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Mitsubishi 4WD Owners Club of Qld (Inc) |
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Bunyas - April '09 |
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Bunya MountainsTrip ... Easter 2009
Bunya Mountains Easter Trip April 10 -13 2009Attendees:
The Bells & Whistles Caravan Park is located in the town of Bell [1] , on the Darling Downs, about four hours travel from Brisbane. It’s about 40 kilometres north of Dalby, in the shadow of the Bunya Mountains. The park has the usual facilities, plus some great murals, a radio in the shower block (which was beautifully clean … er … I mean the shower block was clean, not the radio … well, the radio was clean too, I suppose), and a feisty stumpy-tailed Manx kitten named Tom. The owners are efficient, cheerful and friendly; the park is well maintained and the Bell pub, within walking distance, is a cracker … and don’t forget the Arthur Pope Historic Machinery Collection … and the Bell Patchwork shop. You know how some members of our club are white-knuckled adrenalin junkies? They charge enthusiastically over cliffs in 4WD parks and slide around sideways in muddy rainforests in places that are so wild and primaeval that you know you’d be able to see packs of velociraptors in the rear view mirror … if the mirror hadn’t already rattled loose and the rear window wasn’t covered with mud. Well, the club members who went to the Bells & Whistles Caravan Park at Bell weren’t like that. I hesitate to say that they were the more genteel folk of the club; after all, both Greg Dunstan and Don Williamson were there, but they were from the group who could be called the less adventurous, and calmer, members. Lesley and I, being placid people (ie lazy), fitted in perfectly. Some of the folks traveled to Bell on Thursday, but we tootled up on Friday morning, and Lesley (the faithful navigator) took us via Toowoomba, Oakey, Jondaryan, Quinalow, Maclagan and Kaimkillenbun (all pubs successfully photographed … except in Maclagan … which doesn’t have a pub; it’s a disgrace, I shall write to The Times about it). I can’t imagine why we didn’t also visit Cooranga North, Pirrinuan, Woodleigh, Dalby and Alice Springs - oh! wait a minute, there could be a sneaky subtext here; the intrepid navigator has recently become fascinated with the now-defunct cheese industry in the Southern Downs. If that’s the reason for the circuitous route; I hope it’s for a book or a PhD dissertation, or something, otherwise we’ve burnt a lot of diesel on a whim. By the way, if you’re ever having trouble getting to sleep, ask Lesley to tell you about the rise and fall of the Quinalow cheese industry … you’ll be nodding off in seconds. We finally dropped anchor at Bell, just after lunch, and quickly set up camp so that we could head up to the Bunya Mountains before it rained. In fact, it didn’t rain that afternoon, and the Metcalfes led the party over a route which included a short stretch of dirt road, so Don got to complain about getting dust on his car. Mind you, he did do a 500 metre walk, so perhaps exhaustion was a factor in that as well. Lesley explored around Dandabah and communed with to the crimson rosellas while I sat in the car and read a book (yes, I know that’s exceptionally lazy, even for me, but I’ve knocked my knee around a bit recently and I wasn’t up for much walking, and it’s a great book!). When she came back, she had bought me an ice-cream - brilliant - I’ll try that one again! On Saturday morning, after the girls discovered that the Patchwork shop is closed on Saturdays, we all headed over to Jimbour Homestead [2] for a look around; there was a wedding on there (I tried to warn the groom but I was too late … poor devil). The building is a magnificent example of an English manor house built by homesick Poms trying to recreate Hampshire in Australia, and there are lots of interesting outbuildings (the infrastructure had to be big, the property used to extend from the Bunyas to Dalby). Jimbour’s got an interesting cemetery, great gardens, and a water pumping tower with a big square water tank on the top (a seriously weird building for an Australian property!). The tower also contains a café with good coffee and cakes and is well worth a visit if you are in the area. By that, I mean that the whole place is worth a visit, not just the water tower ... or the café. After Jimbour we travelled north to the start of the Dingo fence. This extends, theoretically at least, from there down to the Great Australian Bight. I don’t usually have any strong feelings about wire and posts but I was impressed by the fence; or at least by the concept [3]. Lesley was impressed by the great big ants’ nest that she stood on to photograph the fence; the dance that she did was really interesting in a sort of post-modern jitterbuggy way. Isn’t Stingose wonderful? Two cars went elsewhere, and the rest of us continued on to Jandowae. It’s very scenic - 3 pubs (all photographed - tick!) and the café in the main street does great chips. My diet was already scrabbling at the rock-face, hanging on by fingernails only; it was at this point that it fell to its death. Saturday evening: two carloads went to the Brymaroo rodeo while the rest had dinner at the pub in Bell (it’s adventurously called ‘The Bellview’ and yes, we photographed it, and yes, it has a view), and while having a relaxed wait for our meal (the dining room is quite small and there was a big crowd), Lesley and I had a few nice chardies on the verandah and enjoyed the vista of the passing traffic (an early model Pajero, fair condition, low mileage ... drove past once, and a Falcon sedan, newish, good condition … drove past twice). After this exciting interlude, we joined the gang for dinner. The meal was excellent, the company great, and the wine continued to be smooth and mellow … and cheap. On Sunday, one group (the Williamsons, the Dunstans, and the Curcuruttos, and maybe some others?) went to Kingaroy to visit a lavender farm but ended up on the ‘indoor walking track’ at the RSL. That was obviously going to be way too exciting for us - we went up to the Bunyas again. While I continued reading my book and did some crossword puzzles, the Akeroyds did a short walk and Rod Metcalfe, Jane Marks and Lesley went for a 7.5 kilometre hike, in the pouring rain (written that way, it implies that they are barking mad … I shouldn’t imply that … no, on second thoughts I don’t have to imply it; it’s bleedin’ obvious!). The photograph taken afterwards appears to show a collection of half-drowned, muddy rats. How they escaped being covered in leeches, I can’t imagine. When we returned to Bell, the pub was hosting a gathering of XU1 Toranas; it’s all happening there, I tell you! After Happy Hour, we very bravely opted for a communal dinner, very enjoyable, despite the threatening weather. The Brymaroo Rodeo gang reported that it was really enjoyable too; … you could have knocked me over with a feather. At no stage during the weekend did we get into 4WD, but it was pleasant and fun and we discovered that the Roberts family has the classiest chairs, and wine goblets. The Dunstans produce the hottest chilli sauce, and the group of bushwalkers, who were camped near us, almost all used alpenstocks. They may be useful, but they make you look like you have left your skis somewhere ... and they do remind me of the whole geeky, hiking song thing (“I love to go a wan - der - in’, along the moun - tain track”), but I guess there are worse things than being an alpenstock equipped hiker. Our drive back to Brisbane on Monday, via Kingaroy, Nanango, Yarraman, Blackbutt and Caboolture, was in the pouring rain (actually, make that bucketing rain) and it was too wet to get out and photograph the pubs (all right, except in Blackbutt). Others went via the Ipswich motorway and were held up by the usual accident. During our trip we discovered that, if the rain is heavy enough, at 80 kilometres per hour, water squeezes under the front of Brutus’s soft-top, spills over the windscreen and sprays the car’s occupants. So, there you go, you learn something every day! Mike McBurney PS. We finally did get into 4WD during the weekend. I needed low range 4WD to back the trailer up our yard after all the rain. PPS. Thanks to Rod and Mary, and all of the other attendees, the weekend was great. Thanks folks! Back to Top
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