Day 81 Kalpower - Gin Gin Road

Gin Gin-Kalpowar Road

 Tuesday 6th July, 2021 22.9km

2069.8 / 3029.1km

Another cold morning, which makes it hard to do up buttons on the shirt when your fingers feel like iceblocks.

The track notes say this is Larsen's Angora Goat Farm.
I thought they had a lovely spot to live..

The walk today was just an extension of yesterday on the Kalpowar-Gin Gin Road. Today though is mainly through farmland.

There is still remnants of forest and it's a day of ups and downs as the road climbs into the Burnett Range.

It's one of those days that I just plod along happily watching the countryside change, wave at passers-by and generally enjoy my lot in life. Not a day of spectacular scenery just a good day to be alive.

This is their gate entrance. Hmmmmm

Towards the afternoon my thoughts start turning to picking up the nights water and as I cross a bridge I notice a farmer has pushed a hole in the creek and it's got a fairly clean puddle. I have to squeeze through fences and make my way across his property but I'm hoping I'll be forgiven for 3 litres of water.

As I start walking again, my thoughts are then looking for the next camp spot. Here it will be in the road reserve between the fences and I

Up and over hills most of the day

normally look for a flat spot behind some greenery to break a bit of my profile up and a lot of the time on a bend or a cutting where a driver is looking at the road not at the scenery.

However, as I'm walking it looks like the farmer has burnt out the grass road shoulder. After a couple of kilometres it isn't going to end soon so I have to choose a spot in the burnt area. A forestry worker pulls up and we chat and he tell's me I'm mad but hands me a bottle of water then drives on.

Looking East

I find a likely spot and break a branch to use as a broom to sweep as much soot away as I can. I know I'll get black crap everywhere but I hope not a lot.

I spend some time trying more tricks to get battery power before the sun goes down, have a couple of cups of tea and a good dinner. It has been a good couple of days walk.

I swept a clear patch for my camp

My bedroom view

Day 80 Misfortune Road

Monday 5th July, 2021 23.8km

Where I start the morning, continuing
along Misfortune Road

2046.9/3052km

Today was another day of sunshine but a cold morning. The trail continued along Misfortune Road through a couple of gates and mine diggings to come out on a major road into Kalpower.

The country changes

If any one wanted to do a day walk then that section would be a recommendation. I thoroughly enjoyed the peace and quiet of the country lanes mixed with some property tracks. One day the creeks will flow again and it may even be better. Kalpower to Mungungo. Put it on a list.

Is this a hollow log used as a pipe under the road?

From Kalpower I follow a main gravel road that eventually goes to Gin Gin, climbing to cross the Dawes Range. It's a little bit busier than the last bit but overall a pleasant walk in a changing state forest. There is some open forest and plantation hoop pine? But as I follow the creek it gets a little rainforest feel.

I lunch at the top of the Dawes Range and have a good nap, one of those days I don't feel the need to hurry. After the rain it's nice to have a couple of good days in interesting countryside.

Coming into Kalpower

I do see some water flowing in the creek, but it's too early to stop and carry the night fill up and over the hills to come. My plan is to stop just before I leave the State Forest and head back into farmland.

The Gin Gin Road

I end up following the creek bed in the afternoon looking for some water, but that flow did not get this far down. The creek is sandy which is not good for holding pools but just after the State Forest boundary the creek bends around a rock face and I find a clean pool under the rocks. The next stop would have been a muddy dam in a paddock but this is better. I walk back across the grid onto the State Forest area and set up beside the fence, continuing to try and squeeze some power into my battery bank's. Another nice day even if the road is busier, I'm enjoying the variety of scenery this section is providing.

Lunchtime on the crest of the Dawes Range

Is that water flowing in a creek?

Found my puddle under this rock face

In the dimming light the termite nest looked like a Predator's head on a spike

My camp beside the fince. The road can just be seen.

Day 79 Mungungo South

Sunday 4th July, 2021 17km

The old fella was the only one to send me off

2023.1 / 3075.8km

There's an old dog on the pub verandah and as much as my children know I don't like dogs, me and he struck a chord. I was worried when I arrived as he sat there with half his tongue out and laying on the verandah. A very strange sight. And when a car rolls up he gets up to have a pee on the wheels. So when I set up the tent under the hall I expected a dog pee christening to add to the 12 weeks of smell I have accumulated and the wet weather exacerbated, but he respected my space. When I finally left the pub to go and sleep he followed me out and slept beside me. I have to check on those boots again as that wobble returned.

Cloud breaking up clear sky

I had a good night sleep except for the dog deciding to roll around in the dirt and make a grunting sound at 3am. It was good to pack up everything dry. No dew from being under the hall. The dog was the only resident of Mungungo that saw me off and I think he was a little sad as I seemed to be the only person that talked to him. (No Isabelle we can't have a dog)

Cloud breaking up clear sky

I went up the same road I came in on and the same dogs barked at that did yesterday. When I came to the turn-off the BNT signs had been interfered with and turned upside down, meaning I nearly missed the arrow up a trail. I fixed that as nest I could hoping the trail still went this way. Never a good assumption with the lack of current information a norm on the National Trail.

I'm a bit of a novelty to the locals

The track I followed took me through some farming country, passed a couple of houses and no one disturbed me. Went through a gate after climbing a ridge that also had a National Trail sign interfered with. Looked like someone had tried to wrench it off with a hammer.

The track follows a road easement

The trail follows a gully down through more grazing land, past the first known windmill in the area suppposedly, climb a small range and then meets up with another road.

Overall the walk is a pleasant meander across the countryside, I've enjoyed the day. I decide to pull up early and try and get some power from the sun. The battery pack is not accepting a full charge and in this day and age the phone is a camera, music player and book and I've had to curtail the use of it to try and extend the battery life. I turn flight mode on and turn it off fully at night so it's not even a phone any more.

This trail sign was a bit hard to see from a distance

The first windmill built in the area

My notes said this is Happy Valley Homestead

Day 78 Mungungo Pub

Saturday 3rd July 2021 25.9km

Mungungo that way

2006.1 / 3092.8km

A lot of rain last night. Packed up got in the wet weather gear and hit the road. I'm not so sure about this lightweight rain stuff. I split the pants apart a long time ago and the jacket keeps off light rain but in today's steady downpour it eventually let's the water through. The Marmot goretex work a little better. These pants which I

The windmills will disappear as the
solar driven pumps take over

changed to in Townsville have been with me for a couple of years. I did the Heysen with them. A couple of rips from barbed wire from that trip but they do ok. As it cools they are all I wear during the day. They let less spear grass seeds attach and I'm not so scared to sit on a muddy patch and are easier to clean than my cloth pants.

The only downside is hotter weather means I sweat on the legs, but it'd been cool enough for the last couple of weeks. The North Face pack cover certainly covers the pack. It doesn't keep it dry though. I miss the hyperlite pack but with the weight I sometimes carry it just doesn't sit well with weights over 15kg. With 10 days food and a couple of litres of water in the dry patches I'm sometimes up to 18 kg. This pack handles that with the frame I just want my hyperlite on the osprey frame. I have the hyperlite in the car, when water becomes less of an issue I might go back to it.

Sing a Song as you walk alone

Today was a plod in the rain but at the end was the Mungungo Pub, so I hightailed down the road. I was thinking of the notes about the trail, about it not being a traditional walking trail. Very true and having done a few of them in my time I find this one is different in the approach as there are no facilities set up for a walker or any one really. The camps are basically a water or stock reserve and you get the ground and maybe a water source. The water supply is a constant thing on your mind as there is no water tank at the end of the day and you are constantly calculating when to load up for a nights camp and whether the water source you have now is better than a maybe further on.

Texas Longhorn?

As I was walking down the road I was thinking this is more like a swagmans journey across the land. I even burst into an off key rendition of Waltzing Matilda.

This particular section is a little hard as there is no real civilisation since I left Kabra/Bouldercombe with the diversion to Callide a 16km off trail trip. I6 days for a pub meal is getting a bit long. Belinda thinks all these walks a just a pub crawl for me. From here to Biggenden is the pub at Mt Perry, only a couple of days away. The trip down to Killarney is going to be fun with a town of some sort only 8 days or so apart. The bank balance will take a hit then.

Mungungo Pub

This day however finished in the rain at the pub where I was greeted by the publican with the news that Chris who I had chatted with a couple of days ago had pre-paid for a can of Pepsi Max and a steak sandwich. The people of Queensland have been surprising and generous. Thank you Chris for your thoughts and generosity. I might not be able to pay you back but I will pay it forward some day.

Thank you Chris

Set up under the Mungungo Hall

Day 77 Kroombit Tops 2

 Friday 2nd July, 2021 24.7km

Can you see where I've been?

1980.2 / 3118.7km

11 weeks since I started in Cooktown.

Today is a walk across station tracks that is also the southern way into the Kroombit Tops from Monto. I think the major road must come from Calliope as I couldn't imagine those caravans at Griffith Creek coming up this way.

The creek needs a good flow

The rain comes in patches and I'm a little worried as I haven't been able to get much charge into my electronics in the past couple of days, and a few more days to come apparently.

The walk just meanders across the Plains following Munholme Creek, another creek that hasn't had a flow for a while. 6 years I found out later.

A Prickly Pear in a stump

I meet the owner of Stony Creek Station, the property I've been going across. It was a difficult conversation as I mumble and he was deaf. He doesn't see too many walkers apparently. I wonder what he would think if it became popular.

The official campsite is at the back end of the Cannia Dam. I decide to move further up the road which is now an official road and thus a road reserve to play in.

Stony Creek Station

A family in a Toyota pass me. They had passed me this morning on the way to Kroombit. About 5 minutes up the road the father had stopped and is pumping up the tyres. They had not gone all the way up as it was getting wetter and the hard clay bits on some of the steep slopes was very slippery. I stopped for a chat and we talked about the walk, what I ate etc. Then the wife does the unthinkable and offers me one of hubby's beers. A quick glance at hubby to make sure and I accept. It's a Byron Bay something but I chug it down fairly quick as I don't want to carry the bottle. She offers me a softdrink as well and I take a Sunkist Orange for dinner. I refuse the bread and everything else she offers. Kind people from Bundaberg at Cania Gorge for the wet weekend. Forgot to get their names. But much appreciated.

Dead Man's Bend

I meet the owner of the property where the official camp is. He doesn't think the water reserve exists any more. Something the National Trail people should follow up as there have been a couple of these reserves that seem to be incorporated into properties and the lack of use might be reinforcing their belief they no longer exist. We talked about the rain due. He was hoping for Creek running rain, I'm not so much. I ask him to think of me as it rains on his roof tonight.

We share water. I like it when the valve is exposed
as I don't have to dip into the trough.

A few more km under my belt this afternoon shortens tomorrows walk and I find a spot beside a fence the cows have conveniently flattened for me, kick a few poos aside and all is good.

I set up the tent in the rain which involves setting the groundsheet and fly up first then putting everything under to do the rest in the relative dry. Putting up this way helps pulling it down in reverse in the morning if it's raining.

A wooden grid

My night fluid, new hat and a pair of pliers
I picked up.

Day 76 Kroombit Tops

The forest is getting thicker

Thursday 1st July, 2021 18.6km

The rain settled in last night. It was the first time I had to pack inside the tent proper pulling the inner out and leaving the fly last. I'll have to make sure I set it up tonight for the wet pull down.

Fog and drizzle has settled in so it's a no to a return back north to the escarpment walk. I set off down the road and the country changes to a more rainforest feel. The creeks though look like they haven't run in a while so a good down pour would not go astray.

Moving into rainforest

It's a pleasant walk with the rain getting heavier and as I get closer to the escarpment I can hear the wind blowing a gale.

Tree ferns

I get to the lookout and it's all in fog so I see nothing. The road then begins dropping away as you come down the range. The rain eases a bit and as my notebook is packed away to keep dry, I miss a supposed dam. The notes talk about logging trucks and I come across a memorial to a logger killed but I assume now it's a National Park the logging has stopped. I get down to the bottom of the range and the suggested camp is a bit of ground before the grid to exit the park. There is of course no water in the creek so I keep moving into the cattle station and eventually find water from a bore that tastes surprisingly good.

It's while I'm sitting here a Ute rolls up and I meet Chris. We have the usual chat and he seemed surprised by me walking. He then tells me he is a rock climber. Now I think those people are a bit strange, walking is easy and I get the belly wobbles at any height.

Decided not to take the tourist drive

We have a bit of a chat and he offers me a hat. Dr Brian would be happy so I accept. He did ask if I wanted anything and I said it's funny I get cravings for a fizzy drink (I think in a previous blog I said people are welcome, if they see me, to throw cans at me as long as they are Pepsi Max and are cold and full).

Also the next stop is at Mungungo Pub where I hope the kitchen is open (not on Mondays) and a burger is on the menu. We part ways and I head off looking for the next stealth camp as the next official camp is 20 km away and I think this is not a gazetted road and there is no road corridor. In the end I find a nice flat spot. Another drizzly night on the cards. The hat worked well in

wet and slippery

keeping drizzle out of my face. The weather is due to get worse tomorrow.

Memorial to Glen Hocky, a logger 
who died in 1994

Checkout the Elkhorn in the tree

Yes it does. I will come back in a car.

New Hat. Thanks Chris