Just as we emerged from the rainforest I felt something on my head. A tick had hitched a ride and burrowed himself into my scalp, so ever prepared, we blitzed him with wart freeze-off. He died, along with a number of my scalp cells, but we could not remove him. We made it back to Stinson Park for a quick cuppa, but my injury thunder was to be stolen here by Jocelyn. |
The road from Beenleigh to Christmas Creek passes through some lovely countryside beyond Beaudesert, past green pastures and grazing cattle. We stopped for morning tea at Stinson Park, a camping site set on the banks of Christmas Creek in the shadow of the Darlington Range before beginning today's trek. In 1937, a local man, Bernard O'Reilly set out in search of a small commercial passenger plane that crashed in thick rain forest. The current camp site was the base of operations for the rescue party, who trekked 10km through the bush to save two men, still alive 10 days after their Stinson airliner disappeared on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney. Our trek wouldn't take us as far, but part way to the site of Westray's grave, one of the victims of the crash. From Stinson Park we drove several kilometres down a winding dirt track, parked by the creek and prepared ourselves, which if I must be frank, is almost as arduous as our actual hiking. There's a lot to don you know - sunscreen, insect repellant, hats, hiking boots, backpacks, walking poles. We try to be prepared for all scenarios, and today's events proved to us how important this is. The first challenge was a creek crossing, which required some nimble footed rock hopping to avoid wet feet. After the creek crossing the path stays on that same side of the creek, and although it is a reasonably well defined path, it was rugged and hard to follow at times. Fortunately someone has taken the trouble to tie brightly coloured ribbons on trees along the way. In some places, where recent flooding has washed away great chunks of the river bank and path, we had to do some extra strenuous scrambling. We finally made it to Westray's Grave, and after some selfies and other posing at the sign, we popped the cork on a fine bottle of wine and toasted poor old Westray. Westray was one of the survivors of the Stinson crash. Leaving the other two survivors at the crash site, he walked down the mountain to the creek looking for help, but fell and broke his leg. When the search party eventually found him, he was dead on the banks of the creek but they were able to follow his tracks up the hill to the plane and eventually brought out the other two survivors. They buried Westray at the spot where they found him. Joc frightened us by taking a strange turn and going in and out of consciousness. We called an ambulance, but had to wait a long time for it to reach us from Beaudesert. They took her to Beaudesert Hospital, but she was later released, and with follow up tests, all is now well for her. I continue to give her heaps about taking my limelight, but we are all relieved she is OK. It was dark by the time we returned home and my tick was finally removed by the House Call Doctor who called well after 10pm due to a busy night. Quite an eventful day really, but still one we treasure with a big tick of approval
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This week, although choosing a city walk, the Hungry Hikers tackled a variety of terrains - parklands, knolls, riverside paths, and even stepped pyramids and underground carparks - all in the city of Ipswich. The city of Ipswich was established in 1827 as a convict out-station to quarry limestone. The convict era ended in 1839 and free settlers began to arrive in 1842. Ipswich became a busy port on the Bremer River and grew in importance because of its coal mines and railways. The city’s heritage register includes almost 2,000 places including: houses, halls, shops and churches, so we were looking forward to finding a few of these. Our first stop was Cunningham's Knoll, where a monument commemorates Allan Cunningham, an explorer and botanist, who visited Ipswich several times. Then it was on to enjoy some of Ipswich's lovely gardens and buildings.
After exploring Ipswich, we drove to the nearby Kholo Botanical Gardens and enjoyed a late picnic lunch, followed by a walk through the gardens and along the Coal Creek Walk. Formerly the site of a water pumping station, Kholo Gardens offers lush gardens, a crystal clear lily pond, bush walks and open spaces. Giant Kauri trees and Hoop Pines planted by early settlers, rare birds and plants, and the nearby Brisbane River all make this a lovely place to spend some time. This was a perfect finale to another great day out hiking.
A month away in the Barossa was wonderful, but I was happy to rejoin my walking buddies back home this week. We revisited Boondall Wetlands, a walk we had done in March, 2014. Back then we suffered on an extremely hot day, so we enjoyed the cooler conditions this time. It is a bit tricky finding the entry to the wetlands with the present roadworks, but once in you escape the traffic and start enjoying nature. The wetlands lie on the edge of Moreton Bay between Nudgee Beach, Boondall and Shorncliffe and include approximately 1500 hectares of tidal flats, mangroves, saltmarshes, melaleuca wetlands, grasslands and open forest. A variety of walking tracks thread through, some shared with cyclists. After following the shorter Billai dhagun Circuit through some very distinct changes of vegetation, we followed the bike path to Nudgee Beach. We enjoyed lunch here before heading back, completing a total of 16 kilometres. Boondall Wetlands, as well as protecting a variety of habitats, has international significance as a habitat for migratory shorebirds under the Ramsar Convention. It is a great spot for birdwatchers, hikers, cyclists and picnickers, and well worth a visit.
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