27 April, 2015 by Cruisers

Day 7: Robinson Gorge to Staircase Range

Today we farewell Trish and Bryan as they head home. We all left just after breakfast parting company at the turnoff into the Park with Trish and Bryan heading south and us north along Glenhaughton Road. The Hema map had a choice of several unsealed roads we could take. The road wasn’t well maintained and it needed 4WD for most of it and we travelled pretty slowly. It took us about 5 hours to get to the Dawson Highway during which time we didn’t see another vehicle or human. That said though, it was on the whole a really lovely drive.

Definitely a road less travelled.

Thanks little man. Got it!

Once on the highway we still had 140K to go to Springsure and another 2 hours to get to Ka Ka Mundi – too far after all that concentration needed for the first part of the trip. We looked for a camp and found a free camp just outside Springsure at Staircase Range Cutting. It’s just off the road, but well out of sight and has a fire place and a concrete picnic table. The historic cutting it ajoins was carved through the rock in 1905 by Chinese labourers using hand tools. Hard work!

Staircase Range historical cutting.

Despite being quite close to the road we weren’t disturbed during the night as there is very little traffic after dark.

To see the photos for this section of the trip click HERE.
Distance travelled: 302K

26 April, 2015 by Cruisers

Days 5 & 6: Robinson Gorge

Saturday 25th

We decided to do the two other walks today, one this morning to Shepherds Peak and one this afternoon to the Lookout then spend tomorrow doing nothing all day. Sounds good.

The steep climb up Shepherds Peak was worth every one of the many calories expended getting there.

Shepherds Peak is a sandstone plateau about 2K from camp. An easy walk to get there, but quite steep to climb to the plateau. Listed as a Class 4 walk it was tricky in places and demanded full attention. Steve stepped on a loose rock crossing one of the crevasses and took a tumble sustaining only hurt pride fortunately as a huge boulder blocked his descent down to the bottom! On top the views over the park and gorge is excellent – 360 degrees. Again with sheer cliff edges and lots of crevasses it’s not a place you’d take children.
We spent quite a while exploring the plateau and taking photos – every view was so rewarding. AND we got phone cover so checked emails and phoned family.

Shepherds Peak. Can you see us on the far cliff?

Back to camp for lunch.
Robinson Gorge Lookout late afternoon. We toyed with taking wine and having wine o’clock watching the sun set over the gorge, but with a 2K walk back to camp in the dusk we thought we might be cutting it too fine. And there was also the access to the gorge here which we thought we’d like to do. So off we set sans vino (mixing my languages there maybe).
Again wonderful views and well worth every step. The gorge floor looked so interesting and inviting to explore. We took a look at the access to the gorge and decided we’d really like to spend lots of unhurried time exploring down there so put it off until tomorrow.

The northern end of Robinson Gorge.

Back to camp for the usual – campfire, wine, chat, dinner.
We’ve been very lucky with the weather – chilly mornings and evenings but glorious cloud-free days. The sky at night is just a million stars – even a shooting star!

One worker; one supervisor! Campsite BBQ at Robinson Gorge

To see more photos from this section of the trip click HERE.

Sunday 26th

After breakfast we all headed back to Robinson Gorge Lookout to explore the gorge floor. This is the only place you can get down the gorge cliffs. Needless to say it was very steep and we went down much of it backwards. However National Parks has cut foot-holes into the sheerest parts of the sandstone to make it do-able. There was also a steep sandy part too that we slid down – going up this bit was tough.

Conveniently carved stone steps. Photos always make it look less steep that it actually is!

On the gorge floor it felt like we were in the Journey to the Centre of the Earth where the plants were unique and it felt so different from ‘up there’. We scrambled over rocks and logs and got to the water’s edge and followed it, with lots more scrambling and climbing for a while before heading back. The climb back up the cliff, while strenuous, didn’t seem as difficult as the climb down, apart from the loose sand section.

The gorge floor. Challenging to explore.

We were back in plenty of time to shower before lunch, then more relaxing. Played 500; chicks vs cockrels, with chicks winning convincingly, naturally.
The boys organised another fantastic campfire to cook our meal on and relax by until bedtime.

To see more photos from this section of the trip click HERE.

24 April, 2015 by Cruisers

Day 4: Lake Murphy to Robinson Gorge

Our convoy at the turnoff to Robinson Gorge.

Robinson Gorge is a bit further west of Lake Murphy along the Glenhaughton Road – a good dirt road. The last 16K on Currajong Rd into the park however were 4WD only. There were some rough patches but on the whole pretty good until just immediately before the campground where the road goes down a rocky and washed out hill to a dry creek crossing packed with rocks. A little thought to our track and Priscilla was through it without a bother.
Another excellent National Parks campground similar to that at Lake Murphy.

Distance travelled: 66K

Another excellent National Parks campsite. Note: This is the road into the campsite – down this hill and across the stony gully at the bottom.

Another well-maintained and pretty campsite.

“Winding for 14K between sheer sandstone cliffs up to 100m high, Robinson Gorge is one of the main features of the large and remote Expedition National park. Robinson Gorge is unusual – it begins as a broad, shallow basin before narrowing to a deep pool in a narrow gorge only six metres wide near its southern end.”
There are 3 walks to do here, so we decided to get started on them today. First one is the 6.5K return walk to the Cattle Dip, which is actually the very narrow end of the gorge with the deep pool. It does resemble a cattle dip! Most of this walk was along a road, which we could have driven, but we all felt like a bit of exercise. Being sandstone the cliff edges of the gorge are sheer and crumbly. The Cattle Dip was viewed from the top of the cliff and looks very inviting. We’re pretty sure we saw either a turtle or playpus in it – bit hard to tell as it’s a long way down and no way to get there.
Back to camp for campfire and dinner.

The very narrow end of Robinson Gorge, known as the ‘Cattle Dip’ for obvious reasons.

23 April, 2015 by Cruisers

Days 2 & 3: Isla to Lake Murphy

Still in bed when we got the call from Trish and Bryan, who had setup their camper trailer at Lake Murphy yesterday, saying they were on their way over. When they arrived we took a good look at this lovely gorge and walked out to the lookout along a ridge that seemed to protrude into the gorge. This gave us amazing views of the gorge on both sides. I can highly recommend this spot to travellers as it’s only 1.3K off the highway.

Isla Gorge information board.

Bryan wanted to refuel so we all set off for Theodore, then took a scenic drive around to the west of the highway, past Flagstaff Hill at the western end of Isla Gorge National Park, to end at Lake Murphy Conservation Area.

Delightful drive between Theodore and Lake Murphy.

As I’d been the one who planned the trip, Trish and Bryan felt they’d been sold a pup when there was no water to be seen in the Lake, particularly as they were camped here for 3 nights. I knew that, must have neglected to tell them. They insisted that we should have the joy of walking to the ‘lakes’ edge. Yep, totally covered in waist-high reeds or something.

A lake of weeds.

Back to the campsite for wine o’clock, a great campfire and a catch-up.
Total driven: 140K

Sunset – note sun on tops of trees.

April 23rd

Guess where we are?

After a lovely slow start to the day we set off on the 4K circuit walk mid-afternoon. The plant-life in the park area is quite different to the countryside we have travelled through with Dawson Palms and River Red Gums predominating. A pleasant walk.
The campsite here is excellent. Very large campsites each with a wood fire and picnic table cordoned off from the next by logs. Grassy and well maintained with clean drop toilets and tank water. No other campers here during our stay – they don’t know what they’re missing!
Another campfire tonight, campfire talk and off to bed.

Setting off on the circuit walk.

To see more photos from this section of the trip click HERE.

21 April, 2015 by Cruisers

Day 1: Home to Isla Gorge

In October 2013 we explored Carnarvon Gorge and did all the bushwalks there (see the blog entry for that month). We enjoyed this so much that I thought it would be good to explore the other National Parks within the Sandstone Belt hence the purpose of this trip. We have limited time so only Isla Gorge, Lake Murphy Conservation Area, Robinson Gorge, Ka Ka Mundi and Salvatore Rosa are on the itinerary. Trish and Bryan, the friends we walked Carnarvon Gorge with, are also joining us for the first 3 parks.

The week before we left was very busy preparing for this trip. While it’s been planned for a long time, preparations didn’t get underway as we had the joy of our visiting family with their new babies to keep us very preoccupied. Because the majority of this trip will be in National Parks with only one opportunity to shop I decided to precook all the main meals and bring them frozen. For my future reference 5 meals fitted in the freezer – more would fit if I’d chosen similar sized containers and fitted them to the freezer. Another 5 frozen meals were put into the fridge.

The park at Nanango.

21st April: Kilcoy to Isla Gorge National Park
We left home around 7.30am in Priscilla, with Nanango our first stop for breakfast. This town provides a lovely park and picnic area with a working windmill and a typical gold miners mine head and equipment displayed.
Next stop Gayndah for lunch and to buy some oranges – after all, this IS the centre of Queensland’s citrus industry. Here the Council allows a 20-hour stop-over for the travelling public with clean showers and toilets. Great facilities Gayndah, well done.
Onward to Eisdvold to top-up the fuel tanks and have a chat to the lovely man at the Information Centre. The Information Centre is a part of the RM Williams education centre – would be good to visit when some presentations are on. RM Williams’ first property is midway between Eisdvold and Theodore.
We’re having problems refueling. The diesel seems to foam at the mouth of the inlet and it only dribbles in from the bowser taking ages and ages to fill the tank – might have something to do with the long-range fuel tanks. We’ve asked Trakka about it and will see if they have any ideas.
On to Theodore via Cracow. Cracow is a gold town with a working goldmine. We didn’t stop. Closer to Theodore we started to see cropping – particularly a tall spindley weedy-looking crop which we later learned was mung beans. Fancy that! The sorghum fields were also very pretty with their red heads of grain just waiting to be harvested. However the major crop is cotton and has recently been harvested. These fields are all irrigated from the Dawson River via an open-channel irrigation system which runs alongside the road for many kilometers.
From here it was a short drive down the Leichhardt Highway to the Isla Gorge turnoff and to our camp for the night. We very much enjoyed watching the sun set over this spectacular gorge – but we’ll look at it more tomorrow when our friends join us.

The sun is setting. Note the ‘island’ in the middle of the gorge.

514K today – a big drive, but handled well by swapping drivers every two hours and having decent, long breaks along the way.

To see more photos from this section of the trip click HERE.

4 February, 2015 by Cruisers

Day 8: Wollomombi to Laurieton

Distance: 309K
Weather: low 20s
Refuelled: Wauchope – 130.9c/L

After farewelling Bryan and Trish who were heading home we continued southward via Armidale, the pretty and historic Uralla where we stopped for morning tea, Walcha and on to Tia Falls where we stopped for lunch and did the short walk to the falls. These falls are quite impressive with a good flow of water – must be outstanding when the district has had good rainfalls.

All these gorges are quite outstanding.

Tia Falls – not quite so far to walk to see this one.

From here we drove down, and down, and down the range (wish I’d thought to count the number of hairpin bends!), around a 1000 meter drop to Wauchope. This is a drive we both enjoyed, though as the driver at the time I was pretty exhausted by the time we got to sea level.

We decided to stay at the beach tonight so booked into the Diamond Waters Caravan Park, just south of Laurieton and north of Crowdy Bay National Park. This caravan park is at the waters edge and we were allotted a shady site on lush grass just a stone’s throw from the water. Lovely spot – only one problem … MOSQUITOES!! We went for a walk down to the jetty and around the caravan park, which has a lot of permanents in cabins and vans, followed by a quick drink outside before the mozzies chased us in. Spent an unhappy night swatting mozzies that had managed to get into the van.

3 February, 2015 by Cruisers

Day 7: Wollomombi Gorge

Woke to drizzling rain and a bit chilly. By the time we’d finished breakfast it had stopped and we headed off to do the bushwalks from here. The gorges are amazing – it’s pretty impressive what water can do. The walks were all along the ridge of the gorge so we were constantly being rewarded with views of the gorge. The waterfalls were a bit short of water, but what we saw was impressive. These falls are the second highest in Australia.

Wollomombi Falls

Yes, I am perched right on the precipice.

On our return we lit the fire and after some relaxation sat around the fire chatting, BBQing a yummy meal and maybe doing a bit of dancing – there’s nothing quite like dancing in firelight! The Superb Lyrebird once again serenaded us – how brilliant is that! Steve recorded it and I hope I’ll be able to put it up here for you to hear. Trish, Bryan, Steve and I solved all the problems of the world, noted how blessed we are to have such wonderful lives and are now ready for bed.

How’s this for a perfect campsite?

The fire-meister has been here.

2 February, 2015 by Cruisers

Day 6: Dangars to Wollomombi Gorge

Distance: 61K
Weather: cool, cloudy

After breakfast we headed back to Armidale, restocked, refilled water tanks and caught up on emails and news before heading the 40 or so K along The Waterfall Way to Wollomombi Gorge. This campsite is similar to last night’s but the sites are level with bitumen roads and really good fire pits – wood provided once more. $5 per adult per night here.

This evening we were delighted to see a Superb Lyrebird and be entertained for ages by his many different songs, then have the rare and endangered Brush Tail Wallaby grazing just near our campsite.

Quiet evening sitting around a great campfire chatting with Trish and Bryan.

1 February, 2015 by Cruisers

Day 5: Dangars Gorge

Early breakfast followed by bushwalking. We began with the idea we might go as far as Salisbury Waters which was the full walk – an out and back. We stopped at all the lookouts on the way, did the side trips (McDirty’s, Sarum Hill, The Falls, Dangar Falls – the gorges certainly are spectacular, the walking tracks taking us along the cliff edges all the way. However they’ve not had much rain here lately and most waterfalls were either dry, or just a trickle. The last 2K to Salisbury Waters involved a 400m descent, which means a 400m ascent to return, and by that time we knew we wouldn’t see too much water in the river anyway, and the track was in quite poor condition – no one minded not doing it.
Generally the track was OK, much of it was very stoney and difficult to walk on and, in some sections through the bush, particularly to the side gorges, the track was quite faint and difficult to discern. Signage could be improved too.
In total we walked 16.3K – pretty good!

Spectacular views the whole walk.

At the brink – of Mihi Gorge

The campsite is fair – pretty good actually considering it’s free! Each site is cleared and has its own fire pit, with wood provided, and our site had a picnic table. The sites aren’t level. There’s a tap with ‘boil before consuming’ noted and a long-drop toilet which was clean. No phone/internet.

We had a pleasant evening resting our weary legs around a lovely campfire where we barbecued our dinner. The kangaroos, with joeys in pouch, came quite close to our camps – as did possums that had a dark tail – haven’t seen them before.

Sunset at Dangar’s Gorge campsite

31 January, 2015 by Cruisers

Day 4: Girraween to Oxley Wild Rivers NP

Distance: 256K
Weather: Sunny, mid 20s

On the way out of Girraween we did one last short walk to Dr Roberts Waterhole. The very first walking track in Girraween was to this waterhole. Apart from it being a lovely spot to swim (no we didn’t) it’s the home of the superb lyrebird which is the reason Dr Roberts lobbied the government of the day to create a National Park here, protecting their habitat and that of the wombat. Thank goodness for caring, far-sighted people such as him.

We were soon on the New England Highway headed to Armidale from where we turned off to Dangars Gorge. We stopped at Tenterfield to reprovision. It was another very pleasant drive through lovely countryside in pleasant weather. At the turnoff to Dangars Gorge is a very impressive monument built in the 1930s by a local whose son was killed in WW1

At Dangars Gorge our friends Trish and Bryan were already set up. We were soon settled with sundowners in hand and a pleasant evening catching up ahead.

A very interesting memorial which is well worth stopping to view.

Cruisin' Chronicles

. . . do what you can while you're able

Trish&Bryan

Day 7: Robinson Gorge to Staircase Range

Days 5 & 6: Robinson Gorge

Day 4: Lake Murphy to Robinson Gorge

Days 2 & 3: Isla to Lake Murphy

Day 1: Home to Isla Gorge

Day 8: Wollomombi to Laurieton

Day 7: Wollomombi Gorge

Day 6: Dangars to Wollomombi Gorge

Day 5: Dangars Gorge

Day 4: Girraween to Oxley Wild Rivers NP