Barb & John's Hols: Return to Yarraman 12th April 2014

Second time round........

It seems that camping trips to Yarraman for the purpose of visiting the Bunya Mountains just aren't meant to be (well for us anyway).

Last year we took our camper trailer out for its maiden voyage to Yarraman. We had Lily, the Cavalier pup with us, so visiting a National Park was not an option at that time. It was a nice camping spot and had the advantage of an ensuite & powered site, something we've learned to love, so we decided that when the opportunity arose we'd re-visit this place and use it as our base to visit the Bunya Mountains. We'd read that towing trailers or vans up to the campsite within the mountains was not allowed, so we set up camp at Yarraman Caravan Park and left the trailer insitu at the park while we drove just the car up to the mountains.

John sets up the aerial for the TV: it worked perfectly!

John prepares our dinner in the open air

We eat in the open too.....admiring the sunset

All is well on the first night. Weather is gorgeous

The weather forecast for the day predicted "occasional showers with possible storm later in the day". Right, we thought, we'll start out early in the day and return early afternoon before storms eventuate. We headed out along the New England Highway and turned off towards Maidenwell to pop in and see the Coomba Falls on the way.

Coomba Falls are just 2 km beyond Maidenwell down a rather steep road. There is a new-looking steel framed walkway down to the falls, which is described in the brochure as "a popular beauty spot featuring granite cliffs and a deep natural swimming hole".

Barb at Coomba Falls

John happy to begin the steep descent to the rockpool

We found a small group of local youths camping beside the waterhole, and they'd obviously been enjoying swimming and swinging out on a rope slung over a nearby tree and plunging into the pool. They were unperturbed by our sudden appearance, and were in the process of packing up anyway. They were waiting for their mum to come and pick them up as last time they'd parked a car in the carpark at the top, someone had emptied their petrol tank and they'd had to push the car 2 km up the steep hill back to Maidenwell!!

The pool was lovely, and indeed there were granite cliffs, but the falls were more of a trickle than a fall. The bush setting was very pretty, though with many blackboy plants scattered across the landscape. We were very glad of the staircase for the climb back up to the carpark, and thank goodness our tank was still full when we returned!

John was puzzled that the Falls were so small

Barb thought the swinging rope into the plunge pool looked fun

Granite cliffs as advertised

We had asked the lads if the road from Maidenwell to the Bunya mountains was easily do-able in a Toyota Corolla and they assured us that there was just a small stretch of dirt road on an otherwise sealed road.

Hah! Their idea of good roads are obviously very different to ours. Also it had started to rain and a heavy fog closed in the higher we climbed. The "short" stretch of dirt road, heavily corrugated of course, seemed to go on and on and when there were "sealed" sections they consisted of a thin strip of tarmac down the centre, dropping off to dirt edges. Every time a vehicle approached, both cars had to get their near side wheels off the road in order to safely pass. Also we crossed several creek crossings with the warning that "indicators show depth". We were relieved and pleased that there was another road out (via Kingaroy) and we would not have to come back via the same route (John says: Pah! It was great fun, Barb is just a scaredy cat!).

To add to the alleged fun we passed a group of cyclists puffing and grinding their way up the hill. None appeared to have lights of any kind on their bikes either front or back, and they were quite hard to spot in the heavy mists. What possessed them to ride uphill in such inclement weather defeats us. It did NOT look fun!

We did not see any vehicles or tents in any of the campgrounds we passed, despite it being Easter school holidays. Clearly some people have a better instinct than us when it comes to weather and camping. It was impossible to view anything from the vantage points either as the fog was so heavy. Barb was white-knuckled by the time we gained the safety of the Bunya highway headed to Kingaroy and severely in need of a restorative coffee by the time we arrived in Kingaroy. We pulled into the shopping centre and a Gloria Jeans coffee shop was open and beckoning (Oh dear - Gloria Jeans - needs must says John).

Downtown Kingaroy

We had a brief look around Kingroy before heading back to Yarraman via Nanango on the D'Aguilar Highway. We passed Peterson Road where Flo Bjelke-Peterson lives at Bethany (at least we THINK she's still alive) .... there was no room for pumpkin scones anyway.

When we got back to our campsite Barb stepped into the tent and sank up to her ankles in water (John: wild exaggeration, it only covered her toes). We were a bit taken aback because we'd thought the tent to be fairly waterproof after a previous camping experience at the Tweed when it poured with rain, and had a fairly strong wind too.

It turns out that because we were on a slight slope, rain was tracking down along the edge of the trailer and pooling in the well beside the bed. Luckily the fridge was plugged into just a 12 volt battery, so there was no danger of electrocution, however we didn't really feel like spending a wet night in the tent and quickly went down to the campsite office to request a cabin for the night. At least we are now dry!!

The rain has not let up all day. Not even a smidge. No sign of the storm yet, but at this point it is moot. Tomorrow, if the lying bastards at www.accuweather.com are right, the weather is due to fine up slightly and we'll pack up our wet encampment and hightail it back home.