Day 38 – Thursday 26 August 2021 –? Km

It is a misty overcast morning when we gather at 8 am sharp for another drive day with the KKOG, this time around Lake Tinaroo. We drive out through Yungaburra and out the Cairns road and turn onto the Boar Pocket Road towards the Gillies Range Lookout. We turn off & drive along a rough dirt road with forest closing in on either side. Before we start on the road all the drivers are advised to change to 4 wheel drive as there are some tricky uphill sections. Our car has permanent all-wheel drive and we leave it in high range as advised so that we don’t churn the road up too much. I raise the suspension height on the car so that we have enough ground clearance and set off in convoy with twenty other cars. One hill is particularly steep & slippery with a little bit of wet clay making the car slide back a little before we get grip and keep climbing. The track winds around through the forest & eventually we get to the Gillies lookout and the view is spectacular, though a little foggy, looking over towards Mount Bartle Frer & the Bellenden Ker Range, the highest mountains in Queensland. On the way back out to the road I change down to low range to make the slippery downhills easier and it worked very well.

Our next stop along is the Cathedral Fig Tree and it is a really big tree with lots of ferns & staghorns in the magnificent open spreading branches. The multi-faceted trunk is a network of roots & leaves and there are multiple fungus growths all around on the forest floor.

Further along we stop at Mobo Crater on Mobo Creek, not really a volcanic crater but it looks like a small crater amongst the forest. The walk along the creek & around the crater is taxing, but beautiful & refreshing. We walk past a large brush turkey nest before we get back to the car & onwards again.

The Chimneys rest area is our next stop for morning tea, this park has two 7 metre chimneys standing next to each other, all that remains of a sawmiller’s house built in 1924. A brown snake is coiled up inside one of the chimneys soaking up some warmth. The forest trees surrounding here look stupendous.

We continue on & drive along the shores of Lake Tinaroo & to the dam wall. This is a really big dam & is more than 50 years old. Apparently it was forecast to take five years to fill once complete leaving plenty of time to remove houses and other infrastructure destined to drown. The dam filled in seven weeks so lots of houses were drowned and other infrastructure lost. The dam is nearly full and the outlet is spraying an enormous amount of water out of the base plus water is draining from the top for irrigation for the surrounding farmlands. Near the end of our Tinaroo Dam travels we stop at a 4 wheel drive test track & two of the group decide to test out their cars going up the very steep incline, then down the equally steep slope. They were both successful and it added some further excitement to the day. The Kauri Pub is our lunch stop and the cars of our group fill the street in front of the pub in this very small town. The food is piled high on the plate & is more than enough, it is tasty & we both do not need any dinner again tonight.  We drive back through rich farmland to our campsite and take a walk along the Barron River again and we spot some more platypus foraging for their food in the river. They only spend a very short time on the surface before they are diving down again. Back to the camp for happy hour & a chat & a drink around the campfire. Another great day.