls near Woodenbong. I headed south and east from Killarney towards Woodenbong and I could see the rain and storms to the east of me. I ended up going to Koreelah as it didn't look like it was raining there. There were four camping bays, the first two were pretty packed and I thought I may not get a spot but the third was empty and the fourth had only one tent. So I ended with a nice spot by the creek with a picnic table.

The temperature had dropped considerably since the early afternoon feeling of being in an oven. Setup was quick and I was relaxing with a drink and snacks in no time. There were more storms coming, judging by the rumbling coming from the west, so I shut up everything and retired to the camper to write up the blog and enjoy the sound of rain on the roof, knowing I wouldn't have to pack up wet gear in the morning. The rain only lasted an hour or so and when it was over I had a quick dinner and read a book for awhile before going to sleep.
All up I had driven a lazy 235 or so kms during the afternoon.
I woke up early when the sun came up (around 5am) but lounged around in bed reading for awhile, this is much easier to do in the camper than in a tent. Then it was coffee and breakfast. I had just got the JetBoil frypan to go with my JetBoil so I cooked bacon and eggs in it. Not very impressed. The pan in not a non-stick pan and the extra baffles underneath to spread the heat out don't work real well so the centre of the pan gets very hot, the rest not so much. The eggs left a layer on the pan making it very hard to extract them intact. It cleaned up ok after a soak in some water but I think I'll go back to the butane burner and cheap non-stick pan. The JetBoil however is still great for boiling water for drinks, washing up, etc. so I'll keep using it for that.
After packing up I went for a wander down to have a look at the waterfall just down the creek, not very spectacular but a nice quiet little spot. There were several monitor lizards and a wallaby and quite a few birds, so it was a pleasant walk. 

I hit the road then and headed for Woodenbong where I had a nice cappuccino and planned out my route home. I headed off towards Kyogle but turned off to the Border Ranges national park and wandered through the park stopping for a look at the camp grounds and lookouts. The Pinnacles Lookout was pretty spectacular with views back to the east and Mt Warning. 

I stopped for some lunch at Black Butt lookout before continuing out of the park and towards Murwillumbah and then onto the motorway and home at around 3 pm. A total of around 225 km today and a grand total of 460 km for the weekend.

Sent from my iPhone