Trip Leaders David and Larissa were expecting
seven vehicles after a couple of late cancellations but, at the
BP Caboolture meeting place we had nine Club vehicles! Turned
out Barry and Chris Stead were taking their horses up to Noosa
while Kaylene and Frank Sutherland were heading that way too.
The tally ended up being three Range Rovers, two Defenders, one
Disco 2 and one Disco 3 owned by David and Larissa Puxty, Lloyd
and Sue Codling with passenger Barbara Woolmer, Charles and Arianne
Reeves, Ian and Moises Francis, Michael Bolin and three passengers
Lionel, Josh and Paul, Colin and Elaine Rose and Richard and Deidre
Windham.
A couple of faulty radios delayed David's military precision itinerary
however David had arranged the convoy so that an experienced person
was in front and another behind the newcomers, with us as Tail
End Charlie.
As we turned left on to the D'Aguilar Highway, guesses over the
radio were met with "I'm not telling you even if you guess
correctly" so we were none the wiser. However, when David
asked if anyone had an axe, we began to wonder what on earth was
ahead of us!
David must have been thinking how he could keep us in the dark
because he missed the turn-off the Highway. U-turns and we turned
down Stony Creek Road. One sign said "Stony Creek Road" and
a sign directly opposite declared it to be "Stoney Creek Road" which
confused the GPS.
The road developed a few potholes although it was sealed and smooth,
but then it reverted to a gravel road. David was confident the
low level of Mountford Creek meant a dry trip ahead. We travelled
up a steep hill into Bellthorpe State Forest, continuing up and
up. The GPS said we were in No Man's Land on no road.
When we turned right into Branch Creek Road, David warned
us this was where the 4wding started. We hit the first
bog hole just after
the Dog Road turn off. We had a wonderful photo opportunity a
short time later when Ian and Lloyd used an axe to clear
a fallen tree
from the road.
Morning tea was in a rainforest area beside a little waterhole
which was very picturesque but milky from the recent rains. When
we continued, the road became quite slippery in places and we
did the odd little crab-walk.
David's bulbar removed the next tree obstacle and there were
lots of muddy dips. It was surprising how slippery it was considering
there wasn't enough water in the creek at the bottom to cover
the
causeway.
Many times we watched the front of Ian's car in front rise so
his bonnet was almost visible over his roof, and then we would
be seeing
almost the whole of the underneath of his car. It was a real
roller-coast at times. As well as dipping up and down, the road
became very
steep and rocky. Now, this should have been Stony Creek Road!
David was right to call the road stony in his preamble.
The rainforest opened up to very, very tall straight trees with
few lower branches. There were a lot of fallen trees alongside
the road with evidence of someone with a chainsaw having been
there at some time. Several times, cars had to stop to remove
sticks
caught under the vehicles. As Charles said, it was a phenomenally
long bush track with no turn-offs.
There were a couple of sharp turns, one of which required a few
cars to do a 3-point or 4-point turn. Past some beehives and
through a gate and the road became suitable for 2wds. Then we
turned off
and into the mud again. We could hear on the radio the convoy
had come to a very long steep hill which needed to be attacked
one
at a time with diff lock and low range. Once someone was at the
top, the next vehicle was called up so it took a while before
all seven vehicles had cleared it, with lots of engine noise.
Going down gave those vehicles with hill descent a workout. We
had one last water crossing which had a steep and very slippery
exit. We watched some vehicles have a second go at it before
we headed off, and then back for a second bite at the cherry.
As we
revved, slipped and inched our way up the last little bit, we
reckoned the previous cars had all contributed to make it super-slippery
for us!
At lunchtime, we were a very short distance from a main road
and most of the cars managed to park just off the road but we
ended
up stopping in the middle, reasoning that we could move if anything
came. It was great to get to know our fellow travellers while
enjoying refreshments. However we didn't count on the youngsters
on their
trailbikes, who squeezed past our car and through our group,
several times. Time to move on!
The Reeves and us had commitments in the Beerwah area so we took
Campbells Road and found ourselves passing a sign that decreed
no vehicles were allowed on the road for half an hour from 7.45
a.m. on school days to allow the bus to travel that route. It
wasn't long before we came to the very, very narrow section of
road which
was obviously the explanation for the sign.
It was a very picturesque route, winding but with very little
sightseeing traffic. We were surprised to be able to hear David
on the radio
when we were near Mary Cairncross Park and he would have been
on the way to Mt. Mee.
Deidre Windham
Larissa Puxty continues:
(By-line: The Maxtrax really do work)
We bid the Windhams and Reeves goodbye to head off to their
respective destinations on the Sunshine Coast. Although,
we continued to
hear them on the radio on and off for the rest of the afternoon,
so
in some ways, it was like they were still with us.
While the Windhams and Reeves headed one way, the remainder
of the convoy headed in the opposite direction - back
towards Woodford
in search of a much-needed rest stop. About 500m past
the site of the famous Woodford Folk Festival, we came
to a
traveller’s
stop which boasted civilised facilities. There were a couple of
travellers in residence who, judging by their expressions, obviously
thought that their peace and quiet and copious amounts of space
were about to be lost to us (although none of us were towing caravans
or any sort of mobile dwelling). As the Codlings are about to purchase
a caravan and embark on an extended trip, Lloyd struck up a conversation
with one couple who looked very much like seasoned travellers.
When David called out to everyone in our group to let them know
it was time to move on, Lloyd’s new friends were heard commenting “That’s
why we travel alone, so we don’t get told when
and where to go by anyone!”
Approaching
the Woodford town centre, we made a right turn towards Neurum
Creek, passing by the Woodford
Correctional Facility on
our way to Mt Mee, our chosen route back to Brisbane.
We
then turned into Rasmussen Road, passing by Neurum
Creek Bush Retreat
(previously
known as Mt Archer Camping Ground) – a favourite camping
spot of ours. At the end of the road, we entered Mt Mee State Forest.
The main track was good, but obviously not challenging or interesting
enough for David, who soon started searching through his GPS looking
for an exciting detour to take everyone down ... which he soon
found! It was labelled on the GPS as being “steep but good” so
all cars turned right and the real adventure began!
There was several steep hills (both ascending and
descending) a shallow water crossing, narrowing
tracks that were
bordered on
both sides by heavy lantana growth and then we
came to the real challenge - a small fallen tree
with
a thick
spread of mud! David
thought he could drive over the top of the tree
and through the mud – he quickly discovered that was not to be the case.
The front wheels got over the tree trunk and then sunk down into
the mud, closely followed by the back wheels! David’s expression
became very animated ... “I can use the Maxtrax!” he
said whilst leaping out of the car at the same time. The two Maxtrax
were put under the front wheels first and then once they were clear,
transferred to the back wheels. The car was free of its obstacles
within a matter of minutes, the fallen tree was then removed and
the rest of the convoy passed through without incident. Heading
back on to the main track soon after, we were on the final stretch
of the forest road when we saw a rather large tree branch moving
across the track up ahead. We soon realised it was a massive snake!
We stopped the car and called through to the rest of the convoy.
Everyone got out of their cars to have a look and take photos.
There was certainly a “wide” variety of angles (and
I mean W-I-D-E) that were taken for the photos. Lloyd and Ian won
the prize for getting closest to the snake, which turned its head
to take a good look at Lloyd, decided it didn’t
feel comfortable anymore, did a u-turn and headed
back into the
undergrowth by the
side of the track. We all got back in our cars
and continued on our journey to the forest exit
where we
all said our
good-byes and made our own way through Dayboro
and back home.
Larissa Puxty
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