Cainbable Falls

Last Saturday I walked with the Tamborine Mountain Bushwalkers on their scheduled fortnightly walk. Peter and Sara led this walk and as is usual, Peter does not take us on just any ordinary walk. This walk had several bits and pieces of various recognized walks and old tracks up on the Lamington Plateau all tied in together.

Because we would not be doing a circuit we had to first do a car shuffle. We were to start at the Romeo Lahay’s memorial and finish at the entry to the Python Rock Track. Without a car shuffle this would require a long walk down the very narrow and dangerous Lamington National Park Road back to our cars at the end of the walk.

With the car shuffle taken care of we set off down though the very steep rainforested slope. The only sign of a track here is the very old remnants of a snig track left behind by past generations of loggers. The forest is doing its very best to cover these old wounds so we lost our way several times before finally stumbling onto a clear track just upstream of where the Cainbable Falls plunge over the embankment to the valley floor hundreds of meters below.

We had smoko on a little overhanging rocky outcrop further along the cliff. From here there are good views of the falls and the valley below with views out as far as Flinders Peak. The falls were a disappointment as very little water is flowing over them at this time of year. Somebody has placed a white cross here dedicated to “Judy” whoever she may be. While I can understand people mourning loved ones I think nobody has the right to desecrate our National Parks with private memorials. Particularly such a beautiful wild place as this. We have cemeteries for that.

We continued on following the top of the escarpment until a small creek which we followed up before coming out onto Duck Creek Road which we followed for some time. Being a Saturday, all the 4x4 drivers were out so we had to be wary not to be run over or at the least splattered with mud.

After escaping the road we went down to Kurrajong Lookout where we had lunch on a grassy knoll with views out to the west. A very pleasant lunch spot where we attempted to locate our position using a GPS and an old map. Back onto the road then once again back through the bush as we followed a faint track leading out to Luke’s Bluff where we admired the views out as far as Mt Lindsey and across to Lost World, a fabulous unexplored wilderness.

The next stop was at Pats Bluff which has views to equal any with the added bonus of large granite boulders to sit upon while we rested and enjoyed the views. From here we followed the clear marked trail back to where we joined the Python Rock lookout track which led back to where we had parked the car. After a quick car shuffle we headed back to Tamborine Mountain, it was too late in the day for our customary social coffee stop on the way home.

Tallebudgera Creek - Kayak

I am a few days behind in keeping my Blog up to date. Busy times again this week.

We have been talking about buying kayaks for years now but the best we have managed to do is hire one every now and again. They have always been very basic kayaks as nobody hires out good ones. The hire rates have always been far higher than the quality so we have always felt that we did not get good value for money.
This week we had a few spare dollars left over so instead of investing it we spent it on two new kayaks. That is I suppose a form of investment if you look at how much fun we will have in them.

We bought two “Necky Looksha 14” kayaks from Goodtime in Woolloongabba last Wednesday. They are big enough to store camping gear and food for an extended trip down a river but still small enough to go for a paddle in a small stream and carry on top of a car. They are not sea kayaks but still very suitable for sheltered bays, estuaries, or a trip up along a coastline in good weather. Just the style of kayaking we intend doing.

On Thursday we loaded them on the car and headed to Tallebudgera Creek down on the Gold Coast. The creek opens up into a perfect bay a few hundred meters inland, just a place to try out our new kayaks. We thought we had set them up correct so pushed off and headed up stream.

After a couple of hundred meters we were both having trouble keeping them in a straight line and very uncomfortable in the seat. We knew they were quality kayaks so the problem had to be us.

Wendy pulled into a beach and I followed her in. After 30 minutes of readjusting the seat and rudder pedals we set off again. Surprising what a few minor adjustments will do. We were soon skimming across the water and performing sharp turn using the rudder and all the while being very comfortable in the seats.

We spent the best part of the day paddling in the inlet, and we will be back. There is a caravan park (Tallebudgera Creek Caravan Park) in this little bay so we intend taking the Avan down in the next few weeks and we will spend 4 or 5 days camped there and go paddling each day instead of driving up and down the Mountain every day.

The Twin Peaks of Mt May

A few of the bushwalkers from the club missed my walk up Mount May so at the last club outing I offered to take them up there on Saturday. There were only 4 of us to do the walk, Julie, Paul, Colin (who had done the walk with me previously) and myself.

 Being an off club walk, I knew I could get them to go a little quicker and a lot further so I decided to climb both peaks this time. Although I had previously climbed both peaks on separate occasions, I had never done both of them on the one day nor had I walked the saddle between the peaks.

We managed to start the climb a bit earlier than before so we were at the top of the first peak in time for a late smoko at around 10.40am. We needed the rest as we had really pushed it, this is the steepest and hardest part and I wanted it over and done with so as to give us more time in case we had difficulty finding the track across the saddle between the two peaks.

Refreshed after a break and a snack washed down with a cup of black tea from my flask we headed off the top of the first peak and down along the saddle heading towards Mount Maroon. After a bit of searching around at the bottom of that saddle we found the track on our right heading down to the dry bed of a creek. There were a few fallen trees on this track but it was easy enough to find the track again after detouring around them.

We crossed the creek and found a piece of pink flagging tied to a tree so gathered that this was the marker to head up a rock slab towards the top of the next peak. Towards the top of the slab Paul noticed a faint track going up a spur on our left so we followed that and it soon became obvious that we were on the right track. This track was fairly easy compared to the slog up the first peak and without much effort we were soon at the top of the higher of the two peaks of Mount May. It was only 12.30 pm, well before I had anticipated.

The highest part of this peak is on the southern side of the mountain where we had commanding views over the Mount Barney ranges all the way into southern NSW. A great view but we decided to cross over to the northern side and have lunch overlooking the first peak and Lake Maroon with views out to Main Range and Cunningham’s Gap. It was a perfect winter’s day and Lake Maroon looked like a sparkling jewel in the sunshine surrounded by the many peaks of the western rangers. Lunch is always a special meal in such surroundings even though it may only be a bit of dried out bread with stale cheese with a piece of wilted lettuce on it washed down with a cup of luke warm black tea from my flask.

We were not keen to leave an we had a long way home so on with our packs an we headed off the peak. The descent down from this peak is very steep and requires a lot of hands on climbing down rocky outcrops. The only joy of being so steep is that it takes but a short time before we were back down on the fire trail/road that leads up to the Upper Portals of Mount Barney.

This is the worst part of the entire walk. According to my pedometer it is a 4.45 km slog down this road to the car park. It is a real shame to finish such a fine walk up one of the South East’s nicest peaks with a boring walk back down a dirt road.

For those that are interested the first peak is 787 mts high and the second peak is 836 mts high. The reading’s on my pedometer showed we had walked 18440 steps to cover a distance of 13.45 km. I know the kilometre reading would not be accurate walking on such track up and down a mountain but it still gives me a rough idea of how far we had walked.

After a detour up Waterfall Gorge we were back at the car about 3 pm. Replaced the walking boots with a pair of sandals, packs in the back of the car and we were soon heading to the Rathdowney Pub. You remember I told you before that it is a great pub so what better place to go for a beer on the way home today. It had started to cool down so they had the fire going in the bar area. A very pleasant way to finish such a great day, sitting in front of a fire with an icy cold stubby of XXXX Gold.

Federation Walk - Gold Coast

Yesterday we went for a bushwalk with the Tamborine Mountain Bushwalkers. This walk was lead by Julie who always takes us on an interesting walk somewhere around the Gold Coast area as that is where she lives.

This time Julie stuck to her form and led us to the Federation Walk on The Spit. This walk was built to celebrate the Centenary of the Federation of Australia in 2001 with the first section being opened to the public on the 21 January 2001. The walk has been extended over the years and now reaches to the end of The Spit with a final bonus of a walk out along the windswept rock wall seaway that juts out into the Pacific Ocean.

Being classed as an easy walk bought all the casual walkers out of the woodwork so we had a total of 15 walkers for the day. It takes a bit of organising to get 15 walkers to meet in one spot and out on the trail on time but somehow Julie managed it. We set off from the car park at Macintosh Island and headed over the foot bridge that crosses the creek before braving the Gold Coast traffic to cross the road so as we could start our walk along the walking path above Main Beach.

Without the loss of any walkers we continued on the path and entered the Federation Walking track. This track is a real asset to the Gold Coast, one of the few patches of green set amongst a concrete jungle of high rise apartments, shopping centres and restaurants. The area has been extensively revegetated by the community and Green Corps as a large section of The Spit was burnt out by seven deliberately lit bushfires between 2003 and 2005. It is hard to believe we have such morons living in our community who would burn out such a valuable asset.

From the end of the walking track we ventured out onto the seawall. There was a stiff wind so the sea’s were coming over the end of the wall and crashing against the Lighthouse. To our south was the high rise on Main Beach and just across the seaway to our north was the southern section of Stradbroke Island.

We had smoko out of the wind on the sheltered side of The Spit under the shade of a group of she-oak trees. We were surprised to see a large group of soldier crabs feeding at the low tide mark on the water’s edge.

It was time to head back to Macintosh Island as we were to have a late BBQ lunch in the picnic area so we crossed over to the ocean side and walked a section of the beach back towards the car park. It was a surreal type of walk as here we were walking along a near empty beach with the Pacific Ocean on one side, trees on the other side, towards one of the largest concentration of high rise apartment blocks in Australia.

As pleasant as it was the wind eventually drove us back inland to the shelter of the trees on the walking track. We arrived back for lunch a little later than planned but looking forward to the BBQ chicken sausages that we had only bought the day before on the recommendation of the butcher. He had assured us that they were the best he had ever made. We are normally very traditional in eating sausages and normally only eat the beef ones but thought, here we are out for a BBQ with the bushwalkers so why not try something different. After eating them we wished we had stayed traditional.

Apart from the sausages we had a great day and found a part of the Gold Coast we knew nothing about. We enjoyed it so much that next Thursday we are taking our bikes down and going to do the ride on our mountain bikes. Thanks Julie for a great day and also thanks for the photos. All the photos on today’s blog are courtesy of Julie.

The Knoll (canceled walk)

Yesterday was one of those special winter days that we get on the Mountain. Clear, crystal blue skies with the thermometer almost reaching 12 degrees, just perfect for a bush walk.

We have driven off the plateau a few times in the past week so we thought we would do a local walk. Lessen our carbon footprint and save a few litres of fuel. The circuit to Cameron Falls on the Knoll Walking Track is always a favourite with us so we pulled on our boots and drove to the trail head at the picnic ground.

The car park was full, this was strange as mid week we are often the only walkers down there. Then we realized that it is school holidays and the place was packed with kids and reluctant parents so only one thing to do. We turned around and went home. We will have to do an extra walk next week to make up for missing this one.

Mt May

I have finally caught up on my postings from our holiday so now I will get down to the task of doing a bushwalking post. Here is a trip report of the walk the club did on Saturday the 26 June. 


26 June 2010 – Mt May
Leader: Steve


With a few members unable to attend and the promise of a hard walk, the numbers were down to just 5 hardy walkers.

Mt May is situated in Mt Barney National Park and is one of many peaks in the area that are open to bushwalkers. Mt May consist of two peaks, today we are climbing the north/west peak. The other peaks that belong to the Mt Barney group are Mt Maroon, Mt Lindesay, Mt Ernest, Mt Ballow and Mt Clunie. All of them are a “Grade 5” walk and should only be climbed by experienced bushwalkers.

The walk/scramble up Mt May starts just north of Waterfall Gorge to the right of the rocky area near the car park. It is not easy to locate so a bit of searching around is needed. From here the rough track zigzags steeply up the mountain, it is fairly hard going so the stops were frequent. This allowed us time to admire the magnificent views west towards the Main Range and Maroon Dam just below us. The last time I climbed Mt May the area was in drought so the view today down over Maroon Dam is not of a large puddle but of a dam full of water, a very pleasant view.

Smoko was enjoyed on a rocky outcrop before the hardest part of the walk which is a hand’s on climb up through a steep rock escarpment, before levelling out for a stroll through open woodland to the junction in the track. This section is very overgrown with new growth due to a bush fire last summer. From here the choice is to turn right to the top of the first peak or left to go down to a saddle for the ascent of the second peak.

Our destination was the first peak, so we turned right and continued on to have lunch at the top. We were not the only walkers there so we shared our lunch spot with another couple of walkers. It was disappointing to find a stone cairn had recently been built at the top of the peak. This creates a human made object in a place of natural beauty. I pulled it down and replaced the rocks where they came from. A cairn should only be built as a form of navigation, not to say “Look I have been here”

A very enjoyable lunch spot with magnificent views in all directions; east towards Mt Barney, north to Mt Maroon and west towards Cunningham’s Gap, with a myriad of peaks on each side of the Gap.

As the walk down is very steep we all had wobbly legs and sore toes by the time we got to the base of the mountain. I had bought along a few bags of mandarins so that helped quench our thirst as the walk down had been very warm.

The general consensus was to abandon our usual coffee on the way home and to call into the Rathdowney Hotel for an icy cold beer. It is a good country pub with character and I do recommend dropping in for a beer. I am pleased to report the beer was not only icy cold but very refreshing at the end of a great day’s walk.

Townsville to the mountain

After dropping John at the airport just after 5am we headed south, intending to do some camping on the way home. Later in the day we arrived at Cape Hillsborough National Park which is just north of Mackay where we had a campsite booked in the campground on Smalleys Beach. What Cape Hillsborough National Park lacks in size, it is all made up by the sheer beauty of this wonderful section of the Queensland Coast.

There are two campsites within this National Park, the one where we are staying and also a commercial one called Cape Hillsborough Resort. The good points about the resort is it has the best beach, power, hot showers and flushing toilets, compared to a candle, a pit toilet and a bucket of water over the head for a shower at Smalleys beach. But being true campers and bushwalkers we choose Smalleys Beach. The individual secluded sites are set just back from the beach behind vegetation.

We were only here for two nights so we wasted no time next morning before we were out walking. As it was low tide we were able to walk over to Wedge Island. It is joined to the mainland by a rocky natural path that is submerged at high tide so it is only assessable for a few hours each day. After exploring what we could on this rugged rocky island we walked back to the mainland to be surprised by a couple of kangaroo’s lounging around on the beach. A very rare sight but apparently it is common here.

There is also another walk up to a lookout but we were running out of time so we settled for the mangrove boardwalk to an ancient aboriginal midden. A bit disappointing as weeds had been allowed to grow out of control in the midden. I really think this should be better looked after as it is a very important part of our past.

Out of the mangroves and back to the campsite for another great night at our secluded camp. A good meal , a glass of wine and a few games of backgammon before turning in for the night.

Next morning we packed up and headed further south. Today’s camp is in Eurimbula National Park just south of Gladstone. We had booked on the web, a campsite on Bustard Beach for the next two nights. After turning left off the road to the township of 1770 we drove on rough bush tracks about 25 km before arriving at Bustard Beach.

Our booked campsite was occupied by a couple of fisherman who had not paid and was out fishing. It was a 100 kilometres to the nearest ranger station to get them moved, fortunately our mobile phone worked so we were able to arrange another site for us to camp. It turned out that the illegal campers had done us a favour as other drunken fisherman in that section of the camping area partied all night. We had a lovely night down at site 15, secluded and once again a beach site tucked in behind trees with just a short stroll to the beach. We spent next day walking along the deserted beach and up a small mangrove inlet.

After two great nights here we packed up and headed to Point Vernon where a good friend from the Vietnam War lived. John and Tess lived on the Gold Coast before moving up here. Here is a photo of John, taken out at Fire Support Base Garth in 1971. We really liked Point Vernon an feel as if we could live here when the cold up on Tamborine Mountain gets too much for us. One night here and its time to head home. Its mid winter on the mountain and we are leaving the nice warm coast to a freezing wet mountain. I have a bushwalk with the club that I am leading on Saturday so home we must go.

Townsville

Spent a few day's in Townsville as we had to have the car serviced and we also wanted to spend some more time with family members who live there. We stayed out at Bushland Beach with John, Tania and our new grandaughter, Mia. They are doing renovations so we helped them with a bit of painting. We also visited Aaron, Shay and our grandson Cooper who at the moment live just a few streets back from the Strand.

The Strand at Townsville has over the years been transformed into a wonderfull parkland. It is now a must visit part of Townsville. Bicycle and foot paths, children playgrounds and safe swimming areas. The little kiosk there also serves very good "Fish and Chips". A great place to fight off the sea gulls who are trying to pinch your chips while you eat what is left.  Magnetic Island sits just a few kilometers off shore and right in front of where you are sitting.

Castle Hills sits in the middle of Townsville with, I am told, a really good walking path to the top called "The Goat Track". I had intentions of walking it this trip but just never got around to doing the track. A very slack bushwalker.

The road south

After spending a night in Cairns visiting my mother and her husband Jock, we drove south, first passing through the southern suburb of Woree where we noticed the screen of the old Drive-In Theatre, still standing but abandoned. The screen was surrounded by high grass, broken bottles and a vandalised projection building with the ruins of the old cafe still there.

 Almost a scene from a war zone if it was not in a prosperous suburb in one of our most well known tourist centres. But surprise surprise, the screen has not been touched, I wonder why?

Just to bring back a few old memories we drove in and parked the car. I may not have been in the back seat of an FJ Holden but I could still see John Wayne riding across that screen with a hundred hostile Indians in hot pursuit. Not that we went to watch the movie back then, but that is another story from a time long ago.

Back to reality and we continued south until we drove into Cardwell. On our left, out to sea I could see the magnificent Hinchinbrook Island. A few years ago I walked  with the Three Troop Trekkers from the northern tip of Hinchinbrook to  the most southern point on The Thorsborne Trail .

 Walker's talk of the Overland Track in Tasmania being the jewel in the crown of Australian bushwalking but it has nothing on the Thorsborne Trail.  Fantastic beaches backed by high mountains with fresh water streams and waterfalls cascading to the coast. All this plus the best camp sites in the most pristine locations on the track. This is the old jetty that the ferry used to leave from before they moved to the new resort just south of Cardwell.

Cardwell is famous not only for being the departure point for the best walk in the world, but also for its meat pies. You have not eaten an Australian pie until you have tried a Jess's Pie.

 I was here once buying a pie and while waiting in line (you have to wait in line to buy a Jess's Pie) a truck driver was heard to remark that he was lining up for his fourth pie before heading north in his overloaded truck. I was pleased we were heading south.

 The pies are really good so do yourself a favour and always stop and buy a Jess's Pie. The beach on the other side of the van is a great place to eat it and wish you were over there on Hinchinbrook walking the Thorsborne Trail.  (Jess's pies are not available on the trail)