report A

 

To those that couldn’t make the weekend due to road closures, creek flooding and general mayhem in South East Queensland – you didn’t miss a thing. The road in was muddy, slippery, steep and strewn with debris. The long grass of the campsite made it near impossible to find a giraffe let alone walk outside of a camper or van. The creek rose to a dangerously high level with 50 foot tidal surges in every set of waves. There was no phone or internet connection which made the down time so miserable that we took to counting raindrops falling from the eaves.

 

Rain, wind, snow, sleet and hail would have made a picnic in Antarctica at the height of winter seem like an enjoyable outing. Poor lighting and visibility together with high humidity and dampness made any chance of photography a nightmare so cameras remained within their carry bags and phones within their pockets. Having a picture meant the use of wax paper and crayons.

 

Folks, you made the right decision to stay at home and as we huddled together in the damp confines of Matts annex for warmth, we envied you being at home with electricity with heaters and televisions and iPads and computers and phones and chargers.
 

Don’t read on, it’ll only compound our misery, stay happy and stop reading here, have comfort with the thought of our miserable weekend at camp.

report B

 

Geez we had a great time, it rained just a little on Thursday and Friday – Neil’s rain gauge measured 20mm on Friday morning and 77mm on Saturday morning, but the front blew through by midnight Friday and we woke to sunshine and cloudless skies. It was a hoot.

 

So Neil and Paul arrived on Thursday morning and promptly started the setup. Matt & Wendy and Lindsay & Robyn met up at Fernvale where we downed a bakery pie and coffee then headed up the Brisbane Valley via Esk, Toogoolawah and Moore and up the range to Blackbutt. The road was damp and no sign of the torrent to come. The dirt forestry road into the Benarkin State Forest was a little rocky but overall good condition. The last couple of kilometres were a bit steep with tight curves but no troubles for anyone.

 

The rain started to drizzle so the four groups quickly set up the world’s second largest tarp over Matt and Wendy’s camper trailer so they had a little bit of additional space out of the rain. Lucky Neil was on hand to gently remove a huge black spider (possibly an Amazonian Bird Eating Tarantula) which was causing the arachnophobia to come out in some of those under the awning.  

 

The rain continued overnight and started to pick up the pace on Friday morning. Matt drove half way back to the main road to obtain phone reception and check to see if anyone else had tried to contact him. There had been plenty of group chat overnight about the pending storm front and a couple of people decided to pull the pin due to some early road closures in the south east and an illness within another group. An update from the campsite to all gave the OK to for an arrival from the camp end however the logging trucks had resumed and to watch for them whilst on the forestry roads.

 

Rick and Carol arrived early on Friday and quickly set up an additional annexe over the fire pit so we could enjoy some warmth and company during the evening. I think most people went to bed early on Friday to escape the increasing downpours and blustery conditions. It was about 13 degrees at 8pm and we all certainly had some degree of thermal attire on.

 

Kevin arrived late on Friday afternoon and although he was enthusiastic about the 30 second tent living up to its name, it really was a full hour or three before he had the tent, tarps, car and awnings up to give him some protection. It was said that it should be named 30 second and 3 beers tent. That vehicle really did look like a black swan with its wings outstretched ready to take off, even the bonnet was raised to resemble it ‘honking’ with delight at the first flight.

 

Saturday morning the clouds had blown away and it was full sunshine. Intermittent rain fell throughout the day but overall it was wonderful. By late afternoon we were in stubbies and thongs sitting round the fire enjoying each other’s company and a freshly baked cake.

 

Sunday morning Rob and Dianne arrived early and reported that they couldn’t get to the site any earlier due to flooded creeks and roadways closer to home. They also reported that Alan and Kathie had travelled as far as Caboolture but saw the bakery was closed so turned around and went back home (no, again road closures got the better of them).

 

Rod, Rachel, Eliza and Jediah arrived shortly after that for a day visit. We all sat around and caught up with the happenings of the last couple days and calamities that had occurred with flooding and accidents. We also chatted all things camper trailer, just to ensure that we met the Group Owners policy of at least one camper trailer related conversation per camp.

 

So the day visitors departed, Kevin packed up his nuclear fallout shelter and saddled the black swan for return flight to the Gold Coast, the remaining long termers settled in for the last evening of fun and frivolity.

 

The compliance officer from National Parks showed up on Monday morning and had a quick chat with us, informing that there are plenty of Deer within the park and it’s not unusual to see hundreds of them on the hill across the creek. He commented on the long grass and stated he’d wanted to mow it twice over the past week but due to camper’s onsite, it wasn’t possible. He also gave some indigenous knowledge of the area which was very interesting.

 

Overall it was a great camp (unless you stopped at Report No 1 – then it was fully abysmal), the location was great and certainly we’d return there again in the coming years. No sign of the Koala or Goanna from our last visit.

 

On the way out we had a quick detour to the Emu Creek Campsite and day visit site which has been reopened after the bridge was replaced after the 2011 flooding. If you consider camping in that part of the world, it’s certainly worth checking out either of the campsites in Benarkin State Forest.

 

Finally, I want to personally thank not only those that attended, but to Rob for setting up the webpage and links to assist us all in attending. My part of the organisation is meek in comparison to the time and effort that Rob put in with updating the upcoming events page, and I am very grateful for his time and effort.

 

Cheers
Matt& Wendy

 

from lindsay & robyn