Urbenville Recce

Urbenville Run
The day started with a call from Dave M saying that Jo & Cheryl were coming and that he would see me at 9am. I told him we were supposed to be meeting at 8am!  “Bugger” was Dave’s response then he said he would ring Jo and tell him. I got to Maccas and Mary was already there. After a short wait, Jo & Cheryl turned up (they were on their way when Dave rang them). With Dave on time, arriving at 8:30am, we headed out. With plenty of pot holes along the way, a bit of caution was needed. Our first turn off was a forest road just out of Woodenbong - not a bad road with some remnants of the recent flood on the low bridges. Not long after, we were in Urbenville. This was going to be a weekend away, but with a flood the week before I decided make it a day trip.

Heading to our first stop, Tooloome Falls, we came across a road block, so we had to backtrack to Urbenville and take a different route. I found another road to the falls which was a 7km drive and we were there. Wow! With all the rain Tooloome Falls put on a good show. We had a look around and took some photos.  Some people were camping there and we decided to keep it in mind for another weekend away. With the route changed due to the road block, we headed south turning off to Paddys Flat Road. We followed the dirt road for quite a while passing through eucalypt plantations and crossing the Clarence River a couple of times. At the bottom of a long downhill we came to a small track which ran alongside the river. This is another great camp site, but with the water up 1.5 m it was running fast. Leaving the site we crossed the river on an old wooden bridge with water splashing through the gaps making it a bit scary. Finally coming out onto the main road, we headed to Cambridge Plateau. The road runs along the top of the ridge with views on both sides of the road then running into the forest.  We followed a side track down to the bottom of the Plateau but with no other way up we backtracked to the top again. After linking up with Peacock Creek Rd we stopped at the picnic area/campground for a break.

On the road again we stopped at another water fall called Bean Creek Falls. With the rain starting, it was a quick look then back on the road again. We headed back to where the road was blocked. I had chosen a side track to get back to Urbenville only to find that the land slip was before the side track! Bugger!  Jo looked down at his rear tyre and said it was nearly flat. We checked it out and found no nail so after a quick pump up we were on our way.  After a calculation of how much fuel we had and how far to the next servo, we felt our only choice was to head for Casino. Arriving at 7:30pm we thought about dinner at a pub but then remembered daylight savings! It was too late so Maccas it was.

After dinner Jo’s tyre was down again so after quick change, we headed for Lismore. Driving through town my battery light came on. We all know what that means!!  Double bugger!! The alternator was shot. With RACQ to the rescue he confirmed it and a tow truck was on the way.  After leaving the crew at Lismore I had a quick trip home. A little birdie told me Dave & Mary decided to stop at BP Coomera for a coffee. Jo and Cheryl decided to go straight home. With Dave exiting off the highway a voice came over the radio asking “where are you going Dave?”  Dave looked and said “bugger!”He had taken the Movie World exit, which is two exits short of Coomera! They had a coffee to wake up and continued on their way. With Mary only 2 minutes from home, Dave was on his own for a 45 minute drive.
Getting home right on 1 am he stopped in the driveway to listen to the news - and woke up for the 2 am news!!
All in all it was a great day. Special thanks to everybody for staying till the tow truck came.

Jan Kancelarczyk sc589