Comm Games Getaway, Day 3.

With day light savings the sun doesn't get up very early and I saw no reason why I should. After a lazy brekkie and pack up I hit the road towards Texas and then Goondiwindi.  About 50 or so Kms before Goondiwindi there were 4 camping reserves that backed onto the the river and provided free camping for up to 14 days. 

There was no facilities but there were tons of shady spots and very few people using them. I stopped in to look at each one along the way and would definitely spend a couple of days simply chilling out. 

In Goondiwindi I returned to form, with lunch at the bakery and then refueled the car, before heading west. This is a fairly boring drive but I was trying to stay as close to the border as possible. At Talwood I turned south and crossed the border/river again and lost an hour of my life, again. Following some back roads I came to Mungindi situated right on the border/river. There is tons of room on the QLD bank of the Barwon river for camping, so after checking it out, I went for a drive out to see the One Ton Post. 

This post was used to mark out where the QLD/NSW Border went from the crinkly one where it followed rivers and ridge lines to the dead straight line that heads west to Cameron Corner. It's only a couple of Kms out of town and well sign posted. 

Back on the Barwon river I set up camp and relaxed. Very pleasant view and the internet speed is pretty good for a change. 

I now need to plan where I'll be heading tomorrow but it's probably north towards Mitchell. 

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Comm Games Getaway, Day 2.

It got cooler overnight, probably around 18 deg, making it very pleasant sleeping conditions. Got up and cooked brekkie and cleaned up, leaving around 8:30 NSW time. I had planned traveling some back roads around New Koreelah but as always happens, roads that show on the map don't always exist in real life. Instead I continued west on the Mount Lindsay Highway until turning off on Cullendore road which lead me to the road through Maryland National Park. This road runs alongside the Border fence, built to keep the wild dogs and wascally wabbits out. The road was supposed to cross the border after leaving the national park but the gate was locked, so after talking to a local farmer I continued on what was a public road, traveling through several properties and coming out at the back of Applethorpe. This little stretch of road had me opening and closing around 10 gates. 

Then it was morning tea at Vincenzo's on the highway, this place used to have a big deli and local produce section but that seems to have mainly disappeared to be replaced by the cafe/restaurant and bar with wine tastings. I stopped briefly in Stanthorpe to drop into Woolies to pick up a few groceries.  After Stanthorpe I headed west on some back roads to drop into the northernmost part of Sundown National Park, Nundubbermere Falls. There were three more gates on the way to open and close which meant another three on the way out. 

I got there about lunch time and there was one person setup camping there so I wandered over to the edge of the drop off to see if I could see the Falls but no such luck. I continued on down the side of the hill which was quite steep and shaley making my knees ache. I kept going just one more section at a time as the water wasn't quite visible, anyway I ended up at the bottom so wandered around the water hole and found quite a small set of Falls, which I assume are the Nundubbermere Falls. 

The way up was much easier on the knees but harder on the lungs and when I got to the top I really couldn't be bothered making lunch, so I rehydrated and had an apple. 

I headed out of the park opening and closing the three gates and turned west to have a look at the western section of Sundown. At the western edge of the property was another bloody gate, the seventeenth for the day and I believe my personal best for number of gates travelled through in a day. 

I dropped into the Broadwater camp ground at the western edge of Sundown and there was absolutely no one there. Then it was back out to the main road and off to see Glenlyon Dam. 

I had a quick stop here for a drink and a photo or two before heading west towards Texas. A few light rain showers passed over but they disappeared very quickly and I continued onto Bonshaw Weir where I am going to spend the night. 

There was only one set of other people here in a caravan, so hopefully it won't get too crowded as the night sets in. It was quite warm when arrived, just over 30 degs but is cooling off a bit as the sun sets.

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Comm Games Getaway, Day 1

I had most of the car packed the previous night, I just had to throw in clothes and the cold stuff for the fridge. I slept in a little bit and had brekkie and a shower before hitting the road around 8:30 am. Then it was north on the M1 to fuel up at Mudgeeraba, not a lot of traffic, so I had an easy run. Turned off at Nerang and headed out through Canungra and then onto Beaudesert where I had some morning tea. 

I then headed south through Rathdowney before turning off towards Boonah and then Lake Maroon. Along here I turned off on Waterfall Creek Road, according to the Hema I thought it should loop around and back onto the main road. This however didn't eventuate. 

It did however lead to nice little camping and day use area, supposed to contact the council before camping. I continued on and the road became quite steep and a bit washed out in places, nothing to too difficult but a bit challenging. It lead through a farm to a lookout in the Mount Barney National Park. This is where a walk to the Lower Portals starts from, I just walked a hundred metres or so uphill to the lookout. 

This is where the road stops as there is a closed gate and private property ahead, so it was back down the same way and back to the main road. I continued west on Carney's Creek and then White Swap road before stopping for a late lunch at Koreelah National Park.

After a quick walk to the Falls and a look at the map, I decided I would head to Tooloom Falls for the evening, as I had visited a couple of times but never camped there. I had forgotten that crossing the NSW border had stolen an hour of my life away but I setup camp anyway (around 4 pm local time) and wandered down to look at the Falls. 

There are about half a dozen other campers here but I've set up back away from them. It's a nice little place with lots of black cockatoos around. I relaxed around camp for awhile, cooked dinner and then went to bed to read and plan where to head the following day.

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End of year trip 2017. Day 10

Up relatively early and packed up heading for home. Drove into Tenterfield and had brekky at the bakery before pressing onto Casino and then Lismore. The closer we got to the coast the more people and traffic we came across. We finally got out onto the  M1 for what should be an easy run home. But Shane's tyres had other ideas. Just before the big tunnel through a hill, south of the Murwillumbah turn off, I got a call on the radio from Shane that he had a tyre going down. Luckily there was a a pull off point where we could get off the road to see what was wrong. One of the remaining good tyres had a split in the sidewall so he had to replace it with one that that had several plugs in it and was slowly leaking. He pumped this up and we hit the road again. He made it to Ron and Jo's with 20 psi still in the tyre. I got home around noon and unpacked the car and camper, while I was getting some clothes washing done, my first hot shower in a week or so was very relaxing. I set the robot to vacuuming the camper and settled down for a lazy afternoon. 

I was away for 10 days, covering around 2900 kms and averaging 12.8 l/100 km. Highway driving was around 12-12.5 l/100 km while the sand driving with very low tyre pressures was up around 15 l/100 km. 

Even though it was very hot at times it was still an enjoyable holiday away from the crowds. 

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End of year trip 2017. Day 8 and 9.

Had a bit of a slow brekky and pack up with a final swim in the Maranoa river before heading off into Mitchell, where we found quite a good bakery. We then headed south to St George and this was a fairly boring drive, then it was across to Goondiwindi for a late lunch at the bakery. 

We refuelled the cars at Bogabilla before heading east towards Texas. Shane had a secret spot down on the Dumaresq River so after dropping in to Bonshaw Weir for a look we headed there. 

It's a great spot down the on the river bank and after setting up camp it was time for a swim. 

Then as we were relaxing by the fire I had a play with the drone and managed to not lose or crash it. 

After dinner it was a relatively early night to bed as we were a little weary from the driving.

Had a bit of a sleep in and late breakfast. We decided to have another rest day so we spent it beside the creek. It was very hot again so I spent the day reading in the shade, swimming and playing with the drone. The sunset was pretty spectacular. 

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End of year trip 2017. Day 7

After some brekky we packed up and left Lake Nuga Nuga heading south. Parts of the dirt road were a bit soft and slippery after the storms but we made it through fine. On the way we drove in for a look at the Beilba section of Expedition National Park. We had a little trouble finding our way as the roads were quite different from the map, mainly because of all the gas extraction being done in the area. We ended up exploring some interesting tracks. 

I had forgotten that I had been into Beilba a few years ago until we got to an abandoned house on the way in. 

We continued on to look at the camp ground which seemed not too bad. As there was a line of storms approaching we decided to get out quickly as some of the tracks were already a bit wet and soggy. 

As it was New Years Day the shops in Injune were all closed so we stopped at the sports ground to make a quick lunch before heading onto Roma where we refuelled the cars and had coffee at Maccas as it was about the only place open. The decision was then made to head out to Mitchell and camp at the Fisherman's Rest camp site by the Maranoa River. Great little spot and the river was the perfect temperature for a swim. We set up camp and had a nice relaxing evening.

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End of year trip 2017. Day 5 and 6.

We were up early, packed up and off looking for Leichardt's Dig Tree or what was left of it. It had been moved into the town of Comet a few years ago. After a bit of exploring and bush bashing we ended up finding its original position and the plaque identifying the spot. Then it was off into Comet where we had a look at the main part of the tree and a few other historical points of interest.

After this we headed off to Emerald for morning tea at the bakery before futilely searching for some fossilised wood that was supposed to be on display. We refilled the cars and did a bit of shopping before heading off to have a look at Lake Maraboon which is supposedly 3 times the size of Sydney Harbour. 

Then it was off south through Springsure and Rolleston where we had a late lunch. 

The temperature was up in the high 30's and it was quite draining to be out of the car air-con for too long. Lake Nuga Nuga National Park was our destination for the night and we got there around 3:30'ish and set up camp in a shady area. As it was so hot I rigged up a mozzie net in the camper so that I could leave the doors open while sleeping to cool down. 

After dinner we noticed some lightning off to the south and Shane got some great lightning photos. This went on for more than an hour until we finally heard thunder and then about 30 mins later the storm got to us. 

We were safely ensconced in our campers for the wind and rain but it was bloody hot and sweaty with everything closed up to keep the rain out. After the rain was gone it must have been 10 degrees cooler which made it much easier to sleep.

We had decided on a rest day at Lake Nuga Nuga and didn't end up doing much as it was so damn hot (around 39 degrees). 

I spent most of the day drinking water and reading a book in the shade while Shane took his canoe out for a paddle. Today the storms came in early, around 4 pm and this time we stayed outside to get wet and cool off. After the storms had gone we cooked dinner and Shane started up the camp fire. We didn't quite see the new year in but our equivalent of fireworks was a campfire and a distant lightning show.

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