Condomine Gorge Weekend

13 - 14 September 1997

Queen Mary Falls and nearby Dobbs Falls

What has five "L" Series, one "MY", two "Brumbys", one Hilux with campervan, a new member, some old members, two country members, and fine weather have in common ? - a recipe for a great weekend.

Our meeting place at Beaudesert Historical Museum was as interesting as we have come to expect from a very dedicated band of volunteers. The displays captured everyone’s attention for quite some time. After morning tea, we introduced our new member, Ray L, and our country members from Bellingen (NSW), Jim & Patricia L, to the general assembly of "L" tourers, Danny & Beth W, Arnold & Pat S, Peter G, Peter N with son B & friend Vanessa; in the "MY" we have Bruce and Pam O, son Mark & daughter Lisa, and Rob P in the "Mighty Hilux", the Brumby tourers were Graeme & Julie L, Marilyn and I.

We then set out towards Boonah taking a detour along the way via the Old Boonah - Beaudesert road. This was still in use until the late sixties, when a flood-free road was built. Bypassing Boonah, on the eastern side, we head toward the ranges and take in some great scenery including Mount Barney, Mount Sugarloaf, and a panoramic view of the Main Range & Border Ranges.

We then proceeded past the Maroon Dam which is at 70% capacity. We compared this to our tour two years ago when the dam had about 30% capacity. It was great to see the higher levels. From here we headed up onto White Swamps Road toward Koorelah and into Clunies State Forest. To our surprise and disappointment there were no bush orchards in flower, our friendly farmer down the road informed us that this was possibly due to the lack of spring rains.

Our lunch break was on the side of the road, just outside the line of rainforest, this has become quite an interesting lunch break as the farmer has quite a collection of scrap/junk/etc piled under the trees. It takes a lot to discourage the male gender from having a look at this type of collection, the farmer came down to check us out and we learned he has two lodges available for hire. After a friendly discussion he agreed to allow us to view these lodges. Very interesting - peace and quiet, and a chance to study the birds and nature. I will be surprised if they do not have some of us back there for a quiet weekend. If anyone is interested I have a brochure.

Danny with friends ... Brushtail Possum, King Parrot, Crimson Rosella and Laughing Kookaburra

After lunch it was over to the Moss Gardens for a walk along the ridge to study the view and take in this little bit of Mother Nature’s creation of moss growing on the rocks and trees. From here we went to Carr’s Lookout to see the spectacular views of the Head and to show the area we will be driving through Sunday.

A short drive up to Queen Mary Falls Caravan Park for our overnight stay. The campsite is as we have come to expect, clean and well mown. The trees around the perimeter have now grown to give us some shelter from the winds. The campfire is under way and happy hour has started - it is now time to relax. This is what I like - relaxing.

Queen Mary Falls Campground - more civilised than our usual campsites

Sunday morning it’s down to the picnic area. From here we go on the walk around the falls, this takes approx 45 minutes and is very refreshing. Enough water in the falls to make a good show. Morning tea is in the picnic area prior to departure, while we wait for David M, in his Brumby and Cameron & Julie N, with son Malcolm, in the Pajero, to join us for our next stage. The trip through the gorge is best done before lunch as the sun lights up the rock faces adding to the beauty of it all. The fourteen creek crossings all had water, but the rest of the area is showing signs of the dry weather. Our next stop is at Teviott Falls Lookout - no water running here - we then proceed on a pleasant drive over to Moogerah Dam for lunch. Our tour takes in a dirt road where, at one point, the road climbs to give a good view of the Border Ranges.

Beth on the Queen Mary Falls circuit

After lunch we head off to Boonah via the Mount French National Park. There are two lookouts on Mount French. The first is on the northern face where we could see from the Border Ranges sweeping around towards Toowoomba, Ipswich and Brisbane. This face of the mountain is used for abseiling - we must have frightened them away as they had all packed up. The view was spectacular with patchwork fields and irrigation systems spraying water. At the southern lookout we were able to see where we had driven yesterday.

This was the end of our weekend, we said our goodbyes. Marilyn & I would like to thank those who came along and helped to make the trip an enjoyable weekend. Thank you Rob for being tail-end Charlie for the weekend.

Ralph Condon SC372