Bellthorpe State Forest

5 Nov 2000

We only had three cars for this trip; a few people could not attend as their plans had changed. After a very long dry spell over the winter we had a few storms during the week before the trip which nicely greened up the countryside. Our crew consisted of John S and son Jason with his friend in his well set up Forester, Big John McK with Rik C as passenger in the Rodeo Pie Van and myself with Greg B in the Brumby. Our first stop was for morning tea overlooking the Glass House Mountains.

We had been making good progress as the tracks had recently been graded with very few fallen branches and trees to clear. Most of the bigger rocks had also been cleared and we were able to drive straight through the creek crossings which usually required roadwork. Coming out of one of the creek crossings the track became too slippery for the Pie Van, which was the last car, so Big John decided to give his electric winch a run and slowly winched himself up.

We eventually turned onto a new track. We didn't know where this track finished, but it was heading in the right direction. It was a steep descent and eventually wound its way  own to the picnic area, which worked out well for our lunch spot.

Along the way we all stopped to investigate a noise that John had in his Forester. It was the exhaust shield touching the tail shaft, which was easily fixed. After lunch we headed west. Big John and Rik took a side track to see if it was open. The track has been closed for years because of a big tree which had fallen across the track. The tree is about 3 metres plug in diameter  probably why it is still lying there.

We were making good progress through scenic rainforest country while we were looking further to the  south‑west where there were big black clouds building up.

The next interesting spot was a long steep rutted downhill that we all managed without any problems, After a few more hills back on level ground we smelled petrol fumes in the Brumby and quickly stopped. A stick had been caught under the car and had pulled the main rubber fuel line off. We quickly reconnected it and were under way again heading for home on the main track, just beating a fast approaching storm.

 Rik collected his car which he parked in Woodford for the day. We soon heard a radio report that the highway was bumper to bumper around the Bribie Island turn off, right where we wanted to travel. At Caboolture we decided to take the back way through Narangba and Petrie. This is usually a slower way but can be worthwhile when the highway is badly delayed.

 Overall, Bellthorpe State Forest is an interesting area to visit with good tracks and scenic views.