Day 55 Granite Creek

 Thursday 10th June, 2021 29.4km

1499.9 / 3599km

Early morning pack up

It was bloody cold. Beanie, gloves and jacket to start the day.

Today I follow the rail line through paddocks across Granite Vale Station. The next camp spot is Granite Creek the one where the bloke said there were crocodiles. The plan if it goes OK, is to get as far as I can so the Friday walk isn't long into Marlborough so I can get my parcel and post the excess.

The sun may warm it up a bit

The walk down the fence is pleasant and I enjoy it. The second gate has lock on it (tell Debbie) but I climb over. The trains keep coming and I get a small thrill when they toot acknowledgement. Still a kid I suppose.

Following the fence and train line

Some friends

The notes again make no sense when it states the track leaves the rail line. Well it doesn't and I just continue along the

fence. The recently graded track along the fence runs out and I have to crawl under a boundary fence and bush bash to a gate which I have to climb then I can see a rail crossing across the paddock which I head for. I catch up to the trail notes, just by a different route. Now it's down the right side of the rail along cow pads till I meet a fence and have to turn. The country is open and I angle across the paddocks in anticipation of the trail notes. In the end I walk straight onto a track across Granite Creek.

Granite Creek Evergreen

The notes say to head for the Evergreen. A name

Another shot up Granite Creek

they have given a patch of timber. I reckon it's just the trees along the creek. Maybe in my short cuts I missed something. The water in the creek is certainly green. I follow this track all the way through the property till I hit the road into

Riverview Station on the Styx River. Then it's onto the road into Ogmore. There are no shops or pub in Ogmore and in the end I just walked through without getting the camera out. The old pub was a mess with whoever living there leaving rubbish all around.

I then went as far up the back road to Marlborough as I could. Stopping on the side of the road opposite a dam.

an intereting bit of bent pipe

been threre a while

Memorial outside Ogmore

Day 54 not St Lawrence

Wednesday 9th June, 2021 38km

1470.5 / 3628.4 km

A little bit wet and cold

Last night while listening to the rain I worked out I was going to hit Marlborough on Saturday. I have things at the Post Office to pick up and if I do a zero day Sunday, I would still be hanging around Monday. So I need to decide to either slow down or speed up. I have a bit of walking on the Bruce highway and have already made the decision that I would try and get a lift. I think it's about 15 kilometres on the Bruce

So it's speed up.

I head off down the hill which is very steep and starts stretching all sorts of different muscles. As I'm plodding along the flat a car pulls up and offers me a lift to the highway. He is going into St Lawrence which is 6-8 kilometres off trail, so I accept.

The hill down

The highway

At the highway I start down on the left side attempting to get a lift but at 110kph no one stops. I've either got to find a safe place and stand still or get across the other side and walk. I decide to walk. It's fast pace with me having to walk off into the grass for trucks and caravans but I get to the Waverley rest area in a couple of hours. This was where I was planning to stop.

A bird visited me while I was having a cup of tea

No driver reviver open so I have to boil my own billy. Whilst I was doing that I reread the book and they have done it to me again. The book has printed 2 sections on one pages and that would make Friday a 36 kilometre day, so I'll probably get there on post office closing time. Bugger bugger bugger bugger.

More highway

Then I hear a couple talking about the State of Origin. Bugger bugger bugger bugger. I should have gone to St Lawrence and propped at the pub and hit Marlborough on Sunday. But now instead of an afternoon relaxing talking to Grey Nomads I have to get back on the highway and move another 15km to Wumalgi Siding, a rail siding 6 kilometres off the Bruce Highway.

I go to the highway stick out a thumb look and hope but in the end I have to cross the road and walk.

Now 6km to Wumulgi siding

I get to the campsite before sunset. Belinda has talked to the property owners I will walk past tomorrow and they have mentioned crocodiles to her so when I go under the trees to set up camp the inreach signal drops out and she panics as she can see I'm beside a lagoon.

By the time I've fetched water she sent 15 messages in a panic. I message back all ok and now I can get on with my tasks and getting ready for bed. I'm exhausted and now I have trains rumbling past to keep me awake. The least of my troubles is crocodiles.

Wilangi homestead

I do wonder if it was for the best. I'm a blues supporter so St Lawrence might not have welcomed me.

Day 53 Killarney

Tuesday 8th June, 2021 32.3km

1432.5 / 3666.4km

Deacey Homestead

We chatted into the night but all of us are in bed early, so by 9pm all is quiet. We had discussed many things one of them was about my medication I should be taking. The thyroxine should be refrigerated and I only carry enough to get to the next resupply. This time however I left the 20 or so tabs I needed in my car in Hervey Bay. Anyway Leonie has the same medication and has arranged for her son to bring a strip of 26 tablets when he comes down to pick up the truck. Much appreciated by me but it means I don't head off early. In the end I accept a lift in the truck to the top of the pinch, the steepest part of the climb.

Top of the pinch

A trail marker points the way

I am also scouting for those behind me so I walk past the turn-off and go down to what they call the Killarney Dip Yards. The dip being a dip in the road. The trip down the hill is apparently overgrown and may not be suitable for the trailers Craig and Debbie are towing. The water down behind the Yards is clean and clear with a slight taste but overall good. Actually there is a lot of water in the dip. Not flowing but looks like it's spring fed.

The water at Killarney Dip Yards

I walk back up the hill to the trail turn off. I follow the bearings as per the book. So far I've followed one bearing for 100 metres then changed to a second bearing for a kilometre that supposedly ends at a gate. In orienteering or rogaining the checks would be up to date. But with no gate then a 3rd bearing change for 700 metres to an old pole in the middle of the scrub means I am compounding errors by the time I'm supposed to change to 4th bearing.

the Schneider's Inn campsite

I sit and contemplate and walk along the fence looking for a clue that will make me comfortable. About 600 north there is a gate in the fence and it does have BNT signs attached. I go get my pack and text Belinda to see if I have missed some update. The members pages has no official update. I take the third bearing and head down the hill. In my gut it just doesn't seem right so I only go about 500 metres and give it away and return to the gate. People have come up this way from the south but I can't find a definitive clue.

The view to the coast

So return to the road and decide to take the long way round. tomorrow's 11km walk now becomes a 30km walk. Tonight's target is Schneider's Inn campsite at the top of the range overlooking St Lawrence.

I was probably right where I initially was but the clues are getting harder to see as the years go by. I did get to talk to the man from Killarney Station and he confirmed he put in a new fence and also cleared a fire break either side of the fence. He mentioned he did the old wagon line some years ago and I was probably right where I hit the fence. Someone needs to re-do the write up for this section.

I get to the camp spot just on dark. A couple tourists in a car roll up but I'm too tired to talk. There was a light shower of rain during the night.

Day 52 Deacey

Monday 7th June, 2021 30.5km

1400.2 / 3698.7km

The road continues

This is the day the book instructions got me again. I got up and marched on down the road and got to the next designated camp spot fairly early. It was supposed to be a lagoon but it was just a muddy puddle. The book says the next camp is 2.5 kilometres away. As I wander away I pass by Maryland's Homestead where the lady, Judy Day, is 82 years old and leases 3 properties along this track.

Dry creek beds

The problem with the book this time, was the distances are out by about 6 kilometres. So the creek I'm looking for is about 9 kilometres not 2, I'm pretty buggered and it's late by the time I get there. I just finish filling up my water bladder when a car pulls up.

You never know what reaction your going to get so I'm always cautious. I've only had 2 negative responses but this time is Graham who manages the Deacey Station for Judy Day and he invites me to the homestead for a feed and a bed.

His father used to manage this Station and he is hoping to take up the lease himself. He is 67 years old. He tells me 4 properties along the road were all bought by the government as they were going to dam Colloroy Creek to get water for the mines. That fell down and now Mrs Day is getting old and he his hoping to take up the lease. He is like every one else, and finding it difficult to get workers. I could have picked a few jobs on this walk.

A tunnel of trees

Like every other property person they are meat and 3 veg people and I have a good steak dinner. The mattress provides the best night sleep I have had for a long while and I get a poached egg breakfast to go. He is sending a truck to Rockhampton and I could get a lift a the way to Marlborough but I decline. We have a good chat into the night with his partner Leonie. It was a good stop.

Colloroy Homestead

Whelan Creek Bridge

The lagoon

Marylands Homestead

Used for dry lick for cows

Colloroy Creek. I was going to camp on the
bank to the right when Graham pulled up.

Day 51 Whelan Creek

Sunday 6th June, 2021 27.2km

1369.7 / 3729.2km

The homestead chapel

The party shed

I got up early as I was very cold and moving was better than shivering. I walked the kilometre or so to the homestead and saw they had a chapel type setup but the party I heard was in a shed a little farther on. There were all the cars that passed me yesterday. I was hoping to see a recovery breakfast in progress but most were still in bed.

The end of the bitumen

One of my water stops

The bitumen finished, so it definitely wasn't a short cut to the highway and I didn't see any more traffic.

It was just a plain old walk today. I didn't really have to but I did take the 500 metre diversion into Undercliff Homestead to fill up with water. I met Alan and his dogs, he had a 12 week old Dachshund (no picture). When I was leaving it followed me down the road so I had to pick it up and take it back (sorry Isabelle).

Then it was a quick walk down to the camp spot on Murray Creek. I managed to wash a bit and my shirt. I found a camp spot well away from the creek as there was a lot of disturbance along the sides from wild pigs and got a fair night's sleep.

Murray Creek

Old gate

Day 51  6th June, 2021

Day 50 Funnel Creek

Saturday 5th June, 2021 27.4km

1342.5 / 3756.4km

Continued on the old telepraph line

Today I was to continue following the bearings of the old telegraph line. Whilst it's slower than walking a track or road I found it pleasant. I slept in this morning. Considering the early stop and early bed I am surprised, but I do feel a lot better than I have for the last couple of days.

So it's back past the windmill and I stopped to have a good look. It looks like it has been disconnected but is still used when required. That's when it struck me. Maybe I'm in some cosmic adventure game. I had been picking up spanners and toolkits and gloves. What if my inventory was building up and I was supposed to repair the windmill. Use bolt, use spanner, fill water etc but I had just sent my inventory south in a box. Was I now in danger from a Grue (Zork reference for you real adventure gamers out there. When the adventure took imagination not finger skills) I could only continue and see. So S, S, S, I went. (another text based adventure reference)

The windmill

Funnel Creek

The instructions in the book took a little turn for the worse when I hit the entrance to Hamilton Park Homestead and a new fence but I climbed under and continued the bearing and the old poles would make an appearance every now and then. It was when I came across the service road for high voltage power line it went haywire for me. There were three lines running across my path with a road then a new fence and then another high voltage line was further but at an angle. My bearing was supposed to change 200 metres after the service road. I did this but nothing made sense after. I saw no evidence of the old telegraph line and run into real old fences that probably had been there 20 years. I maybe should have ignored the 3 high voltage lines and kept on the 110 degree bearing to the 4th line running more at the angle and changing to 130 after that. In the end I just took a beeline to Funnel Creek. I found a fence line I liked and got to the road.

Funnel Creek was indeed running and would have made an excellent camp. But it was a long day, so I filled up and moved on.

The paddocks are looking dry

I was back on a gravel road until I cross the Sarina to Marlborough road. This was the old Bruce Highway and in the 70's we were warned about "The Marlborough Stretch", don't stop or break down, strange things happen, people disappear. In the end I drove this stretch to and from Brisbane about 5 times. Once sleeping in a ditch beside the road with 3 Army buddies because we had hit two kangaroos and the lights on the Escort were skewed to the heavens and we couldn't see where we were going. That and those one lane bridges where there were planks lifted out and we pulled the exhaust off. Maybe the local hillbillies lifted them out on purpose to trap the unwary. I think Frank who owned the car regretted the trip especially as we were classed as AWOL as we went further south than Rockhampton without a leave certificate and were confined to barracks on our return. I wasn't heading down this road but into the very country all these supposed nasties lived. Yeah me.

Old pole

Anyway, I crossed the highway and the road is bitumen all the way to Tierawoomba Homestead. I couldn't get over the amount of traffic on the road, car after car, caravans and horsefloats making me step off the road. The country was dry but I knew I could pick up water at the homestead (invited). I stopped at the designated camp spot and found a cattle trough and settled in for the night. It's about 2 kilometres from the homestead but about 8 pm I hear music blaring out, it fades in and out so it's not close. It is still going at 11pm. Who do I call to make a noise complaint? At 12 it finally dies off. I'm thinking is it a B+S ball or kids further up the creek.

Old wooden posts

I'm finally drifting off when the sound of wild pigs digging their way through creek. It's getting very cold and I have everything I can have on. I even pull a garbage bag over the bottom half of my sleeping bag as my feet in socks are still cold. Not a good sleep listening to pigs and freezing.

The dam is empty

Brolga in the scrub

Sarina-Marlborough Road

50 Days of walking (Blue) Day 50 in red.   Bus (Green)