We booked this trip rather late as I’d been trying to
contact another camp ground with no success alas. To date I've still not heard from them.
Arriving about 0930 onsite, we found that the site we
had booked had been taken by a family friend and being a rather hot weekend, we
would now have to set up and be in the hot, hot sun all day long. I tried to convince Glenn to take another
site that was lightly shaded, but was in close proximity to another large camping
group, but he wasn’t easily swayed. So
with no choice but to make the best of it we headed down to the sites with no
shade.
Noticing one spot where we might be able to get out of
the worst of the sun, I encouraged Glenn to check it out. He was rather upset that we couldn’t get the
site we’d booked and in no mood to really listen to anything, I left it up to
him to decide. It then took us ages to
get the camper in the right spot. There
were raised voices and angry looks, but eventually things went together.
While still setting up, I got bitten by the biggest
ant that has any right nipping me on the leg.
And it really stung for quite awhile.
As I was howling in pain, another ant got me on the foot. I dumped my thongs at the door to the camper
and wasn’t going to move till the area got raked! Once that was done, I was extremely wary from
then on. Consequently I only put my feet
on the ground when necessary for the entire camp and even sitting on the chair
wasn’t totally safe!
Realising that we were sweating profusely, I encouraged
Glenn to head for the Nerang
River
This is our first trip without Jack. It’s been less than a week and I still turn
to call him. Glenn notices this and
gives me some cheek, but when we return to camp, we both raise our glasses and
toast the Old Boy. I will admit it’s a
bit easier without him, but not … all at the same time.
Then one of the dogs gets bit by an ant the size of an
elephant. Kiah I think. But by the end of the trip, we’ve all been
bitten. And they really, really
hurt! I’m sitting on my comfy chair with
legs up and both the dogs are in the camper.
So funny but not. Seems the ant
bites will make Kiah feel under the weather later in the week - or that's what we think.
Cars slowly return to the large tent camp and we
realise that it’s a big group of P Platers.
Hopefully they won’t be very noisy tonight. They don towels and head to the Deep Hole to
the south of the campground. It’s where
we were going to head, but not now I guess.
A horse rider circles the paddock doing jumps. Apparently she is the owner’s sister’s
daughter and they are up in the only house here. I recall when we came out here first time
that the owner (David) said he had the yard up there booby trapped – I couldn’t
tell if he was serious or joking either.
We spend the rest of the day trying to avoid ants,
going for swims and preparing drinks, but then it’s time to think about
dinner. T-bone & Veg with a Camp Cake
Our neighbours thankfully aren’t all that noisy, but
on a still night in the middle of nowhere, they are loud enough.
It’s early to bed for us although to start with it’s
hard to fall asleep. There is no snoring
from the dog bed area anymore. The kids
are loudish, but get quieter as the night goes on. The drinking and laughing soon takes it toll
on the P Platers though.
20.01.13
Next morning it’s easy to lay in bed snoozing, but
seems Glenn can’t seem to sleep in and makes coffee.
We fight off more ants today and plan to do some more
swimming. Glenn wants to pack things up
fairly early and I suggest we head off to the Natural Bridge
We start our pack up and I’m keeping a nervous eye out
for ants. Neither dog wants to come out
of the camper and I don’t blame them.
We head down to the creek for another swim as it’s
getting hotter and hotter.
Back at camp, we finish off the pack up and lock up
the camper. The plan now is to visit the
Natural Arch. It’s only about 5 – 10
kilometres further south of us, so it seems a pity not to visit it. We plan to leave the dogs locked in the Dog
Box at the entrance and walk in as I believe it isn’t very far.
We are on the road and heading south before long and crossing
over the Lyons Bridge
I make comment that there are a
few of those in our travels. Seems the
family name is synonymous with water crossings in the country. Not far past the bridge is a café and not far
past that is the entrance to the park.
We head in and park off the road, leaving the dogs with water. Glenn tells me that he used to come here as a
kid and jump though the hole in the roof.
I’m sure I’ve been here before but it must have been as a young child so
don’t really have a memory of it.
And we start walking in. Before too long we are at the information
booth and the trail starts not far past it.
The signage claims that the easiest way to do this is to follow the
arrows, but we start in the opposite direction getting all the stairs out of
the way first. The map also claimed we
could see the archway from the trail, but we don’t see if for awhile. I’d have really hated going the other way. Stairs really take if out of me since I hurt
my knee years ago at a concert, but this is all downhill so we have to watch
out that we don’t slip. We reach the
bottom of the valley and there are people swimming in the creek beside a sign
that clearly states you can’t swim.
Moving further along we see more swimmers and people
jumping as Glenn did in years gone past.
I head down to snap off a few photos and we encounter many people under
the arch taking photos with their flash even though the sign clearly states
that using the flash kills the glow worms in the cave. I see a small bat and would love to take a
photo but don’t wish to kill any glow worms which aren’t glowing at the present
time. Passing a family with a stroller,
we head up to the top of the archway falls and then back up to the signage and
out to the dogs.
It was lovely to see it and would have been nice to
take some time to spend looking at all things natural, but it was exceptionally
busy with people ignoring signs so I didn’t feel so bad about leaving our dogs
where we did on the far edge of the park.
Back in the car we are heading off once more. Upon our return to camp roughly an hour
later, we see the P Platers all lined up near our camper. It seems they have an archery passion and are
firing off arrows into a bank not far from our camper. They seem to have about 50 arrows and are
firing them off in turn.
Making lunch is easy whilst the camper is packed away
and we start to do this and watch the archery antics.
After a while the arrow firing stops and they return
to their camp, jump in their cars and drive off, so we guess they are off to
the pub for more drinks for tonight.
This leaves the campground rather quiet as we are almost the only
tenants.
I suggest a dip in the Deep Hole upstream and Glenn
agrees so we head off in that direction.
Telashi is very keen to swim, but Kiah doesn’t want to
get in. We notice a rope bridge going up
towards the guest house and wander over to investigate it. Before long I’m having a swim as well. It’s about hip height for as far as I walk
out which is quite a ways. I stop and
notice the owner’s sisters family boys coming down from the hill top. They jump in and swim across to the rope
bridge. I ask them how deep it is
further upstream and get a reply of 7 – 8 feet – so well over my head.
After being in the area for about ½ an hour, Glenn
decides it’s time to head home, I wave to the boys and say goodbye and we
return to the vehicle to hitch up the camper and go.
The trip home is uneventful really and we make good
time. I suggest a stop for some YatalaPies and the vehicle veers that way.
We’ve been buying the big family pies for years as they make great quick
dinners or lunches and that is the plan today.
My shout. I’m pretty sure my
Grandfather took a photo of the shop back in 1941 … but it was on a different
site and called a different name … I forget to ask if it’s the same place.
We are home ½ hour later and unpacking. It’s still early in the day for us as the
trip only takes just over an hour. Guess
house chores are in order –wrapping up and freezing some of those pies – and
putting another piece in the oven for dinner.
Sorry, didn't collect our AH for this trip ... was too worried about getting bit by ants to relax.
Trip Kilometres:
194
Trip Duration: 48 hours
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