Sunday 31st August, Action all Around at Finch Hatton

We decided to have a quiet day relaxing in this little piece of paradise, today but there was enough happening to keep us busy. Rob needed a haircut so that was one important job that needed to be done as was cleaning the vehicle and van. I went for a walk into the town and enjoyed reading about the history of the area. It certainly was not an easy place to live and settle in back in the 1870’ s. Finch Hatton, although only a small town has become well known for its Mountain Bike trails and has become one of the newest destinations, set amongst the world’s oldest rainforests. Apparently, it has a network of world-class trails for all levels. I visited the amazing facilities that have been built here. There was a park with a lovely “pump” track for younger cyclists to go around. The park and track was so busy with many cycling families from the very young to the older generations. It was wonderful to see so many families out and about enjoying the sunshine, many with picnic lunches. On my walk I saw what I thought were 2 detectives as they had the normal police belts on but weren’t in uniforms. This was confirmed later when the manager of the caravan park said that “a body” had been discovered in the back of a ute at the pub. Anyway no one at the pub seemed too perturbed. It was extremely busy and they were doing a roaring trade for lunch. Returning to the van, the conditions were still beautiful but the wind had picked up a little. While sitting outside we noticed a large gazebo that the managers had set up outside their accommodation, had not been secured and took off in the wind. We all rushed over to help the lady who lives there. (She only had one arm.) The boys, Lyn and I all helped and finally the male manager arrived. We managed to get the gazebo back on the ground. It had flown up and come back down, piercing the another two gazebos located nearby.

Saturday 30th August, Playful People and Platypuses

The Finch Hatton Showgrounds, where we are staying, are apparently quite famous in this area. We have been told that the annual Pioneer Valley Show is held here and is one of the biggest and best in Queensland. The grounds are also adjacent to a truck/train point for sugar cane transportation. Large trucks bring in the freshly cut cane and load it into the cane train carriages. The cane is then transported to the nearest sugar mill in Marian. I’m not sure of the sugar cane growing season but they are certainly harvesting, transporting and processing the cane now and we seem to be in the middle of the busy time! Anyway, today we drove up the very steep and narrow road to the beautiful town located at the top of the mountains, Eungella and to visit the stunning lookouts, the platypus deck viewing area and complete a rainforest walk. We stopped at the Sky window for some impressive views before calling in to the Platypus Lodge Café for coffee and scones. From here we went on a gorgeous walk through the rainforest and along the creek with its various small rapids and falls. We saw some platypuses under the road bridge. We were all excited as it is very special to see these creatures in the wild, unlike the turtles who appeared to be showing off at various times.  Following lunch, we drove out to Eungella Dam. It took about 30 minutes and the area was busy with campers, caravanners and day trippers enjoying the beautiful location next to the water. We didn’t put the kayaks in here but it could be an option for a future visit. Returning to Eungella, we had to call in to a little kiosk which was famous for their homemade ice cream. We all had a scoop! The Rum and Raisin flavour was delicious as was the golden syrup! We finished our day trip off with a visit to another stunning lookout, Peases Lookout.   

Friday 29th August, Gorgeous Gorge Walks and More

With the weather being absolutely beautiful and quite warm, we decided to do our walks earlier in the day. We were ready to set off to Finch Hatton Gorge by 8am. We drove to the start of the Gorge walks and were looking forward to visiting both the Araluen Cascades and the Wheel of Fire. We visited the cascades last year and had tried to visit the Wheel of Fire. The trek to the Wheel of Fire, involved crossing the creek by scrambling over some rocks and we weren’t prepared for this. This year we were. We had a change of shoes for the creek scramble and anything else we may have needed. Unfortunately, on arriving at the starting point for the walks, we were disappointed to read that the Wheel of Fire track, just past to creek crossing, was closed due to structural damage from rain. Engineers would need to assess the track and repairs, carried out before people could use the track. Oh well…..it might be third time lucky. We all enjoyed a walk through some stunning rainforest to the beautiful waterfalls of Araluen Cascades. We decide to continue walking to the creek crossing for the Wheel of Fire Walk and both the boys had fun scrambling over the rocks, while Lyn and I enjoyed spending time in this beautiful location. From here, we returned to the caravans and spent some time doing jobs and preparing a picnic lunch. With our lunch we headed to Teemburra Dam. It was a short drive but the dam is located in a mountainous area and we had to drive up some steep sections on the road in. We had our lunch at a picnic table overlooking the dam, before Lyn and I set off for a delightful two-hour kayak on the dam. Conditions were perfect with the water like glass. We observed a few horses on this kayak and we very surprised to see that the horses were actually on a small island in the dam. Meanwhile, the boys drove to the nearby town of Pinnacle and visited the pub for a beer which was apparently needed considering how warm the day was!.