29.01.11 River Bend Country Bush Camping

We decided to go somewhere closer to home this time.  The weather forcast is for showers and Glenn is a bit irritated by that ... being that we have the whole 80% rain guarantee thing to shake off ... and as we set out the day is decidedly gloomy, and the "chance" of rain looks more and more certain.

Roughly 1 hour by road and 80 kilometres from home, River Bend Country Bush Camping is directly opposite James McD Sharp Park (named for the Beaudesert Shire Council chairman from 1936 - 1961 ... quite a stint, so I guess he must have liked the job) on Coomera Creek.  This is the closest camp to home so far.


We've never been here before and took a wrong turn to start with, but ending up in Canungra was a good thing.  We stocked up on a few things we'd forgotten, chatted with the lovely lady attending the Information Centre in town, and were soon on the right road to our destination.  Those Info Centres are full of excellent local information and can give you info on everything in and around the area, and we've picked up some information on the area camping wise, so always a great place to drop by first.

River Bend is roughly 4k's south east of Canungra and it wasn't long before we were deciding on a site.

The noticeboard as you drive in looked like the place had been packed from the beginning of the school holidays until a few days ago ... reserved being the most popular name on the board ... but nothing in their name now. 

We parked and did a lap of the reserve, then crossed the river to check out Sharp Park, before deciding on our spot.  I get to reverse it into place (YAY!) and do an extremely professional job!  "Hey Darlin, can I drive it home tomorrow and reverse it into home, cause you haven't even let me touch the keys when it's hooked up till now?  I'll do a perfect job of it ... Trust me"

As you can see we picked a nice shady tree to be under, which hopefully will aid in a good sleep in.  From here it's less than 50 metres to the creek via a track leading right from our camp.  Let's say it was rather well used from our point of view!  I was in that creek faster than you could could say "River Bend Country Camping is directly across the creek from James McD Sharp Park" once we'd set up as it's quite warm and a little humid.  This one looking downstream and the second looking upstream.

We set up our little OzPig again ... rules are no new burn marks in the grass ... as it uses less timber to produce the same cooking requirements.  Casserole is the plan for dinner, and this gives me another excuse to bring out the camp oven.  Yummy mix of tender rump steak, seasonal vegetables, herbs, spices, garlic, some assorted sauces and stocks.  And I chucked in some home grown and dried chili's to give it some bite.

As we were sitting around enjoying the smells of it cooking, a gent came along for a chat.  He and Glenn chatted for a half hour or so before he headed home to see if he too were getting a meal as good smelling as ours.  Anyway by this time Glenn has had too much Rum and I've had too much Sun and I'm also getting a sore gut from laughing so much ... especially when Glenn eats a full chilli from the casserole!  Sorry Darlin, but it was just so funny ...

The loo block is just that ... loo's only.  They do have a "double kitchen sink on a bbq stand" thing that you can move around, but by the sign on it, not too far and please return it immediately ... oh and water some plants with the used water ... here use this bucket.  You can see it on the right hand side there ...

We had one really weird "pissing down for a full 30 seconds and then sunny again" shower, so the weather predition was close.  I hope they are glad to know that. 

There are quite a few caravaner's - one is a pie van (the CT.org'ers who met at AD will understand that reference) in the reserve and 4 camper trailers - 3 soft floor and 2 hard floor (including us) and a few tents as well.  It's rather quite.  The only sounds breaking the silence are the constant stream of motorbikes (they seem to like this road very, very much), a few kids having a ball, the occassional dog having a ball, the very occassional car and some birds.

We head to the creek to do some night-time spotting of whatever is about ... it's becoming a habit for us, but one that is rather rewarding creature wise.  You see things you just wouldn't through the day.  Eels, catfish, turtles (almost trod on the poor thing thinking it was a rock), platys and guppies.  Even a few of these freshwater prawns nibbling on my toes ... surely there's nothing worthy of eating on them ... but I haven't had a shower yet, so ...

And this very goldish stripey looking frog ... which was rather large too.  Bit bigger than a cane toad and rather friendly ... at least it didn't jump away when approached or touched.

Around 8pm some doof doof'ers turn up and are asked to leave (but only after the entire neighbourhood heard what some can only class as shit but will never be classed as actual music ... but don't get me started as that's a whole other blog!) as it's part of the rules thank goodness. 

We put up the humble fold up shower tent and wait for the shower water to cool down and then we are off to bed after such a big day relaxing our butts off.  So exhausting I'm sure!

The next day dawns lovelier than the last ... showers?  What showers?  Bloody weather bureau ... :-)  No idea ... We reheated last nights dinner for breakfast, but on toast this time.  And it's back down to the creek for yet another dunking. 

Our 'a couple down' neighbours were acting all weird and calling around to the closest neighbours to bring camera's and then they were all standing around ooh-ing and aarh-ing and clicking away madly.  What is going on?  So camera in hand, I head to the lower walkway to sneak up on whatever they can see.  Platypus!  And so cute too!  Ducking and diving and disappearing and re-appearing and not worried at all about all the kids screaming and splashing just over 500 metres away.

Awwww ... this one had me entranced for quite awhile.  And then I noticed some beautiful finches or sparrows which I've yet to identify ... I'll get out that bird book soon.

And then it's time to pack up the AS again.  We are in no hurry, but just want to ensure we pack it up dry for a second time this month ... and we do :-).  We've got the tree for shade, so no reason not to put it all away.  Table, chairs, kitchen and other gear is still out, it'll just make our process a tad easier when it comes time.

I have bought a bed / li-lo that is mesh through the centre and has a blow up pillow and edges and I intend to blow it up and float down that creek on it before we go.  It folds up the same way as the shower tent, so I've decided it can live in the same bag and come with us on future trips as it takes up little room and is so great to have around water.  So I huff and puff and blow that bed up!  Head down to the creek and get wet once more.  I paddle upstream to where I'd seen the platypus and then float my way downstream until I hit the "dam wall" lots of kids have been building over the holdiays.  A few mothers jokingly say they'll knock me off it and steal it, but they all agreed it was a great idea.  I get a warning from a youngster as I approach the dam wall "not to get stuck in the rapids" and I take his advice ... nothing worse than litterally "bottoming out".  I walk back to camp after a totally relaxing float and decide it's time for lunch.

Before we know it, we've packed up and heading back home.  Yes I drove and Yes I reversed it into it's spot at home.  Never done it myself more professionally either :-).  LOL! 

I realise once it's all unpacked and secured, that I'm still a bit wet from the creek!  What a great weekend!

P.S.  Our AS turns 6 months old tomorrow!  And we've seen some fantastic places that we wouldn't have seen without it ... It's definitely part of our lives now and I can't express enough how much we enjoy it and enjoy taking it places.  My last real holiday was Tassie in a campervan in 03.2007 with my sister and before that 1770 in the tent 12.2005 ... so this really has been a rewarding investment for us.

Trip Kilometres: 170
Trip Duration: 48 hours