From Carnarvon Gorge we headed south toward Sydney. However a problem with one of the caravan wheels meant an overnight stop in Roma. A big thank you to Trav, TDH Mechanical Maintenance in Roma for getting us back on the road safely. Such a generous guy to fit us in when they were clearly busy. (We had stopped at two other workshops, which couldn’t fit us in for a week.)
We arrived in Toowoomba late the next day, Thursday, with the intention of doing some shopping and restocking on the Friday, only to find it was a public holiday, Toowoomba Show Day, and most things were shut. The whole place was shrouded in heavy fog and constant rain for the two days we stayed.
The Granite Belt
Girraween National Park
There are several different camping areas in Girraween NP. We stayed at Terrawambella camp, it had been recently upgraded with good sized camp sites and new flush toilets. Also shower cubicals but you needed to supply your own bucket and water for your shower. There is no Internet or phone reception, and no power or water supplied but there is untreated water from the creek, fine to shower and wash dishes in.
Terrawambella Camp Site
The store in Wallangarra, just outside the National Park (20km), sells firewood, ice, basic food supplies and fuel. And we could get Internet and phone reception in the town.
Crimson Rosellas were in abundance. The juveniles with their green plumage changing to red as they matured. “Juveniles are said to ‘ripen’ as they get older and turn from green to red”.
Day Use Area
Aprox 300 metres from our camp was the Day Use Area. Most of the walking tracks for the Northern side of the NP leave from here. A new Visitors Centre is being built. There is a large car park, toilets, picnic tables, electric BBQs, plus a swimming area with a ladder into the creek. We didn’t swim as the creeks were terrifyingly rapid and high with receding flood waters. But in non-flood times it would be lovely as it was in 2014 when we stopped here just for a swim. (P.S. some of our 2013/14 blog posts have lost text and photos due to some technical bug, so there are no photos of our last visit here for comparison.)
Walks we did
Most of the Northern Walks begin from the Day Use Area, crossing several concrete bridges before splitting off in different directions. Apparently the water level was up to the top of the concrete bridges a few days before we arrived. Each day we could see the levels receding from those bridges. The sound of the water was so loud and fierce. We certainly didn’t want to fall into any of these creeks, the chance of survival would be very slim.
The Junction
The sign reads. “A chain of swamp and creek systems carry life-sustaining water from the western watershed of the Great Dividing Range, through the granite beds of Girraween, linking with Ramsay and Bald Rock Creeks. The Junction is where these two creeks unite, and continue on as one towards the Murray-Darling River system…… Continue 250m from this point to explore the many rockslides and pools, white sandy beaches and impressive water holes.”
Granite Arch
The sign reads “Cross Bald Rock Creek and wind through blackbutt forest to walk through Girraween’s natural stone archway.”
The Pyramid
We could see the Pyramid from our camp. Some other travellers, Craig and Julie, had got right to the top the day before and were able to give us some advice on places to be wary of, which we were very grateful for. The walk was an increasingly steep hike up lots of steps to the base of the climb, about 2km of steps.
The start of the climb was not marked and we scurried around until we saw the first marker, then set off.
The higher we got the steeper the gradient became. We clung to large boulders but when there were none, we positioned ourselves in line with a one that would break our fall. (Thankfully that didn’t happen.) The views were quite spectacular even from low down.
About 3/4 of the way up we came to the slippery wet part we had been warned about. There were no rocks to break a fall and we couldn’t even see over the edge of the rock face. If we slipped It was straight down into the abyss, quite terrifying. Another way to get around was through a crevice, but required being somewhat of a mountain goat (this is the way Craig and Julie had gone). Although we both tried we couldn’t get over and so called it a day. (We clearly need to work on our core strength.) We could make out our caravan and car from here.
The coming down was as exciting as the going up. But once we had large boulders to break a fall, we felt more comfortable.
Such an exhilarating climb, well worth the effort. We have done a lot of mountain climbing over the years, the most exciting/challenging of all was Frenchman Peak in Cape Le Grand National Park near Esperance (check it out here). This was an a close second. It had had no wet surfaces plus we were much fitter then and got all the way to the top.
Flora
There are lots of native wild flowers here, quite beautiful.
Heavenly Chocolate
Just at the entrance to the National Park is the Heavenly Chocolate shop. The owners make the chocolates and sell from their shop front. They also have cottages to rent for those wanting to explore the area. Their garden is beautiful and the birdlife abundant.
Heading South
The road out of the National Park was lined with kangaroos. Sometimes they turned and went into the bush, other times they jumped straight out in front of the car. It was slow going. We didn’t see any quolls.
The nearest southern town with potable water and a dump point is Tenterfield. The Showgrounds for the dump point and the council water refill station in Melaleuca Circuit $1 for 160 litres.
A coffee and a quick browse in a lovely little shop called “My Notes From’ a gallery on the Main Street. Lara is the owner and photographer and has a selection of amazing prints of the local area as well as post cards and various other things. She is also the cousin of a good friend, so it was great to meet her and enjoy her store.
Cheers til next time, Helen & Tim