Great Dividing Range (6-days from SEQ to PPGTG 2010)

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Our travels to the PP GTG 2010 was via the Great Dividing Range. Our plans were to stay on the dirt as much as practical. I'd estimate we probably managed around 80% of our travel between Beaudesert QLD to Monkearai NSW on dirt.

We encountered all kinds of terrain and plenty of adventure.

Our itinerary was:

1. Beaudesert to Alice NSW[/*:m:11mt537f]
2. Alice to Nymboida River Camp[/*:m:11mt537f]
3. Nymboida to Bellbrook[/*:m:11mt537f]
4. Bellbrook to Maxwell Flats[/*:m:11mt537f]
5. Maxwell Flats to Barrington (just outstide Gloucester)[/*:m:11mt537f]
6. Barrington to Monkerai (via Gloucester Tops)[/*:m:11mt537f]

The next few posts will detail our travels.

LFaR.

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Re: Great Dividing Range (Day 1 : Beaudesert to Alice)

Beaudesert QLD to Alice NSW


We met at Beaudesert for the obligatory line-up...



Gordo lead us South to the Lions Road. This road runs parallel to the Border Loop railway line. Twisty roads, awesome views, great driving.



From here we found Toonumbar Forest Drive in Toonumbar State Forest. This was the first bit of dirt we hit for the trip and we kept to the dirt theme for around 80-90% of our journey.



Fozzy shoots a python escaping into the bush...



We continue to head South and reach the Cambridge Plateau Road, which runs through the Richmond Range. It exits at Mallanganee on the Bruxner Hwy.





We crossed the blacktop to the Mallanganee lookout which takes in views of the Richmond range and surrounding valleys. This is where we split up into two groups. The camper-trailers took the highway to Alice, while the rest of us continued through the Cherry Tree Forest, on Cherry Tree Rd, which is an excellent bush track.



From here we were forced to travel on some blacktop through the Picapene State Forest. There was plenty of water around:



The town of Alice, NSW sits on the bend of the Clarence River at Yates Crossing. Whilst camping at Yates crossing has been available for years (decades?) we later learned that camping is no longer permitted there :evil: . One is left to wonder why... I feel sorry for future generations who won't get the chance to enjoy this spectacular area as we have done so many times before. Here are a few morning shots (which is the best time of day to be there)









Before leaving on the next stage of our journey, there was some time to play on a little sandy climb:



LFaR.

[wengnuts Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close wengnuts]

Re: Great Dividing Range (6-days from SEQ to PPGTG 2010)

Good pictures Matt, thanks for sharing.

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Re: Great Dividing Range (Day 2 : Alice to Nymboida River Camp)

Day 2 : Alice to Nymboida River Camp

Our family photo to get the day started:



Then we were off on mostly good-quality dirt road:





We followed the Clarence River down to Carnham Rd, where we head West, crossing the Clarence and then joining the mighty Mann River. The river crossing has several long wooden bridges:



A refuel at Jackadgery put plenty of more kms ahead of us. From there we followed the Gwydir Hwy East to the Ramornie State Forest where we met dirt once again. Originally, we were destined for Dalmorton but a change of plan was made to take in the atmosphere of the Nymboida River instead. The river camp area provides a single long-drop loop and otherwise free-camping.

On the 4WD front, there are a few fun little tours too:







The campsite is right on the banks of the river:





The next morning had the fog settling in:







LFaR.

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Re: Great Dividing Range (Day 3 : Nymboida to Bellbrook)

Day 3 : Nymboida to Bellbrook

This day was quite uncertain. The route had been planned by Snaga, though he and wnjevans decided it was best to stick to the hwys, as they had a sick child. This meant the planning was handed over to me, and I'm pleased to say that this allowed me to accumulate more U-Turns than anyone else .

The day started once again with our family photo...



It wasn't long before we were enjoying very diverse terrain:









On the way, I drove past one of the turn-offs, and attemted a U-Turn on a forestry road. This resulted in a tricky bogging, which only the MAXTRAX could extract me.... oh, and they mad it sooooo easy. (Pics of that later).

We stopped for lunch before our first river crossing (I have videos, others have photos).



We pressed on through National Parks, State Forests, and Gated farmland.







We were in awe of the views and experience. I don't know how many times we were prompted to say "Australia is such a beautiful country!" All this in our backyard, and few people experience it. We are sooooo lucky!!!

Callo on gate duty...





And in the middle of no significant sized community, we find this little tin church:



We were not entirely sure where we should be camping at Bellbrook. As it turned out, we passed the perfect river-side campground about 5-10 kms out of Bellbrook. Not knowing that, we pressed on and instead of finding a campground we found ....



Mmmmm. It was a long dusty trail into Bellbrook, and the Bellbrook hotel was the perfect stopping place. The publican assured us we can camp freely at the paddock next to their tennis courts. Camp fires were not possible, so instead we huddled under a picnic area and pulled out laptops and GPS's. A poor substitute for a camp fire, but entertaining nonetheless. (Callo was keen on a movie... but there were just too many distractions ).



LFaR.

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Re: Great Dividing Range (Day 4 : Bellbrook to Maxwell Flats)

Day 4 : Bellbrook to Maxwell Flats

Bellbrook Hotel provides the perfect backdrop for our family photo to kick-off the next day... (BTW, Bellbrook is really a lovely town, well worth a visit and drive around).



Then we were off once again. In the voice of Gangagang... "This is Australiaaaaaa"







We stopped to enjoy the views of Willi Willi Lookout and soon after passed an old school house, Kookaburra School, 1969:



When Gordo's feeling pekish, there's not stopping him. One of his inventions... a triple-bacon, double cheese burger... hold the bread!



BTW, the flowers were out in force. Everywhere we drove, the colours were bloomin' beautiful. Here's just one of the many scenes... Bush Daisies:





This day was not without incident. First Callo encountered a flat tyre:



I wasn't impressed with the standard bottle jack lifting his Grande:



We headed toward Maxwell Flats, passing the odd old structure or three:



Just outside the campground (barely a 100m) Bobsled's canopy was lassoed by a low hanging vine with this as the end result:

Gordo inspects the damage on Bobsled's car:



All in all, pretty minor damage:



It just managed to knock the plastic moulding on the rear door...



Bobsled and Gordo worked on the repairs into the darkness...





It's times like this that spare parts and repair equipment makes a difference. It just so happens that Bobsled carries his own Plastic Glue in his kit, and it got a workout:



The good news is that it was a great repair job in difficult conditions.

We all got to relax by the campfire before the fire went out...



The next morning was extraordinarily damp. The dew point was such that everything was actually soaked, as if it had poured rain all night. It seems this condition is good for Cicadas, because they were all busily emerging from their shells when we awoke:



LFaR.

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Re: Great Dividing Range (Day 5 : Maxwell Flats to Barrington)

Day 5 : Maxwell Flats to Barrington



We were travelling for just a few kms when we came upon this gorgeous cascading water and pool. It was too cold at this time of year.





More colours... just a tiny sample:



At Bald Knob there are 360 degree views at the fire-lookout:



The drive today took us onto a side-track which started out nice and wide, then became to tyre tracks, then one tyre track, then it got a bit tight for us. At one point we were driving over young saplings that had been growing for some years in the centre of the track! (I have a video of that, which I'll upload soon enough)



It was a fun drive, which alas ended up in a need to turn-around on a very narrow track. We managed it with a 4-point turn:



I can't recall where this little picnic area was, but the enormous pines provided a nice frame:



From here, Callo and Gordo decided to head onto Gloucester to attend to some minor issues. Callo needed a tyre repaired and Gordo had some battery maintenance to perform. Then there were just three of us:



Following the trip plan we were to follow more river banks on dirt road. Unfortunately, the road was marked "No Through Road". We decidied to proceed nonetheless. Eventually, we passed a farmer who warned us away from that direction. Quite a shame really, since the drive was magnficient. A U-Turn later and we were headed into Gloucester, then onto our next campground at Barrington.



.

LongDog was tracking us on my SPOT and was able to surprise us in a cafe at Gloucester. LongDog joined our group for the final leg into Riverwood Downs.

I will point out that LongDog, Myself, and Johnny (last name Walker) planned a route for the next day to travel via Gloucester Tops. We put Johnny to bed in the wee hours of the morning...

LFaR.

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Re: Great Dividing Range (Day 6 : Barrington to Monkerai)

Day 6 : Barrington to Monkerai

As I was saying, LongDog, myself and Johnny (last name Walker) had been planning our route for the final day...



Outstanding driving and scenery...



Soon, sadly, we reached a sign which indicated locked gates lay ahead. A close look at the map revealed that indeed Johnny had overlooked the map symbols and attempted to route us through these locked gates! Johnny was not very popular that day .

Oddly, when I later showed the map to Yota, he pointed out that each gate can be reached from either direction! i.e. it's not protecting anything or anyone's land, other than preventing through traffic. Damn! A U-Turn later and we were backtracking to Gloucester Tops.

This was somewhat fortuitous, as I popped into the Gloucester Tops River Camping only to learn that it provides a private 4WD park, $15 per car for the day. Due to the continual rain, we didn't get a chance to try this out, but for future reference or for someone else to report on, here are the details:



Along the way we enjoyed several flooding causeways, which helped to remove some of the 6-days worth of accumulated dust and mud...



At Gloucester Tops, there was a small repair carried out on Gordo's rear wheel as it had a stripped thread on one of the bolts...



Eventually, after around 1200 kms long, 1200 metres high and 6-days driving we arrived...



An epic adventure with a tremendous group of people. Great memories forever!

LFaR.

[Rogerthatv2 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Rogerthatv2]

Re: Great Dividing Range (6-days from SEQ to PPGTG 2010)

Great report LFaR, sounds like a fantastic trip. Looking forward to seeing some videos.

Cheers Daniel

[QUICKY Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close QUICKY]

Re: Great Dividing Range (6-days from SEQ to PPGTG 2010)

Great stuff LFaR. It's funney how Johnny made a few apearances at the GTG and had some help from James Beam as well

[Hutch Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hutch]

Re: Great Dividing Range (6-days from SEQ to PPGTG 2010)

Great right up Matt, you guys had two trips in one!!!!

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Re: Great Dividing Range (6-days from SEQ to PPGTG 2010)

Well im just plain jealous now, sounds like a great trip! and that was just getting to the GTG. Lots of excellent photos too, i like photos

Cheers Andrew

[chester Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close chester]

Re: Great Dividing Range (6-days from SEQ to PPGTG 2010)

Great report just one thing i believe the jack is supposed to go into a groove in the rear axel housing could be why it did not work so well

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Re: Great Dividing Range (6-days from SEQ to PPGTG 2010)

G'day Chester,

Great report just one thing i believe the jack is supposed to go into a groove in the rear axel housing could be why it did not work so well

Thanks for that info. We looked at the axel housing and I'll have to take another look.

In fact, we searched around for the lifting point, and eventually pulled out the users manual :shock: ... and then we read it :shock: :shock:. The jack also has some "self-help" diagrams/hieroglyphics. In the end, it was not at all clear to any of us, though the impression we got was that we placed it appropriately... Now that we're off the beaten track, I'll have another look at that.

LFaR.

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Re: Great Dividing Range (6-days from SEQ to PPGTG 2010)

And the video now showing at Great Dividing Range - Tour to PradoPoint GTG 2010. It compresses our 6-day journey into about 8 minutes.

LFaR.