Easter 2013 Yarraman

[Hangman]

Easter 2013 Yarraman

Trip Leader: Boxxy

Attendees: Cloutys, iananita, JimmyT, Louie02, Radar,DJ (+ Michael), Eastie, JeffW, Jaynenpeter, Rumpig, Ady88, Poncho, TeamGrandpa, tat2edking, Kris(+ Michelle), Dixie

After the reccy trip in January, many of the crew were looking fore ward to this trip, me included. With the wet weather finally passed and clear blue skies, many were able to get away early on the Thursday to Yarraman. We were staying at the Yarraman Caravan Park. I was leaving the Friday morning, meeting Eastie and Louie02 from the BP at Morayfield. The highway was busy north with many vehicles carrying fishing rods and most of them decided to meet up at the BP. Louie02 phoned and was running very late so Eastie and I left at 9am from the BP. There was little traffic on the D’Aguilar highway and we had a good run through to Yarraman. The caravan park is on the western side of Yarraman, situated on the gentle slope of a hill, the park over looks the township.

After setting up camp, we sat around discussing the events for the day. One group where going horse riding, lead by Mrs Boxxy, while the other was going to Cooyar to see the swinging bridge and onto the Muntapa Railway Tunnel  lead by Kris. As the horse riding group rode off into the distance, those familiar words were heard over the uhf, “the GPS says go left but we are going straight ahead”. I think they eventually made it because after the horse riding there was much excitement at how much Jimmy enjoy the afternoon, earning the title of Sheriff Long Schlong, the photos are worth a thousand words here. I joined the group going onto Cooyar and jumped in with Eastie, before anybody asks why, it is because I can. We travelled south on the New England H’way to stop at Cooyar. At the back of the pub is a suspension bridge which crosses Cooyar Creek. Much fun was had when the big blokes got the bridge swinging. There is a small camping area here on the banks of the creek which would be a great stop over.

Next stop was the Muntapa Railway tunnel, one of Queensland’s longest straight railway tunnels (287m) it is now not used and is home to a colony of bent winged bats. This would be one of those memorable moments in my life. As you walk through the tunnel, hundreds of bats in full flight dodging each other and you, it is surprising not to get hit. Once again the posted pics tell the story, in the dark you can not see the swarm of bats that are flying around inside the tunnel. After the tunnel walk we headed back, only stopping briefly while Darren discovered his Patrol had lost a sensor from the exhaust and was sounding like a low flying jet. It was decided a Corona beer cap + hose clamp would do the job but that needed to wait until DJ had drank his Corona and the exhaust was cooler to work on. Back at camp the stories of the day got bigger and bigger as we sat around the fire. Thanks to Wombat his brassier was well used over the weekend.

Saturday dawned and it was another beautiful day. Breakfast was had and we sat down to make plans for the day. There seemed to be a clear class distinction developing within the crew. Those residing in Upper Yarraman were happy to join our street party at night but during the day clearly wanted to be seen drinking champagne and eating caviar. The photos tell the story, Upper Yarraman Population 18 + 1 dog. It was decided those in Lower Yarraman would head out to Seven Mile Diggings via Old Esk Road which starts in Yarraman and those in Upper Yarraman would retraced our route from Friday. We assembled in Barr Smith St, Yarraman and from there headed out toward Din Din Rd. The graded dirt road soon become a rutted track which took us to Yarraman Creek. There were 2 crossing, one with a sandy bottom the other a rocky crossing. Kris took the sandy crossing and soon stopped mid stream sinking in the sand. We aired him down and he was able to back out and have another go without event. With every one aired down we were able to cross. Neil + I chose the rocky crossing just to be different, Neil busting his balls on the drop in. With only a few more to go through the crossing, Ady lined up the Triton and in he went, the front driver’s wheel dipping into a hole the vehicle soon came to a stop. DJ was quick to recover him winching him back but the Triton had taken on some water into the driver’s foot well. Once all was checked the Triton seemed to be running well but a few warning lights had come on. Ady was then able to take a different line and crossed uneventfully.

We arrived at the grassy paddock at the beginning of the 7 mile diggings for lunch before going into the diggings. The Jeep Club was just leaving the diggings and wanted to retrace our track back to Yarraman. We gave them some directions and then left for our adventure into the diggings. It was a good afternoon with some wheel lifting action which was soon over and we headed for home. On our way back to Nanango there was some confusion over the onion order, whether it was a brown or red onion and how many onions? This was finally resolved and Corrinne got her onion. Back at camp the fire was already in place, the middle of lower Yarraman Road and we decided to start pulling the Triton apart to find a short in the wiring in the kick panel. Ady had at this stage decided to call his insurance company who suggested the vehicle be towed if there was a risk of fire. So easter Saturday night the Triton was loaded onto a tilt tray and headed back to Brissie.  I was going to leave Sunday lunch so I suggested a trip into the Royal Yarraman Hotel for a counter meal. I was joined by Kris, Vicky, Michelle(Vicky’s sister), Neil and Jeanette. The steak was as big as the plate, it was most enjoyable. We got back to camp, sat down around the fire and enjoyed another night amongst mates.

Easter Sunday started with the patter of bunny feet and I arose to find several easter eggs at the door. What a surprise, had I been good or is that only at Xmas. The whole camp had been visited by the Easter Bunny, everybody had an easter egg, it certainly was an easter to remember. Once we got around to breakfast, it was decided today was go-karting at Nanango. The kids took part in the easter egg hunt arranged by the park and had their faces painted thanks to Louie02. I also caught Mal with bunny ears everybody was in the spirit of easter. I needed to get to the Gold Coast by 6pm that night so I packed up my camp so I could leave Nanango by lunch time. We all left for Nanango, I scooted into town to check out the Info Centre. There is an energy display there which is well worth a look. Out the back of the centre are 2 old diesel engines from the butter factory which were the power generators for the township in the 1930/40. They get started once a month.

After this it was off to the go-karts for some petrol action. With some strict instruction we were let loose on the karts, DJ proving to be super Mario with an impressive sub-minute fast lap, 0:55.066. Most of us had smiles from ear to ear, it was good fun. Sadly I needed to leave and I left the crew there and headed home with many fond memories of Yarraman. I made home unpacked and loaded in the family to make the coast by 6pm.

Ian Lynch

The following is a report written by Mal(Rumpig) which covers the remainder of the weekend and can be read on the Overlander Forum here http://forums.overlander.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=78343.
I have added it to conclude my report, thanks Mal and family, Upper Yarraman.

 
The crew spent the next few hours at the go-kart track having a great time, some of us drove up the road to the Peanut Van and grabbed some nuts, before heading back to camp for a late lunch and some more relaxing.
Around 4.30 - 5.00 p.m we were hit by a thunder storm, it lasted about half an hour and bucketed down with heavy rain, but after that the night pretty much cleared up and stayed rain free until after we went to bed (few small showers during the night). Most of our group headed into the pub for dinner Sunday night (the bright yellow pub on the D'Aguilar Hwy, think it's called the Royal?), the food apparently is quite nice (we stayed back at camp ourselves so can't comment first hand), but with our 4wd club there, another 4wd club and a Walking club there also, the pub was overwhelmed and many people had a very long wait for their meals (several hours for some) around 11.00 pmish. The rest of the club returned back to camp and a few joined us for some drinks before we all headed off to bed around midnight.

Monday morning and the weather was back to being great, sun shining and a nice light breeze blowing which was perfect for drying the canvas on the camper trailer. We had brekky , slowly start packing up around 10.30 - 11.00 a.m, finshed packing around midday and we left Yarraman bound for home. We had a great relaxing Easter break.

Mal

[Ady88]

Great report Ian ,  but i think Yarraman doesn't agree with me .

[Kris]

Good report Ian - Well written

Kris

[Cloutys]

Nice report Ian...

[Rumpig]

Nice report Mal, and that little bit you did at the start was ok I suppose as well Ian...lol