The maiden voyage of the JCDtanic.

The day started out pretty overcast, so I had a lazy breakfast and went back to bed to finish off a book I have been reading for awhile. After awhile the day seemed to be clearing up so I ended up going for a walk down around Currumbin Creek to find a suitable place to launch the new inflateable kayak. I found a nice spot just to the west of Thrower Road bridge, a grassy area to unpack the kayak and a nice sandy beach for the launching spot. 

Back home I packed the kayak into the Paj, along with some photo gear, towels, sunscreen, etc. then it was down to the creek. I was going to set a camera up on a tripod to film the unpacking as the included instructions were pretty crap and I thought I may need some help when it came time to pack it back up. However, it turns out it would have probably taken me longer to set up the camera and tripod then it did to actually unpack and set the kayak up. 

The inflation was pretty easy with a 12 litre dual action pump, once I found the three main air nozzles. They were excellent because your could close them off before removing the pump hose, so there wasn't a rush of air out of the device as you tried to close the cap. Once all three air bladders were pumped up the craft was quite sturdy. There is quite a few storage areas including one right behind the seat, in here is also another air nozzle to pump a cushion for the back of the seat, but I didn't find that until I got back to shore and started packing up. I stowed the pump and my shoes in here, in case of emergency. 

There is a cover which goes over your legs (it seals wth Velcro) that keeps most of the water out and it also has some storage areas, including one which is supposed to be waterproof. Just to be sure I put my phone in a dry bag and then into the waterproof compartment. I found my legs were getting hot and sweaty from being covered over but on the plus side they were also protected from sun burn. I had planned that I would get into the water at high tide and then paddle up the creek, allowing me to drift back down the creek with the outgoing tide when I got tried of paddling. It didn't really work out too well as there wasn't a lot of water movement as the tide turned, so I ended up having to paddle both directions. :(

It was very nice on the creek, no wind, not too hot and the water was a pleasant temperature. I slowly paddled a kilometer or so up stream just doing a bit of sightseeing and watching the other kayakers. It seems like the standing paddle boards are the latest trendy things, there was way more of them than kayaks. I eventually got used to paddling so that I went in more or less a straight line, this seemed a bit harder than when I was on the sit on top kayak at Lawn Hill but I just probably need a bit more practice. I didn't work out how to adjust the foot straps until I was back on shore so my legs weren't too comfortable, once again I think this is something I'll get used to. 

Packing up the kayak wasn't too bad, I opened all the air nozzles while I got the large plastic tub out of the car, then gave a few pumps using the deinflation mode. I managed to fit it into the 120 litre plastic tub on the second try and it is now sitting unfolded in the back yard drying out before it gets packed up and stored away in my camping room. 

All up I'm very happy with it, I had no problems setting it up and packing it away. On the water it felt very stable although it is probably not as fast as the solid shell kayaks, but that is not what I wanted it for. It's still quite bulky (fits in a 120 litre tub) and will take up a fair bit of room in the car but overall I think it is better for me and my travels than having a hard shell kayak strapped to the roof racks. I think I also now need a little water proof camera to take with me as it was going to take too long to get a normal camera or my phone out of the waterproof container to take a photo of the birds and flying foxes in the trees beside the creek and the fish in the creek. Time to rest the shoulders and have a late lunch. 

Easter 2014 Lawn Hill trip - Summary

I left the Gold Coast on Good Friday morning and after 2 and a bit days of driving (2250 kms ) I finally got to Lawn Hill National Park. The walks and kayaking up the gorge were spectacular, as were Wayne and Anne's desserts in the evening. It was pretty hot during the day so early morning was the best time for walking and the afternoon could be spent swimming. I packed up and left on Thursday the 24 th stopping in at the Age of Dinosaurs display just outside of Winton on the way home. It was an interesting place to visit and the tour of the lab area was especially good. I also visited mum and dad at Caloundra on the way and finally got home Sunday (27 th) evening. All up I covered 4822 kms using around 550 litres of diesel (11.6 l/100 km) which ended up costing just under $950. Thanks to Wayne, Anne and the kids, Ben and Meg and Phil and Shane for making this such an enjoyable trip. No thanks to the flies. Below shows the GPS track recorded by my SPOT tracker. 

Photos from the trip can be found on my Picasa site :- https://picasaweb.google.com/108619961450363964837/Easter2014LawnHillTrip?noredirect=1

All up a great trip and I'll certainly go back to Lawn Hill but at a cooler time of year. 

Easter 2014 Lawn Hill trip Day 10

I had a very restful day, spent at mum and dad's place at Caloundra catching up with family who were gathered for my Nephew's birthday. To dodge the traffic jams heading back south from the Sunshine Coast I left Caloundra just before 6 pm and had a great run home for the last part of this trip. I was back home just before 8 pm and the car was unpacked by 8:30 pm. In total I had driven 4,822 kms over the previous 10 days and had a great time. 

Easter 2014 Lawn Hill trip Day 9

I got up at 6:30 am as the sun was coming up. Someone needs to recalibrate the Roosters in Alpha as the were crowing randomly from about 5 am while the local Kookaburras were almost dead accurate with their calls as the sun came up. There had been a fairly heavy dew overnight for the first time and the tent was a bit damp on the outside. Had a quick pack up and left at 6:45 am, driving east into the rising sun wasn't much fun for awhile. Got to Emerald and refueled at around 8:30 am and ran into Wayne, Anne and the kids as they came into fuel up after having Brekky at Maccas. Then I found some breakfast and headed east again. 

Finally turned south onto the A3 and headed towards Biloela. Had an early lunch at a great little bakery on the way into town and I was returning to the car, Wayne and company drove past waving. I passed them later on as they stopped at a rest area in Monto. I refueled at Gayndah and guess who I saw drive past just as I was getting back onto the road. They stopped not much further at another rest area (Bin Bin I think) and I continued on south. 

I turned off the A3 at Tansey and headed to Kilkivan and then onto the main highway just north of Gympie where of course I got stuck behind someone doing at least 10 km per hour less than the speed limit. Then all the traffic lights in Gympie conspired to turn red just as I got to them. The only good thing was the new bit of road that was opened to the south of Gympie, very nice cruising at 110 km/hr until being dragged back to reality and a 90 km/hr single land road. In the background the sunset was looking pretty spectacular. Then a simple drive down the main road until I turned off to go to mum and dad's place at Caloundra for the night, arriving about 6pm and looking forward to a nice hot shower and a soft bed inside for a change. For the whole day the temperature gauge in the Paj didn't get over 30 deg, a first since the start of the trip.

Easter 2014 Lawn Hill trip Day 8

Got up a bit after 6:30 am while it was still darkish. I packed up and a breakfast of an Ice Break iced coffe and hit the road about 7 am when the sun was above the horizon and I headed south towards Winton. I eventually found the sign to the waterhole (Combo Waterhole Conservation Park) just south of Kynuna and about 200 kms away from where I thought it would be. Just past Winton I decided to drop in and have a look at the "Age of Dinosaurs" display. It was well setup and I quite enjoyed the tour of their fossil processng lab. 

Then it was on to Longreach to refuel the car and myself. All the way down from Cloncurry it felt like I had been driving into a headwind and it showed in the fuel economy with the downhill (north to south) trip using an extra 1.5 l/100 km. In Barcaldine I had to blow into the breathalyzer at an RBT for a bored looking policeman who sent me on my way after recording zero alcohol. As I'm going to visit Mum and Dad in Caloundra on the way home I took the turnoff to Alpha and will go a different way home. I got to Alpha at about 4:30 pm and decided to call it quits for the evening rather than trying to make it to Emerald before the sun went down. I set up camp in the caravan park and caught up with my blog before having a nice hot shower and heading to bed early. 

Easter 2014 Lawn Hill trip Day 7

It was still overcast in the morning, so I didn't get out of bed until 7'ish. I wanted to do the remaining walks while it was still cool, so I packed the backpack with some water and wandered off to the Cascades. This was a relatively easy walk and didn't take long. 

On the way back I decided to try the climb up the Island Stack as my knees weren't feeling too bad. I took the climb slowly, pausing to take photos regularly, that is my excuse and I'm sticking to it. At the lookout on the top the view back down the gorge was spectacular. 

I then did the walk around the top before heading back down the steep section and going back to camp. 

All up approximately 3.5 kms over about 2 hours and many litres of sweat.

I went up to see Wayne and Anne and crew and they were almost packed, so I headed back to camp for breakfast and an ibuprofen or two. They left about half an hour later heading towards Julia Creek. I had also decided to leave today but I would pack up a bit more slowly, however while my tent was still in shade I decided to get it all done. It ended up that I was packed and showered and ready to go by 11 am, so I headed off back the same way I came in. The gravel road was fine and there was no other traffic to kick up any dust, then once the bitumen started it became a very easy drive. Only the odd cow or horse wanted to get in my way. 

I powered past Gregory Downs, Burke and Wills roadhouse and onto Cloncury where I refueled the car and had a quick snack at around 4 pm. I thought I remembered seeing a sign to a waterhole just south of Cloncurry and thought that would be a good place to camp for the night. But, my memory must have been playing tricks and I couldn't find it, so I ended up driving onto McKinlay where I stopped at the local caravan park for the evening. Then once I had set up the tent and had a shower a refrigerated truck pulled into the servo just down the road and it looks like I'll have a noisey evening as they run their fridges all night. Serves me right for not finding a quiet place off by the side of the road somewhere. I went to bed early and wrote up my blog and read a book for awhile. Luckily the truck was only there for a few hours and everything quieted down when it left. 

Easter 2014 Lawn Hill trip Day 6

As it's been so hot I decided to do a few walks in the morning. So I got out of bed around 7'ish and had an excellent bacon and egg wrap for Brekky and then started getting packed for the walk. Lots of water and swimming togs in case it got too hot. I had the spot tracker as well but of course I forgot to take the Fitbit. I left around 8 am after saying goodbye to Phil who was packing up to head home via the more scenic coast road and found that Wayne, Anne and company weren't interested in a walk as they were just getting up. I had decided to do just a shot walk around to Indarri Falls and Duwadarri lookouts but once I got to Indarri Falls and I was feeling pretty good so I decided to head onto the upper gorge lookout. 

The weather was overcast and a little bit cooler than yesterday but I still had to drink heaps of water and take a few stops, mainly to take photos of course and not to have a rest. :) The walk along beside the gorge was very pleasant and shady. 

I eventually got to the turnoff to the upper gorge lookout and then the going started to get tough as the climb got steep and because it was exposed it got hotter as well. The view both up and down the gorges was spectacular from the lookout and well worth the effort.  

Then it was time to walk back to the campsite via the inland track and thankfully it was relatively flat but hot. 

I took the route past the Indarri Falls Lookout which then wound across to Duwadarri lookout where you could see out over both the ranger station and the camp grounds. 

The track down to the campsite however was very steep and the knees were protesting severely, so I just took it slow and easy. I dropped in to see Wayne and Anne on the way past their camp site and they were worried that the overcast sky wouldn't let their small solar panel farm keep up with the demands of both the freezer and fridge, so they ended up running their car for awhile. 

I was back in camp about 7.5 kms and three hours later and feeling worn out. So after lots of cold drinks and a light lunch I decided to just laze around camp for the arvo. I tried moving the solar panels around to get the best charge but with overcast skies it was hard to tell when the tree shadows covered the panels. We then had about 10 drops of rain, it wasn't even enough to make the car look wet. The weather radar is showing lots of clouds and rain to the north in the gulf but it doesn't look like it'll come down this way. I spent some time getting the car into some sort of order and charging a multitude of batteries before having an early dinner and then heading down to see Wayne, Anne and company and then getting to bed rather early.