Bushwalk Australia

Hello,
We're a dutch family of 4 travelling australia. We walked part of the Bibbulmun track (40km in 3 days) track on the west coast. That was a great experience. One day we did 16km which was hard on the kids. The kids are 9 and 11.
Can anyone help us find a suitable multi day walk near (within 250 km) of Brisbane?
The following would be great:
- a varied landscape ( Bibbulmun track was 40km of just forrest)
- camping areas/shelters (we do have our own tent) with fresh (rain) water supply.
- preferably 10km between the campsites. no more than 15km
- 3 to 5 days
- preferable a circular throughwalk or non-circular if its possible to arrange a (taxi) drop-off. Multi day base camp is also an option (we have a camper van).
- The kids love swimming (at the campsites or along the way)
Any help would be appreciated.
Regards,
Stefaan Nachtergaele

Hello, interesting question.

A couple of questions in return, if I may ?

What time of your year do you intend to go walking ? I presume in the next few weeks. That complicates things as it is getting hot at the moment and conditions are fairly dry. Some parks have camping restrictions (e.g. Lamington NP) from 1 December onwards as well.

One possibility is doing some of the Noosa River wilderness trail see http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/coolo ... racks.html . you have plenty of walking options on Fraser Island if you can overcome the transport complications. see http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/great ... er-island/. for thre days I would recommend Central Station to Lake Boomanijin as the most convenient. it is not really wilderness, because they will be other people around and you have a large fenced in campground at the end but you have plenty of water, lakes, swimming, and some nice forest. You can visit the largest perched lake in the world on the world's largest sand island. Transport is a bit tricky, you can walk in from theferrypoint to Central station but it's isn't very interesting you may be able to score a lift though. Your camper van can't be used on the island.

If you can tell me about more about when you intend to go, how much distance or height gain the kids are comfortable with I can assist further.

First off, thanks for the help.
yes indeed, this would be within the next week and half. We are weary of Fraser Island because of the dingo's (what do you with trash and food at night?). What is your opinion of this?

Noosa looks very nice. The link you provided warns of Bull sharks in the river and recommends no swimming in the lake or river. Are they being overly cautious?

I want to limit the day's walk to about 10km with some climbing (~100m).

Which of these two walks would provide the most shade during the walk do you think?

Thanks,
Stefaan Nachtergaele

Hi Stefaan,

The bull shark warnings regarding the Noosa River should be taken seriously. It's better not to swim in rivers in this part of the world. Stick to the smaller swimming holes in the forests.

Don't avoid Fraser Island on account of the dingos. Plenty of people go to Fraser without ever encountering a single dingo. They certainly aren't a huge problem. Fraser is stunning -- definitely worth considering. You and your kids will love the lakes. Lake McKenzie, in particular, is gorgeous. Don't swim in the sea, though -- too many sharks.

If you're serious about not wanting to do Fraser, I highly recommend spending a few days in Lamington National Park, which not only has gorgeous walking trails, but significantly lower temperatures than the rest of Queensland, plus plenty of shade. There are no multi-day walks there as such, but you could easily spend three to five days doing some of the many day walks. From Binna Burra, for instance, you could do the Daves Creek Circuit and the Lower Bellbird Circuit, which are 12km each and surprisingly diverse. These are great day walks -- look them up on line and you'll see why. From O'Reilly's (the other entry point to the national park), you could do the Box Forest Circuit (11km) or the West Canungra Circuit (14km). Just be sure to bring insect repellent and wear gaiters or long pants as this is leech country.

Veel wandelplezier!

Not really what your asking for, but an alternative...
You could base yourself @ Binna Burra or Green Mts camping areas & do a different walk each day.
They both a have choice of long & short walks(1km to 24km), waterfalls, secluded pools to cool off in, caves & lookouts...
....you can even walk between the two if you wish.
Rain forest canopy provides shelter from those clear blue skies & harsh sun.
Cooler overnight temps because of the altitude. Although it can be a bit muggy during the day.

http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/lamin ... ns-map.pdf
http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/lamin ... ra-map.pdf
http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/lamington/about.html

P.S. Just saw MJ1972's post...ditto what he said about Lamington N.P.

Agree with MJ and ofuros... Rainforest is a good option this time of year, can be simply too hot to go walking elsewhere. Springbrook is also a great spot for day walks - was up there yesterday and it must have been 10 degrees cooler than the sweltering heat in Brisbane - though without the extensive track network at Lamington. Haven't done Fraser Great Walk, but based on your original post (and aside from the transportation issue) would probably fit the bill well. Track is very flat, there are plenty of campsite options along the way so you can make shorter or longer days where desired, and you get lakes to cool off in.

Again, agree on something in Lamington at this time of year. I have a post here viewtopic.php?f=38&t=17784#p237764 about a possible link up of camping sites in Lamington. You'll need to be quick, as mentioned, the bush camping stops on Dec 1st till Jan 31st I believe.

Another option might be the Connondale great walk http://nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/great-wal ... index.html I have a writeup of the first section here viewtopic.php?f=38&t=13255&p=189431&hilit=conondale#p189417 The rest of that thread is good for general information as well. Lots of swimming options on that one.

Hello again,

The choices boil down (very appropriate in the current weather) to:

1. Base camp with interesting day walks;
2. Overnight or longer walks with swimming and other diversions but limited distance and minimal navigational requirements.

As the rest of the contributors point out, the Lamington area is a good choice for #1 above. Stay at O'Reillys and there are numerous good walks, albeit with limited swimming potential (Blue Pool is probably the best for swimming although the track it joins,West Canungra Creek circuit, was closed earlier this year). As alluded to in my previous post, through walking (i.e. overnight walking and camping) is prohibited after 1 December in Lamington. An alternative is the Border Ranges, especially Sheepstation Creek. If you wish to base camp at Sheepstation Creek there are a couple of good track walks there which involve water or good views (e.g. Brindle Creek, Grady's Creek, Tweed Pinnacle). Very picturesque,easy for kids, sufficient water, rainforest scenery, all in all nice country. Good views from the lookouts to Mt Warning etc. Dirt road accessible in just about all conditions by conventional wheeled vehicles.

Re Noosa River and bull sharks that is a personal decision, I swam there last in October and have done so for 30 years without a problem. As far as I am aware there has never been an attack on a swimmer (may be wrong !).If you have any qualms about that, its your call. What can be fun for kids is to hire some kayaks / canoes from Elanda Point, have them delivered to Harry's Hut, drive in there and you can paddle upstream, walk up the sand blow and generally enjoy "the serenity". The river is dead flat at that point and is perfectly easy to paddle. However if you are anxious about swimming that is probably not your preference.

Re Dingos on Fraser. They can be a risk if your behaviour around them encourages them. Keep food scraps in a sealed plastic bag, preferably away from your campsite (suspending up a tree would do the trick). I have done a lot of walking on the island and can recommend seeing the sights, the smaller Lakes north of Boomanijin are great, Lake McKenzie is touristy but beautiful and the smaller Coomboyo Lakes are good too (pardon my spelling).Boomanijin is behind a high dingo proof fence (probably would stop zombies as well....).

Re the Conondales, sorry to say at this year it would be pretty hot, the creeks are subject to being dry or stricken with algae, and the circular route is relatively long and, having done quite a bit of it over the years, probably a little repetitive and dull.If you decide on the Conondales, ring the Ranger for info on the quality of the creeks (I have walked between two of the Conondales' highlights,the Breadknife and the bottom of Boulomba Creek,one year and it was all a horrid algae filled mess).

I am working on the assumptions that going west of the Main Range is pointless due to heat and dryness (fires recently at Ballandean) so Girraween, Sundown, Main Range etc are out. At this time of year, bushwalker stay away from the high peaks, scrubby walks, and aim for the cooler higher altitude rainforest.It is not the best time of year to come to South East Queensland for bushwalking, unless you are in a) rainforest or b) on a river.

If you want to see photos of any of these places, drop me a line.

Enjoy the trip and do not hesitate to ask any queries.