Gold Coast Hinterland Great! Walk

May 13, 2012 Keyman 1 Comment

The Gold Coast Hinterland Great! Walk is a 54km, 3-day hike across both the Lamington and Springbrook National Parks with a 5km road walk in between.

Day 1 – 21.4km: Green Mountain O’Reilly’s retreat to Binna Burra

The day began in Brisbane at 5.30am. After much driving I dropped my car off at the Settlement Campground, the endpoint of my hike. I was delivered to the beginning by my good friend and her lovely but exceedingly strange adult daughter – at least the long drive wasn’t boring!

I headed out from the Green Mountains O’Reilly’s Retreat at 10:30. I’d estimated the walk at about 6 hours plus breaks with an ETA to Binna Burra at 5pm. I started later than I intended, but that’s the price you pay for a ‘car shuffle’ on a linear hike (where the start and end are not the same place).

Thirty minutes into the walk and I came across my first snake – a young red bellied black – which slithered quickly away. It was the last I was to see for the day and only one of two this adventure. The track overall was fairly easy-going with no steep climbs or descents and the initial 300m climb was not terribly apparent as it was a slow climb over several kilometres. The hardest part of the day was that much of the track was a muddy mess, meaning traction wasn’t good.

The waterfalls of Conondale National Park are not repeated here, with only small creeks and run-throughs. The lookouts over the border of New South Wales were pretty fantastic though with Mt Warning standing out among the hills. The track continued and after a while, more lookouts, this time out towards sea and the Gold Coast skyline. Unfortunately, not so clear in the photos.

As it was the Saturday of a long weekend, the track was very busy. I saw at least 40 other walkers on trail doing one of the numerous side tracks or day walks. Then, as I headed downhill towards Binna Burra, my first campground, I saw wallabies! It was a wonderful surprise but unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough with my camera.

Binna Burra isn’t a walkers camp, but it’s the only legal camping location in the area. Just make sure you book a spot in advance. It’s a full camping park with washing machines, hot showers, fantastic pizza on Saturday night and happy hour! It’s not really wilderness but a couple of quiet beers after a hard day’s walk never hurt anyone!

Day 2 – 24km: Binna Burra to Woonoongoora Walker’s Camp

I left Binna Burra along the Lower Bellbird circuit trail and headed quickly back into the forest along a gentle downhill.

I passed a couple of lookouts which gave great views of Egg Mountain protruding out from the forest in the distance. As I walked I passed several small waterfalls and a series of awesome cliffs. At some points along the trail things became a little precarious as I literally had to hang on to a tree to get around one corner. But that’s what I was there for… adventure!

To get to Egg Mountain, I had a massive downhill slog. Steep downhills are the worst as they put a lot of pressure on the knees, ankles and feet. Weaving down the trail can make things easier, although dry dirt trails can make things slow going, as care must be taken with placing feet to avoid sliding. I passed Egg Mountain and followed the fence line of Numbimbah correctional centre for a couple of kilometres before arriving at Nerang-Murwillumbuh Rd where I stopped for lunch at the river.

The trail followed the road for about 5km before coming to the Numinbah café where I stopped for an ice-block and coke. After walking 18km with a 22kg pack, the last 5km in the open sun, who could resist? As there is no water at the next camp, I took supplies here for both my cooking requirements and for tomorrow’s walk.

After the cafe, the trail cut back into the forest up a steep hill towards the walker’s camp. The climb was tough, made tougher as it was at the end of a long hot day and because I was carrying extra water. I finally arrived at the walker’s camp, a field set out for camping with only a camp toilet and nothing more. The grass was knee height, which made pitching my tent a little more difficult, but it did make for a softer sleeping spot. After setting up camp, I settled in for a cool evening.

Day 3 – 9km – Woonoongoora Walker’s Camp to Settlers Camping Ground

Nine kilometres doesn’t sound far, but this part of the walk has multiple steep climbs and descents. The first climb apparently has 900 steps, about 82 floors of a building, or so the sign said. I only counted 829, but after climbing with a heavy pack I’m surprised I could still count by the end, so I could be wrong.

A quick stop at a park for a snack after the climb and I was off again into the forest. The trail follows the Nerang River for a fair distance, crossing it on several occasions and has many small waterfalls. I knew I was getting close to the end of my walk when I started to see people on the trail again. Lots of people. But then it was the Monday of a long weekend. I must have passed 100 people as I headed towards Purlingbrook Falls. The falls are spectacular from both the pool at the bottom…

…to the top, and is the major reason so many people were visiting, although the climb was long even though it only had only 290 stairs and was all concreted.

Settlers Camp Ground was not far from the top of the falls. I arrived at midday and drive the 100km home. Overall a Great! Walk indeed!

The Lone Trail Wanderer

Australia, Hike, Queensland

Conondale Great! Walk

April 30, 2012 Keyman 2 Comments

The Conondale Great! Walk is a hike within the Conondale National Park north of Maleny on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

The hike is a 4-day, 56km forest hike. In my planning, I compressed it into 3 days, walking sections 4 and 1 together and beginning the hike from the car park of section 2. The weather was clear and warm. I estimate my pack weight at about 22kg.

As this Great! Walk is set up by the Queensland Government, campsites must be booked in advance on the website for specific days with camping permits to be displayed.

Day 1 – 30km

Planning for an overnight hike is important and this is somewhere I failed. On my topographic map I failed to plan for the three river fords between the park entrance and the beginning of section 2. I do not have a 4WD vehicle and thus had to park my car at the park entrance. Because I’d booked the campsite at the end of the 2^nd section that’s where I had to go. This meant my planned 17km walk for the day became a 30km one. (Section 1 = 11km, Section 2 = 17km, walk from ford = 2km).

Section 1 is popular with day walkers and I saw a few along the river at various places and walking to the abandoned gold mine.

The walk itself was a moderate grade 3 and enjoyable. I reached Booloumba Falls at around 1.30pm and stripped down for a swim and some lunch.

I started section 2 at about 2.30pm. 17km to camp…

Not long after the falls, there was a side trail with no markings. I decided to follow for a short time and found it led to a small clearing with an unlabelled monument in it. I stopped only briefly before heading back to the junction and continuing on.

In my research I was made aware that there might be leeches on the hike but what I wasn’t prepared for was the sheer amount. When hiking I like to take rest breaks every hour or so. But whenever I stopped for 30 seconds anywhere along the trail, leeches would begin crawling up my boots. The only leech free places were the large stones at the edge of stream crossings and there weren’t many of those on section 2, so I just powered on without rest.

Section 2 is grade 4 and a tad slower going. Night fell with still 10km to go before camp. Night in the forest is dark, even with a head lamp. With no one around all I could do was march onwards. A portion of section 2 is an old fire track. After walking 6km along it in the dark with no markings I began wondering if I’d missed something. But when I eventually found a marker I was relieved. With 4km to go I turned down it and walked on 100 metres before having the sudden urge to look behind me. When I did I found that I had missed another marker in the dark and returned to it. It sent me off along a thin trail.

After 11 hours on the trail I finally reached camp and sat on the camp table to rest away from the ever-present leeches. Setting up my tent was interesting. Leaping off the low table to set up part of it before leaping back on again to flick the leeches from my boots before leaping down to do the next part. Eventually I got the tent erected and zipped myself in. I didn’t bother cooking dinner, instead just having some fruit and a salmon pocket. As I lay down to an exhausted sleep, I discovered a leech on forehead! I removed it from the tent before finally falling asleep.

Day 2 – 15km

A spontaneous 30km walk with a pack tends to push one’s body, so my sleep was not the most comfortable. But early in the next morning, I was awake and ready to go. I brewed a coffee and got to packing. While the leeches were still prevalent, I worked around them, packing up my tent like I had erected, leaping back and forth onto the camp table.

Once I set off I found it impossible to plan for my breaks because of the leeches. Thankfully there were more creek crossings so I actually got to rest several times on this section. There were two other variables introduced into the mix today. Snakes and goannas.

This 2 metre Carpet Python was a bit of a surprise just lying there across the track but easily avoided. The few small green tree snakes were cute, but it was the red-bellied black snake sunning itself on the track that caused the most concern. While only a meter long, I wasn’t going to stay near the aggressive bugger so cut a wide berth around it and continued on.

The goannas were generally fairly small and gave away their presence as soon as they heard me by crashing through the undergrowth and climbing a tree.

I arrived at the next camp in the early afternoon and after setting up my tent with few leech incidents, I took lunch and a book to the Summer Falls, right near the campsite. The tall set of falls have a flat rocky area at the top, so I stripped down, bathed, ate lunch and languished for the afternoon in the warm autumn air.

Day 3 – 13km

After a brisk morning climb, the trail grew drier and the leech problem went away. Still, I chose my places to rest. Once bitten, they say, but in my case more like 10 times bitten… I think I did well only to be bitten that many times considering the amount of leeches I flicked from my boots and pants. Rubbing DEET on your boots definitely slowed them down.

Day three seemed less wild, with more vehicle tracks, horse tracks (with plenty of recent poo) and the occasional vehicle.

Towards the end of the day, there was a steep climb Mount Alan where I was forced to stop every 20 metres or so to catch my breath. The view from the top of the fire tower was well worth the climb.

The final hour back to my car was easy and being a Tuesday, was fairly human free.

Overall an interesting three days in the wilderness, a great learning experience and a lot of sweating, but still enjoyable.

The Lone Trail Wanderer

Cutting a trail around the world, one country at a time…