The Wild Geese

Expedition National Park Sep 05
This could have been a great bike trip, but no other Goose could get away for the necessary number of days, so it became a great drive instead. I went with Ulyssean friend Peter Sheen - a bike rider but not a dual-sport rider, so unable to do this trip by bike. It was a great reconnaissance trip for a future Geese adventure though.

Day 1

We travelled the (for me) fairly well-worn route north through Gympie, west then north through Woolooga to Biggenden, west to Ban Ban Springs (where I should have refuelled with LPG but was put off by the 65c price - a good 16c above coastal prices. My mistake, we were not to find LPG again until Miles on the homeward journey), and north through Gayndah to Eidsvold. From here we were into new territory heading west through Cracow to Taroom, mostly on dirt roads. A discussion with the Parks Ranger in Taroom suggested that we should allow three hours for the final 100 km to the National Park; as it was already 3pm we elected to drive another 30km to Lake Murphy Conservation Park and a free overnighter at the camp there (we were told that the rangers don't bother to collect camping dues here, so this one was 'on the government'). The lake hasn't seen water in the last ten years, it only fills when the surrounding plain floods after a major rising of the Robinson Creek. We arrived in daylight, set up camp and prepared a camp fire, dodged flies for a while, then prepared our evening meal. We were the only visitors in this very peaceful spot, although we could hear a bit of a party on the go at a nearby farm. We could have gone walkabout in the evening looking for sugar gliders, but were enjoying the camp fire too much to bother.

Day 2

Next day we broke camp and continued on the remaining 80 km or so of dirt roads to Expedition NP. Easy enough roads for bike or car, but with some stretches of sand. Once we turned off the "main road" into the park we had a short stretch of excellent dirt, after which we turned onto the 16km 4wd-only track to our camp site at Starkvale Creek. This road is a bit more challenging but should be no problem for a GS as long as there has not been any significant rain. With rain a couple of the creek crossings would get 'interesting'. There were a few other 4x4 travellers at the campsite, so it was not as deserted as we had expected but not at all bad for a school holiday period. We set up camp next to the biggest fire pit and commandeered the dinosaur which had been left there as our trip mascot.

We still had plenty of time to explore so we set off on a walk up to Shepherds Peak for a view over the extensive gorge, then looped down off the peak to Cattle Dip Lookout where we were able to look down into the narrowest stretch of gorge, which was apparently deep enough to retain water. Very steep sided at this point, there was really no way to get down into the gorge so we were also spared the climb back out. A few more kms and we were back at camp - a little surprised that we had walked sixteen kilometres, where the parks map had suggested that it would be more like five. Suitably exhausted we got a blazing fire going to keep the flies away (and later, the cold night air), and relaxed there for several hours under a half moon which seemingly refused to orbit - it just hung above us for hours!

Day 3

Next day we got in the Jeep once more and headed about 50km north, still on dirt roads, to visit the Confluence Point at 25 deg. S, 149 deg. E. We got to within 5km of the CP and sought the advice of the manager of the land surrounding the bush where the CP was located. His view was that we had somewhere between no chance and sod-all chance of getting to the point we indicated, stating that it would be very heavy going through bush and hills. Not ones to refuse a challenge we drove a litle further, to within 3.5 km of the CP as the crow flies. Then we parked the car and battled through ragged scrub, following the GPS. This opened out to slightly easier going but the GPS led us over several quite steep ridges until we eventually found our goal. After recording the location on 'film' (OK, digital chip), we trekked back out again, this time following animal tracks where possible. A round trip on foot of about four hours and some ten km all up, but very satisfying as we could safely assume that precious few had ever set foot on the same spot. I have submitted a report of our trip which will appear here once approved. By the time we got back to camp another day was pretty much done. There was just time for a cool shower under the camp shower which I had rigged to warm up in the sun but which had pretty much refused to change temperature (the park camp only has pit toilets and poor-quality tank water, but no showers), before lighting another ripper of a fire and settling in for the evening.

Day 4

We hadn't visited the gorge yet, so the idea was that this would be a day of less walking and more sightseeing. Well, it was less walking, but involved a very steep climb down the side of the gorge, quite a lot of trekking along the soft sandy bottom of the almost bone-dry gorge, followed by a steep and tiring climb back out! The gorge was well worth the effort though, with lots of lush and varied vegetation. It's a real gorge too, steep sided and quite narrow. We were pretty well stuffed by the time we got back to camp where we had a late lunch and relaxed for a while, enjoying the varied bird life flying around us. Not willing to be branded lazy we eventually roused ourselves for one more excursion, this one an easy 600m walk for another look at Cattle Dip Lookout. Then it was another evening around the fire and under the ever-present moon.

Day 5

The last day of our trip, we were up reasonably early and soon had camp broken and everything packed back into the Jeep. The ranger had told us of an as yet ungazetted road that would shorten our return trip to Taroom, so we took it and it did indeed knock nearly an hour off our journey time. The road is also in a lot better condition than the northern entry to the park - this one would be easy going for a GS. Back in Taroom and what passes for civilisation in Queensland, we killed a little time over a couple of capuccinos and cream cakes before heading south towards Miles. I had another Confluence Point in my sights, this time at 26 deg S 150 deg E. This one was on farmland so much easier access, except that the landowner sounded a little initimidating as the previous attempt at access had been disallowed at the landowner's request. When we knocked at the farmhouse however we were greeted by the lady owner who, after a little questioning of our intentions, was happy to drive us to the field in question in her ute. She was clearly quite amused at being visited by two grown men who wanted to go and stand in the middle of a field, GPS in hand, taking photographs towards the four points of the compass. It seems that the previous visitor had not only failed to get permission to enter the property, they had been rude enough to suggest on the Confluence Point web site that future visitors could with impunity ignore the closed gates and barbed wire fences. A little politeness on our part, and landowner Rosemary was charming and helpful.

After this we continued south to Miles where we were finally able to switch back from petrol to LPG. The weather, which had been glorious all week, had turned cloudy and cool so we decided to keep going, with options to continue until we were home or camp somewhere along the way. As it turned out the drive was easily completed in the one day and we were home by 7pm, reasonably tired but well satisfied with an adventurous week away from home.

I will certainly be heading back out there before too long, I hope a few of the Geese can join me next time so that we can make it a bike trip rather than a car trip. It's an easy day's ride to get there, and another to get home, so even a four day trip would be worthwhile. No cabins or showers when you get there though, so no WussGeese need apply :)

-- Steve

Category Camping