O'Reilly's campground

[ofuros]

You beaut upgrade ?
Might go for a lookee-see after this latest lockdown finishes...https://oreillys.com.au/oreillys-campground/

[dalehikes]

It's definitely impressive, though pricey for a campground.

[ofuros]

Wasn't picturing such huge makeover...just a little surprised.

[dalehikes]

With the dramatic increase in popularity of camping and hiking, I'm not surprised at the money to poured into it.

Now to deal with the impending calamity of carparks or lack thereof, and destruction of rainforested roadsides when the carpark is at capacity. It is happening with more frequency and will only deteriorate the road into terrible shape.

Its time to introduce paid parking permits.

[Equivocator]

I don't think all the sites are very well thought out. Some are way too close to the communal fire pit, which would be very annoying if you had some late night enjoyers when you planned to have an early start. Others are a pretty decent walk (up a not exactly gentle slope) to facilities and the Rock/Gravel to pitch a tent on definitely seems like they were catering more to American style RV's or Juicy Vans, not tents.

A few you can park your car at/near your site, but others you have to unload, then go off and park elsewhere.

It all looks very fancy though. And the price reflects that.

[Lyrebird]

Its time to introduce paid parking permits.

Or a shuttle bus service from Canungra. I think plenty of people would be happy to avoid tackling the road if they could park their car at Canungra and jump on a bus.

[dalehikes]

I'm all for a bus, as long as they regularly pull over for quicker vehicles.
In fact, all slow vehicles should pull over if cars are banking up behind them, the road is dangerous enough!

[Lyrebird]

Agreed. That said, I've never had issues with buses or trucks failing to pull over for faster traffic; IME the usual offenders are in new European yuppie-mobiles doing 20km/h in the centre or the wrong side of the road, blocking people behind and blindsiding opposing traffic, then travelling too fast on the final top stretch and failing to spot oncoming traffic 'til it's on top of them. It's a difficult road, that's made far more difficult than it has to be by inconsiderate city drivers.
I've only been to Mossman Gorge once, but the bus service seemed to work quite well there.

[izzeho]

I'm all for a bus, as long as they regularly pull over for quicker vehicles.
In fact, all slow vehicles should pull over if cars are banking up behind them, the road is dangerous enough!

I think more buses on the existing road is a terrible idea. An alternative access route really should be implemented first, just need the funding to get Duck Ck Rd fully/partially sealed.

[dalehikes]

I think more buses on the existing road is a terrible idea. An alternative access route really should be implemented first, just need the funding to get Duck Ck Rd fully/partially sealed.

Well you can count coaches out, they are a horror show up there.

I think funding to seal duck creek would be hard to obtain.
On the basis of 'alternate route' would be almost impossible. Maintaining the main road at the moment is a huge and expensive task as it is, funding maintenance for 2 mountain roads that both lead to 1 destination wouldn't be palatable for any government level.

Secondly, its a private road that was funded, built and maintained by the landowners. As far as I am aware no government tier wants to take responsibility for it.

There is a third option to gain the Roberts/Oreilly plateau. The private road that zigzags from the bottom of the Canungra valley at the end of Sarabah rd and tops out a couple of KM's above the Cainbable bends. Although that is pipedream as it is a private farm road, it has been in use many for decades.

[CBee]

I can't see anything wrong or dangerous about that road. Just a normal mountain road. Obviously people need to apply road rules even on a road that doesn't have houses, traffic lights and footpaths around.
Mt. Nebo rd. is another example of a perfectly normal road, routinely transformed in a nightmare by amateur car drivers and motorbike riders. Doesn't matter how many cops are on patrol, every weekend: there's always a trail of ambulances...

[Lyrebird]

The state government has spent millions upgrading the Lamington National Park Road and rebuilding the Springbrook and Binna Burra Roads, so I doubt they'd be willing to pay for upgrading the Duck Creek, much as it would be great to have a second route. My understanding was the same as Dale's, that both Scenic Rim and the state were more than happy to see the back of it. I also believe it collapsed during the Cyclone Debbie aftermath and would need to be substantially rebuilt, though I haven't seen it with my own eyes; it wasn't all that well built to start with. (Edit) That said, apparently people are getting 4WDs up it illegally, so maybe its not as bad as all that.

Just a normal mountain road.

That's the problem. From chatting to people over the years, I've found that a lot of the OR clientele are not familiar with ordinary rural roads, let alone mountain ones. It's okay during the week, but gets very busy and very hairy on the weekends.
This was from 2018, via the FBook Friends of Duck Creek Road page. Scenic Rim don't sound real keen.

[CBee]

Hmmm, I went up the Duck Creek road to OR more than 10 years ago. Pretty sure back then I had a Rav4 and I don't recall being a 4x4 track. Just a rough steep dirt road.

[Lyrebird]

For sure, but that was prior to the Cyclone Debbie aftermath taking out the road. Traditionally it was navigable in dry weather in a decent 2WD vehicle. I'm aware of someone making it down in an Avis Corolla thanks to a misplaced belief in the hire car sat nav, which sent them from Cooloongatta Airport to Kerry via O'Reilly . They didn't enjoy it and nor did the car, but it was doable.
The bush bashing referred to in the article seems to have been going on since it was closed.

[izzeho]

I can't see anything wrong or dangerous about that road. Just a normal mountain road. Obviously people need to apply road rules even on a road that doesn't have houses, traffic lights and footpaths around.
Mt. Nebo rd. is another example of a perfectly normal road, routinely transformed in a nightmare by amateur car drivers and motorbike riders. Doesn't matter how many cops are on patrol, every weekend: there's always a trail of ambulances...

I would say for the typical weekender that goes for the resort experience at O'Reillys (which even this campground is catering for), the road is much 'worse' than Mt Nebo or really any other popular scenic road in SEQ. I would compare the road more to something like Lake Morris Rd up in Cairns. The majority of the danger comes from the amount of traffic it's trying to carry for the amount of single lane sections it has. All that being said, at the current sign-posted limit of 40, it's really not all that dangerous, just tedious.

The state government has spent millions upgrading the Lamington National Park Road and rebuilding the Springbrook and Binna Burra Roads, so I doubt they'd be willing to pay for upgrading the Duck Creek, much as it would be great to have a second route. My understanding was the same as Dale's, that both Scenic Rim and the state were more than happy to see the back of it. I also believe it collapsed during the Cyclone Debbie aftermath and would need to be substantially rebuilt, though I haven't seen it with my own eyes; it wasn't all that well built to start with. (Edit) That said, apparently people are getting 4WDs up it illegally, so maybe its not as bad as all that.

I wouldn't dare say now it's easily traversable with the recent rain, but I can say it was late 2020, even in a 'soft-roader'. You are correct that all levels of government seem happy to let it die, it's been the local residents that fixed it after Debbie. I don't particularly blame any of the parties for not pushing to open it as I suspect it's a lot easier to fix a private 'road' and the 4wd brigades can be obnoxious.

For sure, but that was prior to the Cyclone Debbie aftermath taking out the road. Traditionally it was navigable in dry weather in a decent 2WD vehicle. I'm aware of someone making it down in an Avis Corolla thanks to a misplaced belief in the hire car sat nav, which sent them from Cooloongatta Airport to Kerry via O'Reilly . They didn't enjoy it and nor did the car, but it was doable.
The bush bashing referred to in the article seems to have been going on since it was closed.

I've seen many a rental Corolla approach that road from the bottom, they never make it too far before figuring it out and turning around. This was particularly bad a few years ago when main road up had heavy roadworks on it, Google was intentionally redirecting people away from it, even when navigating from the Gold Coast.

Well you can count coaches out, they are a horror show up there.

I'm actually struggling to find any source for this, but I thought the council out-and-out banned coaches on the road? hence why O'Reillys runs the small buses.

I agree that I really don't think Duck Creek Road is that amazing of an alternative, but none of the alternatives are. Expecting people to take buses is going to be way too limiting, particularly when you've already driven your way to Canungra.

Maybe it's time to re-build some of the old walking tracks tracks up to O'Reillys like Moran Falls, Stockyard Creek or a Canungra creek route? So people don't necessarily have to start at the top? Maybe a bit too serious for the weekender, even with a glamping at the top

[ofuros]

The 4 Bushwalkers campsites...leftovers from the original Great Walk campsites, now overlooked by thin walled Safari tents.

No29

No26

No28

No27

A bit of noise from the Safari tent occupants & not so private...plus there's a couple of sites suitable for us bushwalking hammock hangers.

[Lyrebird]

Does it feel like you've slung a hammock in someone's backyard at The Gap or am I being mean-spirited?
At least they've retained some bushwalk camping spots which beats getting rid of them all together, but it doesn't look very Wilderness. That said, it's no worse than Takarakka at Carnarvon.
I guess it comes down to what market they're chasing, which (as Izzeho has mentioned) has always been weekenders from Brisbane; that was the case in the 1930s and nothing has changed since. I suppose there are other hammock options such as Bithongabel if you don't feel like dealing with other people's campfire chatter and Cold Chisel impersonations.

[ofuros]

Yes it feels like your camping in someone's backyard.
Definitely off-track remote camps for me...I was just curious to see the extent of the upgrade. They've packed alot into a small area.
Great for base camping weekenders & families during school holidays.

[Lyrebird]

Great for base camping weekenders & families during school holidays.

And that's not a bad thing.
Thanks for checking it out so we didn't have to Cynicism aside, it's probably a good place for people to try out their bush camping setup prior to actually hitting the bush.

[CBee]

Does it feel like you've slung a hammock in someone's backyard at The Gap or am I being mean-spirited?

Definitely mean-spirited. Nothing wrong in sleeping in a hammock at The Gap...

[Aardvark]

There is if you intend to sling it on the footpath along Waterworks Rd.

[CBee]

There is if you intend to sling it on the footpath along Waterworks Rd.

Even then, better than at the back of some glamping tents...