Mary Valley Road Trip

[hairymick]

G'day guys,

We got back home last night and am still in the process of uploading piccies. I will try to keep my posts in some sort of sequential order and will limit to about 5 images per post for the dial up guys but there were hundreds of images taken. 8) If anybody would like to see more of any given area, please ask.

This section of the trip report is concerned with the road trip and the little towns and other places we like along the way. The distance covered is only a little more than a hundred miles and would take normal people a couple of hours to cover. We took all day :lol:

First ppart of our journey entailed about 50 miles down our Bruce Highway, which is the main highway North - South along our East Coast. Pretty bland and uninteresting country but we did stop in one little roadside place along the way where Mz Robin engaged in her favourite passtime - shopping.

We turned off the highway at Gympie, a significant regional town here that was founded when gold was discovered in the 1860's sparking a gold rush not unlike your California only smaller. When the commercial gold dried up, timber and farming became the main industries and still thrive in the very rich soil of the Mary Valley. A quick stop there at a bakery for some fresh bread-rolls and a coffee and then off the highway and up the Mary Valley scenic road 8) about 15 miles to a small town called Imbil. Likewise with Gympie, main industries are timber and farming (fruit and vegetable crops and cattle).

Entry to the town across Yabba Creek bridge

Yabba Creek Upstream from here is a great paddle. 8)

Imbil Main Street

Then on the Kennilworth. 8)

 

[hairymick]

Kenillworth is about a further 15 miles from Imbil and is another small town with its roots in timber and farming and dairy produce. and, as we discovered, a growing wine industry with two very good vineyards 8)

Just short of Kenillworth, we stopped at one such vineyard - err just to look of course.

and we both were very taken with one of their superb Aussie Reds :lol: One of their fortified whites wasn't half bad either. at the bargain price of 20 bucks bottle,we stocked up! If their wine is any indication of just how suitable the area is for this, I am predicting new boom industry for the area. 8) We will be calling in here every time we pass through.
Getting thirsty as I type this.

ON to Kenillworth!

 

[hairymick]

A few miles down the road, lies sleepy Kenillworth, This town is at the heart of the upper Mary Valley, and lies at the foot of the Blackall ranges. It has become very popular with motorcycle enthusiasts as a stop over while enjoying the winding mountain roads throughout the area. It is a great day ride, up through the Blackall Ranges from Maleney, then down through the town for lunch and continue on back up the ranges through Mapleton thus completing a circut.

There is a dairy and cheese factory in Kennilworth that sells to the public, 8) and does free tasting.

Lunch and another cuppa in a nearyby park

We thought Baldy and Ticky might enjoy this one - a US Swamp Cypress

Hmm, I wonder if anybody would miss it.

 

[a Bald Cypress]

Amazing what can be found just around the corner, so to speak.

GREAT report as usual. The only thing missing is about four feet of water around the base of that beautiful tree.

DON'T STOP. Keep the reports coming.

I can't believe how beautiful your country is. When thinking of it, all I could imagine was an arid desert like area for the interior and beautiful beaches and the Great Barrier Reef for the coastal areas.

You have to remember that the only thing shown about Australia, here in the U.S. is Sidney Harbour and that gigantic red rock [wherever it is].

 

[Kayak Jack]

Australia - a jewel of the Pacific!

 

[Steve]

Mick. . . Robin. . . you are truly blessed to have such beauty so close to you. . .

 

[hairymick]

Thank you guys,
I didn't know if anybody wouldbe interested.

Baldy, I have heard what you have said many times by visiting people from the US. Much of my country is indeed dry and semi-arid and uninteresting, even many of the coastal areas. There are pockets of true beauty here and there and most of them are not that well known internationally.

I am very glad to be able to share on here a little of my "local knowledge" so to speak and if Chuck can put up with me using up a heap of his servers space, will continue on with my little story.

Here is a shot of the main street of Kenillworth, I love this little town and would move here in a heartbeat if it wasn't so far from my work. It has a real nice feel about it, only has a population of about a thousand and the locals take a genuine pride in the place (with good reason)

While I was walking and photograhing, Robin was busy doing what she does best, shopping again I found her in a hippy place here in the main street,

When we were finally able to leave Kenillworth, we took the Mapleton road. This involved a drive up the very head of the Mary Valley, with lots of real nice river crossings along the way. All are easily accessable for canoe and as the road crosses the same river many times, there are lots of potential paddling opportunities to put in at one bridge and take out at another, further down stream. Nearly all the crossings had sort of unofficial camp sites, right on the river banks and the potential for lots of geezer paddles of only a few miles between them is huge. Will definately be doing this stretch of river in the future.

The following shots are typical of the area.

Yours truly in a cow paddock while taking the previous

From here, it is a shot drive of only a few miles up the steep western side of the Blackall range to Mapleton. This image is taken from near the top of the range looking north west down the Mary Valley we just drove through.

 

[tx river rat]

Mick
We get the same thing on Texas ,everyone thinks it is flat hot and desert. Your country reminds me so much of Texas
I guess that is why I enjoyed the few times I went there.
Really enjoying your reports.
Ron

 

[oldsparkey]

Mick....

Take all the space you need in fact take all of it , I do really enjoy your travels , the pictures , the narrative and a lot of your area reminds me of a lot of around here and other parts of this country. Please don't stop.

I can always up grade us to the next level but we are no where close to filling this one , there is a lot of room left. If we get more then I can get rid of some of the un-necessary ...un-related to the thought chatter in a lot of the posts , mine included. ( something I have been meaning to do but have been to lazy )

Chuck.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Looks like areas of Michigan. The water is clear and you can see through it. Trees and grass are green. Hills and rolling valleys are picturesque. Beer is icy. (How did THAT slip in?)

 

[hairymick]

Thanks Chuck, and to the guys who are interested.

Mapleton is another small town, situated at the northern end of the Blackall Ranges. Originally founded on Timber and logging, later Dairy Farms and now, people are moving to beautiful areas like this just because ofthe beauty and old world charm of the communities. Most are of, or approaching retirement age and we are calling people who making the move treechangers. in that they are moving from the cities to live in the country - with trees --duuuuh.

There is also another sub-culture that moves to these areas - hippies - drug using, alternative lifestyle types, typically people refusing to get a job and prefer to freeload on our wellfare system and what they can steal. More on this later. :evil:

At the top of the climb, near mapleton, is a scenic lookout that overlooks one of the many waterfalls here and has a short walking trail around the area. We stopped in here (we love waterfalls ) just for a few more happy snaps and for me to break out my lovely new DSLR 8) It is only an entry level Canon and came with a couple of kit lenses that I think are crap. I upgraded these to a Tamron 18 -250mm before coming away and the improvement in image quality is amazing. All I need to to now is to learn to use the thing.

Viewing platform overlooking the falls and the Mary Valley.

Mz Robin and here Nikon

Bottom of the falls

A quick stop in mapleton for some supplies and on to our accomodation in Monteville.

http://www.thefallscottages.com.au/

 

[jdupre']

Great report, Mick. Being from REAL flat country,I really enjoy seeing those beautiful hlls and moutains . Keep em coming.

Joey

 

[hairymick]

We were recieved by mine hosts, Denise and John and shown to our cabin. What encouraged us to book here, was that John had very craciously offered to drive us to our starting point of what is known as the Great Walk the following day. the section we wanted to walk ended near where we were staying and the plan was to be dropped off and walk back to our cabin. - easy.

getting down the hill to our cabin was an adventure in itself! They have beautifully landscaped their property, retaining much of the original rainforest and intruduced other plants and trees and the overall effect is quite stunning. This is the entry to the little walk down to our cabin.

Mz Robin enroute.

and we eventually came to our unpretentious looking cottage.

another view

perched in the rainforest, on the side of a steep hill, overooking dairy farm land on the other side of the valley.

View from the verandah

Meanwhile, Mz Denise was busy transporting our baggage down the hill in their Kawaski Mule, (Man, I WANT one of these)

 

[hairymick]

Even better,

With the ecenomic downturn, we had the entire place to ourselves. There were absolutely NO OTHER GUESTS staying there for our entire time.

Inside the cabin was extraordiary. Every little detail was immaculate, right down to the very well stocked fridge 8) spa and log fire. Some piccies of the inside.

I am forbidden to show images of spa in use. :lol:

The accommodation and hospitality here were superb at least as good as any 5 star place I have stayed at - and a long way better than most. I just cannot say enough good things about this place or John and Denise and have no hesitation in recommending this place to anybody. Will very definately be coming back.

 

[hairymick]

The following morning, the very lovely Mz Denise (she wouldn't let me take her photo) drove us to the start of our walk at the base of Lake Baroon as arranged. She had also packed a great hiking lunch for us and included a small first aid kit. 8) There are no shortage of bighting critters in our bush.

Start of the walk.

We were plunged immediately into rainforest on the start of what is described as a 10.1 kilometre trail down the gorge created by Obi Obi Creek.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Looks romantickle. I hope you two enjoyed it.

 

[oldsparkey]

You let me get in that cabin and there is NO power in this world that could get me out of there , that is one marvelous place.
Beautiful scenery , in the rain forest , ceiling fan , fire place , spa , a good kitchen and well stocked frig , veranda or for us normal folks a porch and one really comfortable lay out on the floor plan.

Mick you and Robin camp in style , you really do.

Chuck.

 

[hairymick]

About 3 kilometres in, we came to a lookout and this is the view back to Lake Baroon,

then the track zig zagged its way down through open forest like this

to the bottom of the gorge, to this,

then back up to the rim again

Time for a cuppa!

Trangia - hiking version- I /we love this stove.

 

[hairymick]

Thank you guys, Hurrying a bit here. i have to take my Dad into town to see the Doctor today. All going well, we hope to head of up North for a little paddling tomorrow. 8)

After lots more ups and downs along this path, (most of it seems allmost vertical) with about every kilometre or so, a little sign indicated how far we had to go. before we new it, it was 1300 and we still had over 7 kilometres to walk! We knew we were in for a serious tab from here on if we were to get out of the bush before dark, then we came to this.

Oh man, both our hearts sank.

Only one thing for it - step up the pace. We were well prepared but really didn't want to spend the night here, particularly when we had that lovely cabin waiting for us.

Shortly after that stinking sign, down another of what was only the start of a lot of very steep descents and climbs, but now, they were "special" starting to hurt here.

The downs were hurting worse than the climbs

 

[hairymick]

Every now and then, the track came out of the bush and onto the side of the creek in ever more impressive places. We stopped very briefly t get a couple of shots,

and to cool the feet

and as the afternoon wore on, and with the fading light at the bottom of the gorge, the place seemed to take on a sort of mystical appearance.