Mt Widgee Gympie

With the Cooloola Rally postponed because of wet weather, a day's run was quickly organised by Rex and Graham H. As we all had our own permits the plan was to head west to Kilkivan and then east back to Gympie. In the Brumby I met Rex and Graham in Gympie in their respective white L Series wagons. Rex' is 2.2 Liberty powered and Graham's is EA '82 turbo powered. Also Peter McDonald was along in his well travelled MY '83 Touring wagon.

At the Woolooga turn off we met up with Auto John and Val Sch on their first trip in their recently built up EA ' 81 turbo powered Brumby. Auto John was very keen to try his new machine out. Our first stop was at the old smelter with the restored chimney on the Kilkivan horse trail. The next section was steeper with a few ruts that required some low range work. Auto John and Val were making jokes over the CB such as what is this other lever for near the gear stick and having a sore left clutch leg.

After descending a pretty steep and lumpy hill we were back on the flat passing the Webb brothers farm where the very first country music muster was held. Our plan was then to climb via a long steep back track up to Mt Widgee for lunch. This track starts off with a hard to find cattle track and at this time of year was covered in high grass. Once you find it you are in low range all the way to the top, probably over 1.5km in length up through the tight fit between the gum trees over the ruts and woah boys. With the long grass it places it was quite slippery and there are good views too, if you have time to look. It was certainly hard going in places and Auto John was enjoying the benefits of having low range.

We finally made it to the top of Widgee for lunch. It was a popular hang glider launch spot and is about 600mtrs high and has great views looking east. With clear weather we were able to get a group photo of the cars over­looking the view. Rex climbed high into a tree to get the shot. While we were enjoying our lunch a Nissan Patrol rolled up with hang glider on its roof. The crew piled out and set up a small windsock to read the wind direction and speed. Then to our surprise out came a para glider (parachute). We got talking to them. One even owns an MY wagon. They said the para glider would take off, if the up drafts were right but the hang glider would take off regardless. They were very experienced and had flown all over the world. They carried UHF radios, GPS and had a pick up crew. The hang glider pilot said his longest flight in good conditions was about 130km in western NSW.

As time was getting on we set off before the glider took off. We detoured on a few tracks in the area that were overgrown with Lantana. One day we should explore the area more.

Once we reached the bottom road we saw the para glider flying high above us and beside the road we passed his pickup crew, so the conditions must have improved for good flying. Once we reached the small town of Widgee we stopped, had a talk about the day's events, had an ice cream and then said our thankyous and goodbyes and set off on our separate ways home. Thanks to the Gympie crew for organising an interesting day. It was a big day for me, about 12 hours and 500km.