Amamoor State Forest

20-21 May 2000

 

It was the club’s first trip to the area and was organised by our keen Gympie members Rex & Graham Hood.  The crew for the weekend were the Hoods and their families, Rex & Maree in their Liberty powered 91 L wagon, Graham & Kay in their turbo powered 93 L wagon, along with other Gympie members, Ross Bartholomew in his 86 L wagon (who only stayed for the Saturday) and Peter McDonald in his 83 MY, Rex’ work mates Evan Kidd and his son Damian in a Diesel Rodeo ute, Nigel Holmes in a Triton V6 ute (who returned to Gympie overnight, but came back for the day on Sunday).  Rik Close in his 83 MT wagon & I in the 83 MY Brumby rounded off the group.

I did not arrive until after lunch and via the CB I contacted the group up in the hills nearby. Graham returned and met me at a turn off near the camp.  After light rain during the late morning the higher tracks became slippery, so we decided to head to a nearby lower area.  Along the way Rik stopped at a gate to pump up a leaking tyre and out of a side  track to our surprise came a local resident in a Suzuki Sierra who was keen for a chat. After an easy creek crossing progress came to a stop with a big fallen tree across the track. With a few axes and a bow saw we set about cutting it. Because it was so big we only cut one side, the plan was to then pull it off to the side of the track. The only problem was that one Suby could not move it enough. So out came a snatch block from the Hood boys’ extensive recovery gear which did the job easily. As it was still slippery going in places it was decided to head back to camp. Another surprise was seeing Keith Peters and daughter in his RX Turbo, with the camper already set up. It was a last minute decision by Keith to come along. The camp spot is the famous Gympie Country Music Muster site and is a State Forest campground with good facilities, mowed grass and plenty of shade.

After a relaxing evening around the campfire, Sunday dawned fine and sunny, after a thick pea soup the fog had lifted. Just as we were leaving for the day’s drive, Peter Kallenbach rolled in driving his fully set up off road racing Brumby. The plan for the day was to head towards the tracks near Kandanga. Some of the creek had interesting steep entries and exits and one was quite deep.  We stopped for morning tea at a new steel radio tower. Judging by the warning signs, the section of track before we turned off to the tower was being used for a Special Stage of the Australian Rally Championships to be held in early June. We continued on more tracks, slowly gaining height. Eventually we started to go down hill again and found the very last section to be really steep (a seatbelt hanger). Keith and I had a go at climbing it but couldn’t get over the last hump. Soon after we wound our way back to camp for a late lunch. As time was getting on we started to pack up, said our thank you’s and goodbyes and set off for home. Peter, Rik and I stopped for a quick break and ice cream in sleepy Amamoor before joining the busy highway.

A big thank you to the Hood boys for organising the trip to a new area. It is certainly an area that needs more exploring when the weather is better.

David Martin SC180