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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End of year trip 2017, Day 4

We were up nice and early after a good nights sleep and after coffee and a quick pack up we headed of to have a look at the other two campgrounds in the park. We eventually found them but neither was as good as the one we had stayed at the previous night. While the road was rough and gutted in a few places it wasn't really challenging to drive and there were no real sights to be seen, so we decided to head back out of the park.
Shane had realized that he hadn't tied his shovel on properly and it had escaped and run away, so on the way back we had had to keep an eye out for it. We eventually found it about 100 metres from the previous nights camp. Then it was back out through the park and the farm roads to the main Capricorn Highway where we had a quick drinks stop to decide what we would do for the rest of today. We decided to head a bit further inland to have a look at Blacksland Tableland National Park. Unfortunately the parks web site showed no camp sites for the evening but we went for a look anyway.
The tableland is a couple of hundred metres above the surrounding plain and the road was twisty and steep but still a relatively easy drive. We stopped at the first lookout (Horseshoe lookout) for a quick look and had some lunch as well. 

Then it was off into the park for a look at the main campsite, where unsurprisingly, there were quite a few empty sites, although the web site said that it was full. We had a quick look at some nearby rock pools and Shane had a quick swim to cool off, even though it must have been 5 or 6 degrees cooler on the tablelands than Down below.

We continued out to the Rainbow Waters walk were Shane went for a couple of km walk and I stayed in the shade at the car park writing up the day's activities and reading a book. Then it was off for a drive around the 4wd loop which took us to another spectacular lookout. 

As it was getting late we needed to find a camp site, so Wikicamps to the rescue. We found one about 50 Kms away, so headed back down from the Tablelands and drove to the back of Comet and a spot on the MacKensie River. It was a km or two off the road down a pretty rough track but it is not too bad. We set up quickly and had some dinner before sitting around and chatting for awhile and going to bed early when the mozzies arrived.

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End of year trip 2017, Day 3

Up early, had a quick bite to eat and coffee and then packed up and left to go to Yeppoon. Found a nice coffee shop and had an iced coffee before heading off Capricorn Caves (near Mt Etna Caves). We got there just before 9 am and booked on a Geo Tour at 10:15, This gave us heaps of time to refuel with tea and scones and get cameras and walking gear sorted out. It was ok but too much fossils and not enough Caves. 

Then we drove out to Mt Etna Caves and walked around the circuit but you couldn't actually get to the cave part.
We headed south back into Rockhampton to find a tyre Store and a Repco for Shane. Unfortunately, they couldn't fix Shane's tyre so we ended up with KFC for lunch. Shane then headed off to do some shopping while I sat in a park in the shade and worked out where we were going to head for the evening.
After Shane had refueled and done some shopping, we decided to head out along the Capricorn highway and have a look at Goodedulla National Park. It was pretty slow going getting there as a lot of it was over farm roads that were not meant for high speed travel. Then when we got into the park the roads got worse and it was obvious from the branches and trees over the road that the ranger hadn't been in for awhile. The Hema maps didn't show all the roads or campsites while the pdf I downloaded from the parks web page was sorely lacking. Lots of intersections with a small number on a fence post and no signs meant it was a maze. The camp site we had been aiming for didn't seem to exist, so we kept on driving until we came across an old shed which looked like it was still occasionally used when they mustered the cattle that were around. 

It was getting close to sunset and it was near the river which had a little bit of water in it, so we decided to set up camp. Of course we couldn't set up on the nice flat area around the shed we had to bush bash the cars down to a nice little spot closer to the river. 

Shane went for a quick swim in the river and then we lit the fire. We cooked diner and sat around the fire before heading off to bed.

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End of year trip 2017, Day 2

Up relatively early, around 6'ish, had coffee and breakfast. We packed up and left camp a bit after 7 and headed off to explore the Byfield National Park as low tide was around 10:30 am for beach driving. Bit of a rough road into the park and then got to the point where we had to air down, I went to 18 psi at back and 16 psi at the front.
There is quite a long steepish hill of soft sand to get over on the way in and I thought I was going fine until a deep bump took away all my momentum and I couldn't go any further. This was with the stability control turned off but still high range. I had to back up quite a bit and tried a few things , like low range, rear diff lock, but I couldn't get any further. So I let the tyres down to 14 rear 12 front and after a few tries got a couple of metres further but I still couldn't get up the hill. So then it was down to 10 psi rear and 9 psi front and I was able to get enough momentum up to get me past the big bump and I could continue up the hill. Shane of course came up without getting stuck with his tyres at 18 psi, he was in first gear low range however.
We continued out to Stockyard Point for a look and there is quite a few fishermen's shacks there. There was a spectacular view from the point both north and south.

Then it was a quick drive to Five Rock Beach where we had to walk 500 metres or so down lots of steps but it was worth it. The beach is spectacular and there was a little fresh water stream running down the hill. We walked up to the Five Rocks at the north end and then Shane went exploring while I headed back to find some shade and write up this diary. Then started the painful walk back up the hill. We had a quick look at the camp ground and at least half the sites were vacant even though they showed as booked on the web site.

We headed over to the main beach and had a look at a little waterfall before driving down to the south end of the beach and going across to the inland side to have a look at the Corio Bay day use area. Nice spot but a bit swampy. 

Then back up the beach calling in to have a look at some of the camp grounds, they also were not as full as they were supposed to be. We took another narrow soft sandy track back to the main entrance road near the top of Big Sandy and headed down it. Much easier than coming up. We had to wait a bit near the bottom as a couple of cars had got them selves bogged. We found a shady spot on the road and put some air back into the tyres.
We stopped in at WaterPark Creek day use area and had some lunch before going on a loop walk around the area. We thought it was going to lead us to the swimming hole but it was a false promise. So, we ended up walking back along the road and over the causeway and simply jumping in. Very pleasant way to spend 30 or so minutes. Then it was back to camp for a lazy afternoon before dinner another early night in bed.

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