It had been a while since the last “Boys Trip”. It had taken a few months to lock in a date and decide where to go. We needed something central because people were coming from Bundy and Mackay. So, we decided on a camping weekend in the Kroombit Tops National Park.
One of the goals for the weekend, apart from drinking beer around the fire, was to do a bit of 4wding and visit the Beautiful Betsy plane crash site, and if we had time the escarpment track bush walk.
I picked up Dwayne and Rhiess and we headed off to Biloela via Mt Perry and Monto, a much more scenic and traffic-less drive then the boring Bruce Highway. While we were at Monto stretching the legs and having an original pizza shapes smoko, we received a txt message that Jeff had already broken down when leaving Rocky. Luckily it was only a flat battery and they were on their way relatively easily.
Jeff and Brendan arrived in Biloela before us so we met them at the local camping shop where we had a look for any last minute camping gear. From there it was off to the local RSL for a counter lunch. After lunch, we did a final food and beer shop and then it was time to hit the road.
We were taking the Razorback Track up into the national park. The first stop along the way was at Kroombit Dam. We took this opportunity to let the tyres down.
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| Kroombit Dam |
It was then onto the National Park to start the climb up the range. You have to drive through this property to be on the track. You could still see the pushed over sheds and stumps where buildings had been completely washed away due to flooding in 2015 from Cyclone Marcia.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-23/cyclone-marcia-flood-wipes-out-kroompit-farmstay-business/6223768
I had been talking to the Ranger a few days before because there had been a bit of rain in the area. It certainly is a dry weather only track. As we were going through the first gate the ground was soft from the dried out mud, and this was only after a minimal amount of rain. We were lucky that the ground had dried out.
The track started out winding through a dry river bed. It was amazing how much timber had been collected and flushed downstream from when the flood came through.
And also how many young saplings were springing up in the river bed.
The track gradually got steeper and rockier in places.
Unfortunately the photos don't portray the steepness of the track.
About halfway up there was a lookout over the valley. We took the opportunity to let the vehicles cool down a bit as all of the engine and transmission temps were a bit on the high side, and also have a bit of a play with the drone that Jeff brought along.
We couldn’t take as much time as we liked because it was late afternoon and we still had a bit of distance to cover to make it to the campsite. Because we didn’t know the conditions of the track further along we didn’t really want to be trying to negotiate it in the dark.
We eventually arrived at the camp site on dusk and just had enough time to setup camp in the light. It was only now that Dwayne discovered that his super doper lightweight tent had bonded itself together while in storage and was unusable. It was lucky that he bought a 2nd tent for his brother Rhiess. The two of them had to squeeze into a two “Chinese man” tent. Nice and cosy.
The rest of the night was spent achieving the main goal of the trip :-), and discussing where we could fly this drone :-)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-23/cyclone-marcia-flood-wipes-out-kroompit-farmstay-business/6223768
I had been talking to the Ranger a few days before because there had been a bit of rain in the area. It certainly is a dry weather only track. As we were going through the first gate the ground was soft from the dried out mud, and this was only after a minimal amount of rain. We were lucky that the ground had dried out.
The track started out winding through a dry river bed. It was amazing how much timber had been collected and flushed downstream from when the flood came through.
And also how many young saplings were springing up in the river bed.
The track gradually got steeper and rockier in places.
Unfortunately the photos don't portray the steepness of the track.
About halfway up there was a lookout over the valley. We took the opportunity to let the vehicles cool down a bit as all of the engine and transmission temps were a bit on the high side, and also have a bit of a play with the drone that Jeff brought along.
We couldn’t take as much time as we liked because it was late afternoon and we still had a bit of distance to cover to make it to the campsite. Because we didn’t know the conditions of the track further along we didn’t really want to be trying to negotiate it in the dark.
We eventually arrived at the camp site on dusk and just had enough time to setup camp in the light. It was only now that Dwayne discovered that his super doper lightweight tent had bonded itself together while in storage and was unusable. It was lucky that he bought a 2nd tent for his brother Rhiess. The two of them had to squeeze into a two “Chinese man” tent. Nice and cosy.
The rest of the night was spent achieving the main goal of the trip :-), and discussing where we could fly this drone :-)
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