Queensland NSW National Parks

Background
This was a Jackaroo 4WD Club (Vic.) organised extended trip through a number of Queensland and NSW National Parks in April 2000. The original plan was to work up to Carnarvon Gorge, swing directly west cross-country to Tambo, then down the Matilda Highway to Cunnamulla. West to Eulo then south via Hungerford, Louth, down the Darling River, and finally to Mildura.

The proposed route was changed slightly when the Trip Leader found some "bad roads" (Carnarvon-Tambo area) when pre-tripping in Oct ‘99. This second proposed plan was hurriedly changed mid March, due to the heavy rains and floods in outback Qld. and NSW. during late February and early March. The new route would see us swing directly east from Carnarvon Gorge through a couple of National parks, and then work our way south down to Dubbo via a number of other Queensland National Parks.

Melbourne - Yea - Albury (342km.) We set off a couple of days early for the meeting place at Forbes NSW. Naturally the morning tea stop was at Yea’s great Bakery. Fuelled up we headed along the Melba Highway to Merton. We decided to take the road north to Euroa instead of our usual route of continuing on the Melba Highway and then veering off to Benalla a few kilometres before Mansfield.

The Merton-Euroa road is narrow, hilly and has one section of at least six kilometres with many twists and turns. Would not recommend it for large vans, particularly in the Euroa-Merton direction, as there is a long gradual hill. We should have stuck to our usual route, as this section of the trip was a little slow. Once reaching Euroa there seemed to be a lack of signs directing you to the Hume Highway (you cross the Highway on the way into town). A right turn in the centre of town had us finding the Highway entrance. It was an uneventful drive up the Hume to Albury where we stayed overnight at the Top Tourist Park, Trek 31. A good park, plenty of shade, though there is a little truck noise from the Highway.

Albury – Junee – Young - Forbes (385km.) The next day after a stop at the Ettamogah Pub, it was up the Olympic Way to Junee. What a great town with many beautiful old buildings around the railway station. Eventually it was on to Cootamundra and Young. The countryside all along the Olympic Way was just so different to what we had seen in western Victoria a month earlier. Here the paddocks were so green and lush compared to the brown, dead stubble around Hamilton.

We stopped for a break at the Young Maid Jam Factory, at the start of the Lawson Highway, just as the NSW premier appeared. He apparently was at a function in Young and dropped in on the way to the airport. He had a brief chat to us asking about our travel plans and was most enthusiastic about the Warrambungles. We continued on the Lawson Highway through Grenfell to Forbes. Certainly a much more varied route to Forbes compared to the Newell Highway.

Overall good roads, little traffic, and great countryside. Some of the smaller towns are quite fascinating, though they look as if they are just surviving.

At Forbes we stayed at the Big 4 Caravan Park, Lachlan View. Although there is no view, it is a lovely small park. Well grassed, plenty of shade, and quiet as it is nowhere near the Newell Highway. As we were a day early we toured around Forbes, but were disappointed in the shopping as there was not much variety in the main street. Although it was a Saturday morning there weren’t to many shops open for business and most disappointingly there didn’t appear to be a Bakery. Throughout the afternoon the rest of the group arrived and set up camp. The group comprised a diesel Jackaroo and small van, a diesel Jackaroo and swag, a diesel Landcruiser and camper trailer, plus our little Frontera and Campervan.

Forbes - Warrumbungle National Park. (321km.) The next morning as we were completing the packing up, the heavens opened and drowned us all. We drove up the Newell Highway to Dubbo in constant rain.

This was something different for us Victorian’s, as we had not seen rain like this for years. Dubbo was to be our morning tea stopover and much to our surprise we found plenty of undercover car parks at the rear of Coles Supermarket in the Main Street. No wonder, as it was a Sunday and Dubbo is closed. OK if you wanted to buy Books, Tobacco, or go to the $2 shop but little else was open. We did manage to find a coffee shop, and then did a tour of suburban Dubbo trying to find the only Supermarket that was open.

There is a lovely park next to the bridge leading into Dubbo to have lunch, but in the rain the shelters are not quite big enough for eight people. Lunch over, it was back on to the Newell driving through the rain and a number of sections where the water was flooding across the road. We couldn’t help thinking how those Victorian Western District farmers would love to have some of this weather. By the time we got to the Tooraweenah turn-off the rain had eased, however part of the unmade road into the Warrambungle National Park was a bit slippery.

We had been told that it was better to get the unpowered sites at Camp Blackman, as the powered sites were a long way from the amenity block. At the rangers station we booked in for unpowered sites, $10 per night, then $5 to enter the park!! Oh well down to the camp ground, only to find that the camp area near the amenities block is closed and we have to camp way down pass the powered sites, some 300 meters from the amenities block.

The camp area is good, on the edge of a creek that hasn’t seen much water despite the recent rains, "Quite a storm at 5:30am the day before", according to the other campers, which explained why the whole area was VERY damp. Typical National Park BBQ/fireplaces around so we soon had a fire going and sat back to watch the Kangaroos, emus, and birds that abound in the park. By the way the amenities block is excellent, seeming to be relatively new, with great hot showers.

The next day was relatively fine, that is to say it was not raining, and so sightseeing was the order of the day. Some of us headed off on the Breadknife/Grand Tops walk whilst others went to the Sidings Springs Observatory. We left the campsite for the walk about 9:30am. The views from the top were excellent and well worth the effort. For the most part the track is easy, some sections have been paved which we found were a little hard on the calf muscles. There are a couple of steep sections near the top that require a bit of clambering over rocks.

From the top we extended the walk to go past Bluff Mountain. It was on the return walk to the Camp Pincham Car park that the loud thunder overhead had us thinking that we should not have extended the walk, and that we should have driven up to the car park. However after some 20 kilometres we walked back into camp at about 4:30pm, tired but dry.

Warrumbungle National Park - Lightning Ridge. (297km.) That night another thunderstorm passed through the park and gave us a good drenching. We packed up the next day and headed for Coonamble about 75 kilometres northwest. The road for the most part is unmade, corrugated in parts and because of the rain a little slushy/slippery. Coonamble was a welcome roadside morning tea stop, and a nice looking town. The next stop was at Walgett. One of the group had to seek medical attention for a viral infection they picked up on the way to Forbes. Doctors orders had them staying overnight. They found a place out of town called "Leisure World" to be excellent, though they felt the cabins were a little pricey.

The rest of us headed for Lightning Ridge and stayed at the Lightning Ridge Hotel/Motel Caravan Park. The Caravan Park has camping areas, which if you ask for unpowered sites is what they give you. Although beautifully grassed one is totally fenced off such that you cannot get your car/trailer in, and the other is right in front of the amenity block. The whole park was crawling with meat ants so our "swag couple" ended up in a Cabin.

The weather was a magnificent 37 degrees so the Park’s pool was very welcome. The Hotels meals were cheap and quite good. And yes it rained that night. The next day whilst waiting for the "Walgett couple" to catch up, we did the Black Opal morning tour of the area. Interesting tour that gives an excellent overview of the town and mining areas. It is a relatively quick tour, which gives you plenty of time to drive yourself around later to the spots you wish to explore further. The town of Lightning Ridge was a bit of a surprise as we expected it to be a bit of a shanty type town. Far from it, and their Supermarket would do any Melbourne suburb proud. We did enjoy the John Murray art gallery, besides a great talent he has a good sense of humour. The murals on the wall behind the bar at the Hotel/Motel, along with his gallery, are not to be missed.

Lightning Ridge – Dirranbandi - Roma. (431km.) We are now a day behind schedule, however this can be made up as the planned riverbank camp at Dirranbandi would be too wet so we will go straight through to Roma. The drive is relatively flat, cotton country, and boring. A stop at the Hebel Hotel to view more of John Murray’s art/humour adorning the outside of the hotel is a must. Morning tea at the Dirran Hotel, then it is on to St George. An absolute must stop is the St George Bakery in the main street. Great pies and sausage rolls, plus plenty for the sweet tooth. Great spot just behind the shops on the Balonne River to eat the just purchased goodies.

The drive through Surat to Roma was quick and easy and we pulled into the Big 4 Caravan Park, The Villa Holiday Park, in plenty of time to get all our perishable supplies at Roma’s Woolworths Supermarket. The Caravan Park just north of town on the Carnarvon Highway was quiet, very well grassed, and has plenty of Bottle trees providing shade. Also it is next door to a winery on one side, and a bottle shop/general store on the other.

Roma - Carnarvon Gorge. (245km.) We were now back on our schedule for Carnarvon Gorge and headed off to Injune. A stop at the information centre to check road conditions and morning tea. OK to the Gorge, and if no more rain it should be OK to Lonesome National Park. They were non-committal about our intended route to Isla National Park from Injune to Taroom. After morning tea we continued on, stopping to gather firewood by the side of the Highway. Back in the cars and a few kilometres down the road, down came some very heavy rain. Reaching the turn off to Carnarvon Gorge the first bit of unmade road did not look great. This is only a short reasonably gravelled section before the bitumen that goes for about half the 43 kilometres to the Rangers Station.

We pressed on through the rain, slipping into 4WD after the bitumen, as the road became quite slippery. The last crossing of the Carnarvon Creek was a little of a challenge as the sharp exit hill was not only slippery but also very rutted. However we arrived at our campsite without incident and proceeded to set up camp in constant rain.

One welcome recent change to the camping area in the last 12 months was the installation of hot showers that cost $1.00 for 4 minutes.

Having been here last year in glorious sunshine this was a little different. Throughout the campground all the camps were looking rather sodden. Even the Kangaroos that inhabit the park were wet, huddled over, and trying to get shelter under the eves of the old toilet blocks. In the Bus area under this huge Marquee you could see all these sleeping bags and clothes hanging up. The large group of teenage school children were looking a little worse for wear, and were not amused when they learnt that their bus was not coming to get them that day because the road was to slippery.

The ground always appeared damp and just a brief shower would soon have water laying on the surface. Overall it was a miserable site that did not look like improving. A pity because some of the group were on their first visit to Carnarvon Gorge and were not seeing it at its best.

The next day the rain appeared to have gone so off some of the group went up the walking track to view the various Gorges. The walking track crosses the rain-swollen creek numerous times, which made each crossing a challenge. However the Gorges were as spectacular as ever, but more so those with their waterfalls flowing strongly. Returning to camp relatively dry and to a nice warming fire, we had tea, and enjoyed a pleasant evening around the fire. The visit by a possum, with young, provided great entertainment until one on the group got adventurous and was bitten on the hand. When the rain began again it was time to call it a night.

The following day was a damp, drizzly day. Some of the group tackled the Bluff walk and they succeeded in getting to the top and back down past the ladder sections before the rain returned. The rest of the day the rain hardly let up at all.

Talking to a couple of guys from a Brisbane 4WD-tour company, they said that they had problems in Lonesome National Park the day before. They nearly "lost" their Landcruiser, which looked like a block of mud on wheels, a couple of times on the slippery muddy roads. They also suggested that Isla National Park would be pretty wet.

Also they suggested the road from Injune to Taroom since we were towing, would be questionable. A group discussion decided that we needed to find some sun to dry out.

It was decided to scrap Lonesome and Isla National Parks, and head north to Emerald and visit the Sapphire fields.

That night the rain really came down such the campground was completely awash in the morning. As we were packing up the Ranger was doing his rounds and spoke with us. He didn’t think we would get out as the first Carnarvon Creek crossing was up to 0.4 metres and rising. He said it would continue to do so for the next few hours and although the crossing had a concrete base it would be quite slippery. We were so sick of the rain, and as we were nearly packed up we decide to go and at least have a look anyway.

Carnarvon Gorge - Emerald. (240km.) Arriving at the creek crossing after descending that short steep rutted hill, which had trapped a couple of buses the day before, we found the creek was flowing VERY fast. There was quite a little community sitting at their card tables, waiting for the water level to drop. One lady had made herself extremely comfortable and was busily knitting away. We joined the group and had morning tea, hoping to see a 4WD come through to give us a guide to the crossing.

After a while a couple of us waded in to check the bottom and the depth. We felt the bigger cars could get through but I was a bit concerned, as the Frontera is lower to the ground and in the middle of the creek the force of the water would hit both the car and van side-on. As a precaution I put a strap to the non-towing vehicle, that made it to the other side without problems. Off we went and crossed with no apparent problems at all.

We had one more deep creek crossing and a few more very slippery muddy sections before we were out of the worst of it and back on the bitumen. The Frontera was not running well, lacking in power, and it would have to be looked at in Emerald. On the drive to Emerald, we could see the black clouds over the Carnarvon National Park and were quite glad we weren’t still there. We arrived at the Emerald Cabin & Caravan Village mid afternoon and the sun was shining at last.

Whilst the rest of the group headed to the laundry to dry things out we headed to the Holden Dealer to get the car checked out. They gave it a thorough going over but basically only replaced the spark plugs and fuel filter. They wanted to check a few more things the next day however on the drive back to camp the car felt as good as new.

That evening we were able to sit outside and enjoy a very pleasant dry warm evening. The Caravan Park is quite good, and different in respect that the amenity block is a series of unisex ensuites. Whist we returned to the Holden Dealer, the rest of the group went out to Rubyvale for the 4WD tour run by the Rubyvale Gem Gallery that we did last year. The car was quickly given a clean bill of health and we headed out to Sapphire/Rubyvale to join the others.

The group was very enthusiastic about the tour and whilst we were having lunch at the Rubyvale Hotel we met someone from Carnarvon Gorge. They told us that the cars that were sitting at the first creek crossing didn’t get through until nearly six o’clock that night, and it was still raining at Carnarvon Gorge. The day finished with us all fossicking at the Blue Gem Park in Sapphire.

Emerald – Mundubbera - Boondooma Dam. (673km.) We are now some 195km north and 200km west of where we should be, which translates to a day behind schedule. We set off down the Capricorn Highway to Gorango, then cut across to Dululu on the Burnett Highway, and headed to Biloela for lunch. We continued on the Highway through Monto to Eidsvold where we stopped for an afternoon tea break. According to the schedule this is where we should have been for morning tea that day, so we had made up a bit of ground. We discovered this hissing sound coming from the tyre of one of cars. After a quick wheel change we went on to Mundubberra.

We stopped overnight at the relatively new Big 4 Three Rivers Tourist Park at Mundubberra. Great amenities block, well grassed, but the trees/bushes are yet to establish. An interesting town described as the "fruit bowl" of Queensland. Apparently when picking season is in full swing, which according to the brochures will be most of the year soon, it could be difficult to get anything other than an overnight site.

We are now only 150 kilometres from our next destination, so we had a bit of a look around before heading to Boondooma Dam, near Proston. An easy drive, though some narrow good roads. Arriving before lunch, to find the forest area quite damp and shrouded in mist, we opted for the unpowered Lakeside camp area.

Lakeside at Boondooma Dam is a really pretty spot with great picture postcard views of the water and hills. Here the main camping area is fenced so you cannot get your vehicle in, but there are a few small sites near the water’s edge. It has very basic facilities, which included hot showers, but definitely better than the powered area where there is no views and a long walk to the waters edge.

We found some sites not far from the waters edge, set up camp, got the fire started then stood back and watched the rain come down, again. We then knew that, although we were a day behind, we were back on the planned trip. Fortunately the rain soon cleared, allowing some fishing, sightseeing, and watching the abundant bird life. The rain did return later that night. The edge of the water has a lot of reeds making fishing difficult from the bank but those with boats were having a ball. The next morning we woke to this beautiful mist over the Lake which cleared to a bright sunny day.

A beautiful relaxing spot well worth revisiting.

Boondooma Dam - Bunya Mountains National Park. (161km.) Our next destination was Bunya Mountains National Park. We headed to the Bunya Highway and down to Kingaroy for lunch. Would you believe we did not come across one peanut vendor? It was then on to Kumbia where a couple of kilometres down the highway we turned on to the road leading to the Bunya Mountains National Park.

The first thing that greets you on this road is this sign "UNSUITABLE FOR BUSES, TRUCKS, CARAVANS AND TRAILERS". Further along you come across another sign that says, "Trucks use low gear"?? The road is relatively flat for a while then it begins to rise. Then it begins to climb. It just keeps climbing and climbing and climbing. In parts it is quite narrow which causes some difficulty when a bus comes the other way.

We all found that we were using very low gears to get up the hill. I was using first gear (2WD) for a good portion of the climb and after a near encounter with a bus, which caused me to stop, I had to use 4WD low first to get mobile again.

The scenery on the drive is fantastic, and on the steeper parts of the road the bush forms this magnificent canopy over the road. On hot days this would no doubt help cool the engine. We camped at Dandabah, which is the main camp area, though unpowered. It is very nice but a little on the commercial side of things. There is a restaurant, a kiosk, a Convention Centre etc. and the last part of the road has a number of private chalets. The campground resembles something like a slopping football field and the amenity block is not that flash, but does have hot showers on a timer switch.

There is an abundance of bird and animal life; particularly kangaroos and the little Joeys kept us amused as they were practicing their newfound hopping skills. At night a Bandicoot family entertained us. The walks around the park are relatively easy and take you through a diversity of bush to some spectacular views. Of course the Bunya pines are a magnificent site. Another oddity was the number of National Park signs around the camp area about not feeding the animals, however the kiosk was selling Birdseed so you could feed the native parrots; but only on the concrete paths around the kiosk!!

Bunya Mountains National Park - Girraween National Park (286km.) After a couple of days it was time to move on down the mountain. We continued down the road towards Oakey. The views from the hills are fantastic and with the exception of one section the road did not seem as steep as from the Kingaroy side. We did notice a number of buses coming up this way. We also found that the sign posting to Oakey could be better as we had to rely on the compass and GPS at a couple of intersections to decide which roads to take.

However it wasn’t long before we were in Toowoomba, having morning tea and saying goodbye to one of the group who were heading off to Brisbane for their mothers 80th Birthday party that afternoon. The rest of us continued on down the New England Highway through Warwick to Stanthorpe for a lunch stop. Again we were caught as it was a Sunday and Stanthorpe was closed. We just managed to get in the door of the pie shop before it closed.

It was then on to Girraween National Park where we stayed at the Bald Rock Creek campground. A good camp area, unpowered, thick tree cover, huge granite rocks scattered throughout the bush, reasonable amenity block with hot showers, and they supply firewood for the on-site BBQ’s. That night we had a great cook-up on the BBQ as another of the group was heading home in the morning. Would you believe it rained that night?

We woke in the morning to find an overcast drizzly day. We started to think that maybe we should be heading home as well. After a couple of hours the drizzle lifted and we set off on the Pyramid Rock walk. A great walk that starts off easy then climbs sharply such that the last few hundred yards are not dissimilar to the climb up Ayres Rock. If there is anything more than drizzle the climb could be quite dangerous, as the rock would be very slippery and on some sections there is nothing to which you can hang on to. Even in the dry, shoes with good grip are required, and you wouldn’t want to suffer from vertigo. The views from the top are well worth the effort.

That afternoon we decided to drive around some of the wineries and visit the various cafe/galleries on the Qld-NSW border at Wallangarra. Would you believe it is a Monday and this whole area is closed!! We drove up to Stanthorpe, which was open, then went on the "fruit run", which was basically closed as it was pretty much off-season.

Girraween National Park - Cooabarabran. (531km.) Now there is only two of the original group and we are still a day behind our schedule. It is hoped that we will be in Murrayville, Victoria, by Friday. It is Tuesday morning and we are on the Qld-NSW border about 250 kilometres south west of Brisbane. We decide to drive as far as we can and headed off down the New England Highway.

The Frontera and van not liking all the hills, plus the number of semis on the road, made the going slow. We made Tamworth in time for a late lunch but the next couple of hundred kilometres on the hilly Oxely Highway was slow going. We stopped to help a couple of young guy’s change a wheel and as it was just on dusk we decided that Cooabarabran would be it for the day.

We pulled into the Wayfarer Caravan Park on the hill south of town. It was good to have 240v power again and the washing machines, one an old Lightburn "cement mixer", were given a good workout. Not a great Caravan Park and suffers from a lot of Highway noise. The next day we would travel as far as we could down the Newell Highway and hopefully head across on the Mid Western Highway to Hay.

Cooabarabran - Hay. (671km.) We left early and had morning tea in Dubbo, lunch was at West Wyalong, then we were on our way to Hay.

It was a good drive, making good time all the way thanks to the relative flat countryside. This was the first time we had been to Hay and were completely blown away by the extremely flat Hay Plains.

We pulled into the Hay Top Tourist Caravan Park which is a good park being well grassed and shaded, but has a lot of highway noise from the Sturt Highway connecting Adelaide/Mildura to Sydney. As we had made good progress over the last couple of long driving days it was decided to stay an extra day in Hay. This was spent touring the shops, the Railway Station, the old gaol, a winery, and resting.

Hay - Murrayville. (368km.) Good Friday and we headed off along the Sturt Highway to near Balranald, down to Kyalite for morning tea, then on to Tooleybuc and the Mallee Highway to Ouyen.

Here we caught up with the Easter exodus at the Shell service station. Unbelievable queues both for petrol and food. Having topped up, it was straight west along the Mallee Highway to Murrayville and the Caravan Park to join up with other members of the Jackaroo 4WD Club for The Murrayville Easter 4WD Extravaganza.

Easter 2000 at the Murrayville 4WD Extravaganza. Murrayville is a small rural town with a population of about 500 on the Mallee Highway about 110 kilometres west of Ouyen and about 26 Kilometres east of the South Australian border town of Pinnaroo. It is described as the "Western Gateway to the Victorian Outback". Murrayville is surrounded by some of the largest National and State Parks in Victoria. To the south are the Big Desert Wilderness Park, Big Desert State Park, and Wyperfeld National Park, whilst to the north is the Murray Sunset National Park and the famous Pink Lakes area. The area has been very active in trying to attract tourism with the placing of plaques at the various sites of early Schools, Sports Grounds, Homesteads and Cottages, plus establishing walking trails and picnic areas (with electric BBQ's). With the Park’s open spaces, abundant wildlife, billabongs, floodplains, Mallee dunes, Pink lakes, and native woodlands, plus in Spring the wildflowers, Murrayville is a great base town for 4WDrivers and Bushwalkers. Maps and Tour guides are available at the local Newsagent

So when the advertisement came to the Jackaroo 4WD Club, about their Easter 4WD Extravaganza :- ¨ choice between four different trips into the Parks lead by members of the local community, ¨ displays of the local industries, ¨ tours of some of the historic buildings, it was too good an opportunity to miss.

We arrived in Murrayville around lunchtime on Good Friday. Camp was quickly established next to a small fireplace in the Caravan Park that had been generously left for us by those kind, thoughtful club members who had already established camp (they must have known we would be cold having just travelled down from Queensland). A small Park with lots of grass, small amenities block which had recently installed a new hot water system (didn’t cope too well with the large crowd in the mornings), plus a new gas BBQ. Unpowered site was $6.00 per night and as one member was told he should have brought someone with him. Next was the registration at which we selected our trips (cost $10.00 per person per trip including a lunch pack), picked up our information pack, and headed back to camp.

Saturday: Most of the 15 Jackaroo Club vehicles had opted for the Cactus Bore Trip. A couple opted for the longer Sunset Trip. Lining up at the Recreation Reserve for the briefing we headed off in a convoy of 24 vehicles. The trip, lead by Peter with “Red” as Tail-end Charlie, was mainly 4WD high 3rd and sometimes 2nd, with a number of sandy sections to keep the ones mind on the job, particularly as some of these sections were on sweeping bends. We travelled to John’s Bore, Sim Perry’s Bore and then Cactus Bore, stopping every now and then to view Mallee Hens Nests, old stockyards, and of course the bores. At Cactus Bore the Lunch Packs, consisting of a Salad Roll/Hot Cross Bun/a piece of fruit/and a Fruit Juice, were devoured. Then there was a small challenge of a relatively steep sandy hill, which lead to a long sandy track back down to the main track. Nobody had any problems so it was on to the next spot. This was a hill that overlooked the whole area. We didn’t drive up and on walking up to take in the fantastic view one could see that this track would have been a real challenge. It was then on to view the areas where there were River Red Gums and then to an old riverbed that had large Blue Gums. Then it was back to camp at Murrayville completing a most enjoyable 82km trip through some great countryside ably lead by Peter and “Red”.

Sunday: This was a free day with you being able to do a number of self-guided tours following the Mud map provided in the information pack. Suffice to say that the Mud map was a true to its name, “clear as mud” in a number of cases. However most of us, one way or another, managed to see Kow Homestead, Cowangie (morning tea stop at the local hall), the Charcoal Pits, the Olive Orchard (some came back with old Ostrich eggs and huge quinces), and the Egg Grading. The 10:00am market was a bit late in firing up (heavy night at the dance the night before?) but the Ouyen Bakery’s Vanilla Slices certainly made up for it. The Rodeo Round Up had about 60 cars (one a Disco trying to pretend) and one old Rodeo that had to be seen to be believed. The Chassis was held together with chains! There were a number of other activities including Sheep Dog Trials, Shearing and Machinery Displays, Cow Pad Lotto and the NRE releasing a new map of the area. The Craft and other local shops were worth a look, also there was a 1 to 1.5 hour walking trail around Pine Hill Reserve.

Monday: Whilst half the group returned home, the others went out on trips. A couple did the Cactus Bore Trip, a few the new track Bushcutters (if that’s the correct spelling as it was spelt differently on various signposts) Track, and three of us went on the Sunset Trip.

This trip was lead by Ken Brown (“Bottle” was his driver) with Tail-end Charlie again being “Red”. Ken maintained a constant chatter on the CB through out the whole trip, which was both interesting and very informative. It was a very long 270km trip mainly on good tracks however, there were at times long stretches of corrugations then, all of a sudden these were replaced by sandy stretches such you could be caught in the wrong gear. We went via numerous tracks to Red Lake, The Pink Lakes, Mt Crozier, Honeymoon Tank, and Mopoke Hut (Lunch as per Saturday). Then it was on to Rocket Lake (which contained water as they had 75mm of rain the week before), then homeward via a number of other Tanks (filled in Dams really), a huge old wooden Stockyard, the Linga Trig point for a great view (and a little 4WDing as there were ruts on the hilly way out), and finally Kow Plains Homestead. It was a great trip although a little long, however Ken’s commentary kept everyone amused.

Murrayville Overall: The town of Murrayville was trying something new and for a first effort did an excellent job. It was interesting to see how well supported the whole event was by the surrounding district and the local community. It was great to hear the stories, both on the trips and at the various displays, of the older generation that had witnessed first hand many of the pioneering activities. Although youngsters like “Red” and Peter certainly contributed with their local knowledge.

Home We covered some 6,568 kilometres in four weeks, by the time we returned home. We used 1,033 litres of unleaded at an average cost of 87.4 cents/Litre (Max 95.9 : Min 74.5 with Safeway discount). Caravan/Park fees averaged $11.57 per night (Max $18.00 with ensuite : Min $6.00 unpowered).

Queensland NSW National Parks & Murrayville Easter 4WD Extravaganza