Day 52 – Thursday 13 July 2023 – Seventeen Seventy to Mt Perry
We had four nights (five days) to ‘kill’ so we decided to visit
the ‘North Burnett’ region – which has a northern most point about 85 km (as
the crow flies – and there are plenty of them) west of Bundaberg.
Amongst Shirley’s moan of “why so early” we headed out of
Seventeen Seventy about 8:15 am. Although we were heading inland we found
ourselves at Moore Park on the beach for morning tea. It was a lovely spot
highlighted by the fact that it had the cheapest diesel that we have seen this
trip – so we filled up.
It was also a bird haven and I scored a photo of some spoonbills.
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| Spoonbills at Moore Park |
We then headed west and stopped at Gin Gin (pop. 1050), whose main crops are sugar cane and avocado – soon to be macadamia. We saw km upon km of young, and some mature, macadamia trees. Someone must be nuts.
Gin Gin has three pie shops that have the
‘best pies in Queensland’, but we only visited the shop that we visited last
time here. We were not disappointed. We chatted to a lovely lady at the
Information Centre who assured us that she was an expert in ‘telling people
where to go’. We had some fun banter over that.
The IGA was visited to obtain a few staples
like apples, bananas and bread. There was some interesting rock art in Gin Gin.
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| Gin Gin Rock Sculpture |
Next it was a 35 km drive to the ‘Boolboonda Tunnel’ that was built in 1883 for the railway line between Mt Perry and Bundaberg to service the copper mines. It is the longest unsupported man-made tunnel in the southern hemisphere – at 192 metres in length.
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| Boolboonda Tunnel |
Although a car and caravan can drive through we walked through and took a couple of photos of the bent-winged micro-bats.
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| Bent-winged micro-bats |
Not long later we were in Mt Perry (pop. 540) and not long after that we were camped at the showgrounds. Not long after that a fire was started, and – hey presto – dinner was started.
The camp oven dinner consisted of chicken,
onion, capsicum, lentils, mushrooms, tin of tomatoes, garlic, Moroccan spice,
zucchini, carrots, potato, green beans - and our secret recipe – left over Shirley-made
fried rice. It was superb.
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| Chicken Campfire Dinner |
It had been a good day.
Day 53 – Friday 14 July 2023 – Mt Perry Onwards
I emerged around 7am to get a sunrise photo,
to find that the moon wanted to be a part of the scene. It was chilly and there
was a very heavy dew, nearly a frost. We were in a valley and there was a lot
of low cloud.
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| Mt Perry Sunrise - With moon |
Interestingly we were in such a position on the west side of the valley that yesterday the sun had set by 4pm, around 80 minutes earlier if we were not surrounded by hills.
Our first destination for the day was Biggenden (pop. 845) – a mere 74 km away. However the journey took two hours. There were gravel
roads, narrow roads, twisting roads and hilly roads. No flat roads or straight
roads. However the scenery was magnificent – great Aussie hills and trees.
We crossed over the mighty Burnett River at
Mingo Crossing – a great spot to sit and relax.
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Above & Below: Two views at Mingo Crossing |
Shirley then had us heading 3.5 km down a two-lane gravel track to see Chowey Bridge, which was the first of its kind in Australia. It was impressive. We stopped there long enough for a coffee.
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| Chowey Bridge |
Soon after we were in Biggenden (pop 8450), a small town
but worth a look. They have shown great respect for their pioneers, with an
excellent ‘Wall of Fame’ that names and provides photos of the first white folk
to the area.
We had a stroll and admired the artwork. I
had a chuckle that “Beiers Park” (pronounced “beers”) was alcohol free.
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| Hmmmmmmmmm |
We headed west and were soon travelling along an excellent road that was surrounded by mountain ranges. Again, very scenic.
A road-side stall beckoned where we stocked
up on avocados and two butternut pumpkins. I also took a photo of some
sorghum.
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| Sorghum |
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| Roadside pumpkin & avos. Sorghum in the background. |
Soon after we arrived at Gayndah, where we stocked up on plain oranges, blood oranges and mandarins.
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| This fresh lot cost us $15 in total. From left, avos, blood oranges, mandarins, oranges + pumpkins. |
We wandered around Gayndah (pop. 2000) – quite a reasonable sized town – again with a lot of history. We loved the magnificent old buildings, two of which are below. We visited the museum, mainly because Shirley wanted to see a Lung Fish, that are only found in this region.
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Above: Former station homestead that was moved into town for preservation. Below: Former home, now part of the museum complex. |
Around 2pm we headed out of town looking for
a place to camp for the night. We were soon climbing a steep mountain range,
and I wondered about the wisdom of carrying a bag of wood. Right at the top was
a great camp site that overlooked the valley that we had just left. I look
forward to sunrise tomorrow.
The fire was soon lit. Relaxation came next.
Then spuds were wrapped in foil and added near the coals. Then chops, pumpkin,
zucchini and corn were added to the BBQ plate. Dinner was pretty good.
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| Our campsite and fireplace |
Campfire and BBQ Dinner
Day 54 – Saturday 15 July 2023 – Gayndah to Mundubbera
I was up in time to see the sunrise through the trees. It was a good sight as our climb late yesterday allowed us to now be above the clouds.
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| Sunrise through the trees. The wisps of white are clouds that are lower than us. |
Having a shower before bed meant that we were on the road that much earlier and we covered the 25 km to Mundubbera (pop. 1260) by 8:30.
Our first stop was a weekend market where we
bought a jar each of Blackberry jam and Pumpkin & Apricot jam. The latter
sounds rather interesting. The lady who cooked the jam liked us so much that
she gave us a mini jar of Paw Paw and Ginger jam. So we are right for jam for a
while.
We then visited the painted water tower that has an amazing 24 items of flora and fauna painted on it. It is titled “Meeting Place of the Waters” – as the Auburn, Boyne & Burnett rivers meet here.
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Above: Meeting Place of the Waters Below: The items on the mural |
Two kookaburras joined the fun and I snapped them as well. By now Shirley has found the local sculptures that was the reason to visit that park.
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| Left – A tribute to the folk on the land – graziers and grain growers. Right – Recognition of the Lungfish, which can grow to 1.5 metres. |
We spoke to a man in the Information Centre and he gave us some good tips. We also found out that this area provides abundant quantities of all citrus, blueberries (largest undercover blueberry farm in the southern hemisphere), table grapes (richest region of Queensland), pecans, mangoes, avocados, lychees, peaches, watermelon & rockmelons. Cop that.
By now we had decided to camp at Auburn River
National Park for the night, so we paid our $14.50 camping fees and headed 40
km south to the park. The last 5 km was gravel and had the odd local inhabitant
wandering along it.
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| A sample of the road that we travelled |
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| Residents are not always eager to move |
We established camp and decided on Walk No 1 and Walk No 2, although the latter seemed intimidating. Both were duly completed with a combined walk of two km. We did not count the steps or the rocks on the latter. The views made the walk worthwhile.
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| The rock pool from the lookout (Walk No 1) |
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| An easy part of the path |
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| The lookout from the rockpool (Walk No 2) |
It was time for lunch and a rest.
A mixture of overnight dew and dusty roads does not ‘work’
for a caravan. The back of our ‘Paramount’ is in dire need of a wash – but
water is scarce.
Around 3pm I lit the fire and took the tack
that it could be one of the last this trip. No expense spared. Wood that I have
carried from Cunnamulla (over 4000 km) was not spared. We had one of the best
cooking fires ever. All Gidgee – great cooking fire wood – just a bed of red
coals.
Around 3:45 I made a batch of plain scones,
and they turned out to be one of the best ever. Camp-oven scones are just so
good. Shirley and I celebrated with a late afternoon-tea of scones with
‘pumpkin & apricot’ jam. The jam was pretty good.
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| Scones, Scone Eaters & Bush Camp |
Some time later spuds were added to the fire, then (after some time) pumpkin ‘steaks’, broccoli (in foil) and pork chops. I allowed myself to have a couple of glasses of red with dinner.
Day 55 – Sunday 16 July 2023 – Mundubbera to Lake Awoonga
Even though we had a casual start we were
back in Munduberra by 9 am. We drove out of town and took a photo of the
“Knobby Tree”. No prizes for guessing how it got its name. The tree dates back
to the time of the first settlers to the region.
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| Impressive views north of Mundubbera |
It did not take long to get to Eidsvold, whose main claim to fame is the “R M Williams Bush Learning Centre”. I took a photo of the building.
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| R M Williams Bush Learning Centre |
After a coffee we headed north and stopped
to take a photo of the Bunyip at Mulgildie. He is a mythological creature,
allegedly was to be found lurking in ‘Three Moon Creek’. The town also had an
interesting looking pub, although 10am Sunday is not the preferred time to
check out a pub.
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| Mulgildie Bunyip |
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| Mulgildie Pub |
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| One of the many rail bridges that we drove under or beside. Many of the rail tracks have been retired for many years. |
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| Three Moon Silos - South of Monto |
The Three Moon legend is a fascinating story. Click here if you wish to learn more - but beware of the bunyip.
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| Shirley shopping |
Monto (pop. 1160) was next – and is noted for its art. We stopped for lunch.
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Above & Below: Monto Art |
Like many towns in the region Monto has some impressive architecture.
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| Impressive Shire 'Home' |
We had two options for the drive north. We took the shortest route, for that reason and the fact that we wanted to camp at Lake Awoonga – which is along that route.
The 108 km was one of the most beautiful
drives that we have done, and maybe the hardest to drive. There were maybe 25
river crossings – all concreted and dry. There were maybe 25 peaks that we had
to climb – most were small, but a couple were large. Before I started on one 3
km downhill slope I spoke to a local. After his OK, I did the 3 km in first
gear. It was probably the longest/steepest drive that I have driven down
with the caravan behind.
Along the way we came to Kalpowar and took a photo of the mural on the local Hall. If there was ever a town that looked like it could be inhabited by folk from Deliverance – Kalpowar is it. We kept our eyes open for a guy with a banjo.
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| Kalpowar Mural |
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| Kalpowar Resident |
We then meandered through low-lying countryside that was dominated by vine-covered trees. Again, it could have been a scene from the Deliverance wetlands. Although they looked attractive, I would be worried about how they might be adversely impacting well-loved Aussie Eucalypt trees.
We stopped for the day at ‘Boynedale Bush
Camp’, an excellent free camp at the southern end of Lake Awoonga – around 60 km
south of Gladstone. It was a great spot and we went for a walk to check out the
lake.
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Above & Below: Boynedale Bush Camp |
Then we relaxed until the weather went south.
So we retired indoors and had leftover stew from two nights ago – and a leftover
scone each.
Day 56 – Monday 17 July 2023 – Lake Awoonga
Even though it was raining lightly I donned
track suit and headed to the water around 6:20 am (sunrise was said to be at
6:37 am). I decided to try a different location to the photo from late
yesterday. It turned out being a 3 km return stroll. I sat at the bottom of a
brand new (as in not yet open for public boats) boat ramp.
The walk was worth it. I never saw the sun,
but it was strong enough to project the colour below through the clouds.
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| Sunrise at the Boynedale Bush Camp |
This chapter is now complete. We have travelled around 800 km in five days around a history rich and an agriculturally rich region. Most of the roads are pretty ordinary, but most of the people (that we spoke to) are very friendly. Most wanted a laugh – and that suits me fine. We will remember this drive fondly – but we do not want to repeat today’s drive – one hill in particular.
Now we have four weeks at the beach……………….
The following is the route that we took for the
North Burnett region – an area rich in history and agriculture and food
production.
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| 800 km North Burnett Route |
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