Bushwalk Australia

I'd like to float the idea of a strategic walk that connects Currumbin Valley to Tallebudgera Valley, from the top of Currumbin Creek Road, over the ridge into Tallebudgera Valley and out onto Mt Cougal Creek Road, following the Road Reserves clearly marked on Queensland Globe and (less accurately) Google Earth. It starts at the bus turn around right at the end of Currumbin Creek Road, opposite the Eden Health Retreat. Walk a couple of steps up the driveway of 1808 Currumbin Creek Road - at their gate scramble up a bank on the left and there is a distinct (but old) logging track running up the hill - I know 'cos I took a look a couple of weeks ago. This route should zig zag up to the ridge line between the 2 Valleys, where it makes a T junction. A right turn soon offers the choice of a dead end towards the cliffs of Mt Tallebudgera or a descent towards Mt Cougal Creek Road via the old banana plantations. Intriguingly, a left turn seems to offer a path under the north face of Boyds Butte and then on down a known logging track to cross Mt Cougal Creek and meet Len Dickfos Rd, leading to Tallebudgera Creek Road. Its not much in terms of pure distance but either way some rough terrain is expected !

Update (1) early Aug 2015. That first section was a 'stroll in the park' ... almost immediately after the scramble up the bank on the left and just up the distinct (but old) logging track running up the hill we met an al fresco timber yard and then a large new concrete pad + tree house (!) and then it morphed into a v well maintained fire trail all the way up to T / Y junction ! Queensland Globe says the T ( or is it a Y ? ) junction is at elevation 470 m - no wonder it felt steep !

Update (2) later in Aug 2015 we ran a bit of an expedition up the un-named Road Reserve which branches off from Mt Cougal Road at the Mount Cougal Creek crossing (where we parked) just before the Proud Farm 'no vehicles' gate. Actually we took some advice to 'save our legs' and stayed on the v well defined Mt Cougal Road round a big bend on the creek side and then hung a left up a grass bank
to join the un-named RR, just before the 2 parallel Road Reserves start to diverge considerably. This initial section follows the East boundary of the old banana plantation block - we faithfully stuck to the ridge with the fairly well maintained barbed wire fence on our right, though we had to cross it at one point when a right angled spur of fence blocked the ridge. Progress was slow but steady through this section, often overgrown with lantana, vines and dead branches. As we climbed it got steeper until, at approximately 250 m and the end of the old banana block, we reached a man made platform
/ track cut across our ridge - this ran off to the right before collapsing into a gulley beside a large fallen tree. Our ridge itself now ascended almost vertically above our heads so we spent several minutes exploring the collapsed platform and gulley, hoping for an easier route - to no avail. So we had to scramble another 100 m up the near vertical and often crumbly surface to the 'top' of our ridge where it pretty much leveled out at an elevation of 346 meters. This 100 m high scramble was hazardous, even in perfect weather conditions, there is no discernable path, the surface is crumbly and strewn with loose rocks - so you are glad of every sapling and root you can grab hold of ! A nasty fall or mini avalanche was possible at any point on this section. Once at the 'top' of our ridge, we faced a choice. We could continue bashing at least another 300 meters along our ridge on the non existent RR path, climbing another 50 meters to meet the (probably invisible) 'T' junction where we could turn right and Bush Bash another 250 meters along (and 50 meters up) to hopefully join up with the well maintained fire trail running all the way up from Currumbin Creek Road. Or we could call it a day, scoff a sandwich, reverse scramble that 100 meter drop down the precipitous scree slope and then wend our way back down to the gently murmuring waters of Mt Cougal Creek. We opted for the latter.
Conclusion. This un-named Road Reserve undoubtedly exists in the abstract as a right of way, but on the ground there is scarcely any actual track to follow - so this route is never likely to provide a viable walk from Tallebudgera Valley to the ridge line hop over for Currumbin Valley. Other candidates await our attention ! [ Statistics: ‘Runkeeper’ says we did 2.83 miles in 2hrs 39 minutes and went from an elevation of 183 ft to 1135 ft (346 m). ticks 2 : leeches 1 ] Our route is now beautifully fluoro taped.

Another Update. On Tuesday, 22 December 2015 .. Back up Currumbin Creek Road, this time to the Long Tan road reserve (now officially called Thunberrigan Road), hoping the road reserve would enable us to connect Currumbin Creek Road down in the Valley with the NSW/QLD border fence crossing high up on the southern ridge at the tick gate on the top section of Tomewin Mountain Road. Our first stroke of genius was to drive as far up Thunberrigan Road (i.e. the Long Tan road reserve) as the tarmac would take us. And it took us to the first dog leg / sharp elbow, saving us walking 750 metres and an initial climb of 80 metres, yay ! From this point we could see the LT road reserve running south on a well maintained fire trail/logging track along the 170 m contour line with a ridge above us on our left. We happily followed this track for about 500 metres, until the 2nd dog leg / sharp elbow, where the track itself failed to bend back with the actual LT road reserve. After a bit of thought and a bit of a wander round we decided to bush bash up the slope where the road reserve ought to be, rather than stay on the track when it went off the rr. This led us on a steep scramble about 50 metres up a slope ( now beautifully fluoro taped ), where we met a well maintained track again, probably the one we had opted to leave 50 metres below - I bet it just took a longer trajectory to avoid the gradient ! Anyway we gratefully followed the track, which now adhered to the LT rr, for about 1 k until it petered out in a gated meadow. Again, to stay faithful to the LT rr, we had to bush bash a short distance up the ridge on the left side of the meadow - we knew we were pretty close to the top by now and sure enough, we went up the barbed wire fence on the left side of the meadow, through a lantana thicket, then a small pocket of forest and we emerged into the top cattle pasture where the LT rr passes a water tank, many cows and several sheds - one of which is partly build on the LT rr ! I imagine we could have simply walked up the right side of the meadow into the top cattle pasture, avoiding any lantana thickets, but this would have taken us off the LT rr.

At the top of the ridge I expected to find the border fence track on our left, instead there is a substantial dwelling which, mysteriously, is not visible on Queensland Globe or Google Earth - nor is it of new construction. Ahead and slightly to our right was a likely looking section of border fence track - a herbicided corridor of brown grass between a signature pair of parallel barbed wire fences. Some sort of random space vortex must have warped my sense of direction and rotated me though 90 degress as I approached the top of that ridge ! Or perhaps the on-line maps get muddled in proximity to the border zone.

Anyway, we followed this welcome feature down hill for several hundred metres until we reached a metal gate, beyond which lay a concreted driveway and, as we could hear loud traffic, we knew our destination on Tomewin Mountain Road had to be nearby. A most satisfactory finale to the bushwalking year.

Benefits: Viable route from Currumbin Creek to the border crossing on Tomewin Mountain Road + some really good views to admire in all directions. Time: this short but leisurely walk of less than 4 k took us nearly 3.5 hours ! Highest elevation at about 440 metres. NB For a really Long tan use factor 30 LOL.

That sound pretty interesting. Ill be keen to hear any further updates.

Do you use a gps of any sorts? if you do, id like to see the gps files.

What a great post ! Many times have I poured over google earth, pondered about lost tracks and then driven along Tally Valley and Currumbin Creek Rd trying to work out where to start. This is motivating me to be a bit more adventurous. Looking forward to any updates

Off the track in Tally Valley..

This is an interesting thread. I am an owner of property on Thunberrigan Road (formerly Long Tan Road). If you attempt to follow the road reserve from Currumbin Valley up to the border via the existing fire trails you will trespass on private property. The unmade road through our land deviates significantly from the fire trails which wander in and out of surrounding private land. I would encourage you not to 'bush bash' as this is recovering forest on very steep erosion prone land that supports many rare and threatened species. Your footsteps on these steep slopes are damaging and not appreciated. You may also bring weeds, garbage and feral fungi that is harmful to the local environment and left up to us and our neighbours to control. If you leave tape behind, we will remove it. If you attempt to walk our fire trails or on our land you will likely be caught on our wildlife camera traps. You might also like to know that live gun fire is sometimes used to control feral animals on rural land; you can see the problem for all if we are unaware of stray bushwalkers? If you drive to the end of the bitumen on Thunberrigan Road you will have also technically trespassed as the bitumen road also deviates from the road reserve on plan. We are working hard to restore native vegetation on our property and return it to the local wildlife as a sanctuary. We are not unfriendly people but we and the local wildlife would very much appreciate if you enjoy walking the many public tracks and paths already developed by Council where damage and access is controlled.