Richmond Range NSW,   25th and 26th April 2009

Earlyish Saturday morning Sue and Lloyd Akeroyd met up with Jane and Peter Egan at McDonalds in Beaudesert and we then headed towards the NSW boarder via Rathdowney and the Lions Road where we collected the Hemmings,(Lorraine, John and Andrew) who were accompanied by Aaron Urquhart. They had spent Friday night camping at Paradise Valley and spotting trains.

The 2 Pajero’s, a Challenger and a Pathfinder then moved into NSW, crossing the Summerland Way heading to the Sherwood Lookout for a late morning tea, stopping enroute to allow the Akeroyd’s to complete the trimming of vegetation which had fallen over the track. The newly formed archway allowed the vehicles to pass unscathed along the Toonumbar Forest Drive.

Morning tea was consumed at 800m asl overlooking the Toonumbar Valley and north to Mt Lindsay. The lookout featured a novel water tank and fire place. Tuneful bellbirds seemed to be particularly common in the area. We also spotted 3m long python on the side of the road which had to be admired and stroked by our intrepid vet Andrew to determine how alert it was by the length of time it took to react to the attention – conclusion, it was feeling the cold.

We then followed Cox’s Rd to Iron Pot Creek camp site where we had a short walk around a nature trail which identified the various trees in the area. On the way out, we stopped to assist a Subaru impaled on a branch on the roadside - a task that initially appeared to require a degree of ingenuity and ended with a whimper, when the said branch was wiggled a bit allowing the car to be driven off it undamaged.

Lunch was then enjoyed at the Toonumbar Dam wall a short distance away, along a well formed forestry road on which we continued to the Peacock Creek campsite where we spent the night. This section of road contained a short ford to get around a bridge washed out in the floods earlier this year. After being warned of this and expecting to wash a bit of mud off we all got through without incident with no need for snorkels.

The convoy then misplaced the campsite after the leader turned into the entrance 50m beyond the turnoff everyone else took. After a short waddle in some mud we decided that the campsite was the one we could see through the trees and turned back to find a bemused leader setting up his camper trailer. Others then drove round and round the camp site to establish the best resting place.

Happy hour was then enjoyed around the camp fire which then morphed into happy evening with the arrival of dinner despite the discovery of leeches intent on blood sucking.

The next morning it was decided to leave the camp set up to dry after a heavy dew and we went on a short exploratory drive on a loop towards Old Bonalbo, having decided to return home via the Cambridge Plateau to the Bruxner Highway and Clarence Way.

A short distance along the track though Lloyd in the lead managed to slide off the track at the bottom of a steep-ish hill and turned the trip from a blue to a black for an hour or so whilst the jacking gear was employed . Fortunately there was a adequate supply of trees to jack against and the vehicle sustained a minimum of damage as it was winched over the culvert and back onto firm ground leaving the rest of the crew somewhat covered in mud. At that point we headed back to camp and prepared to make our way home.

The drive along the Cambridge Plateau was breath taking and a number of people were heard muttering about places to spend a few days after lunching at the designated camp site.

We then headed south to the Bruxner Highway and after splitting up to refuel at Tabulam regrouped to admire the Bean Falls some 10km south of Urbenville, where we were also suitably impressed by the height of the falls and the beautiful surrounds.

 Leaving the falls, we then travelled back to Brisbane in an uneventful manner after having enjoyed a fantastic two days of perfect autumn weather in the forests of the Richmond Ranges.

Many thanks, Sue and Lloyd for the effort you put in route finding and for your good humoured company.  A great trip which was enjoyed by everyone.

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Last Modified on Wednesday, 06 May 2009
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