Harvie Wall Bangers: Tree Hugging and Coal Mining

Queensland Hinterland

Canungra, Kingaroy, Mundubbera, Cania Gorge,

Lake Bundoora, Lake Elphinstone

June 5 to 12, 2019

We're back on the road!

We've packed up Pedro and Myrtle and headed into the wild blue yonder.

Well, sort of. We planned to make Stanthorpe our first stop but reports of snow deterred us. Canungra Showground - near Tamborine Mountain, one hour north of home - seemed the better option. We'll have to toughen up along the way.

We spent the first day hiking the 12km Daves Creek Circuit through the Binna Burra section of the Lamington National Park. A stunning start to our next adventure.

Off we go into the subtropical rainforest

Sun-seeking birds nests perched high above ....

.... others use the trees to wind their way skywards.

Warm, wet conditions feed the subtropical forest.

Fabulous gnarly old trees...

... so much character.

The uprooted bases of some created natural sculptures

Then we broke out into the heath and fabulous valley views.

A selfie on top of Surprise Rock ...

... and a little feathered friend to share our muesli bar.

But I hadn't seen a waterfall! A quick side trip to Tamborine Mountain fixed that.

Curtis Falls in the Joalah Section of the national park.

From Canungra we moved fairly quickly through to peanut country, stopping at Kingaroy to buy roasted peanuts and check out the local museum.

We were lucky enough to strike up a conversation with Wilf Young, whose father built the first peanut thresher now on display in the museum.

Wilf filling Garry in on the finer details about peanut farming.

Peanut-sized Garry by the towering silos.

A lovely lunch spot ...

... with a weather stone that never fails.

I had read of Cherbourg in the memoir Is That You Ruthie? by Ruth Hegarty who spent her early years at Cherbourg Aboriginal Mission during which time she was separated from her mother. By all accounts it was a grim place where the Queensland government dictated everything. The Ration Shed Museum is a memorial to those dark days. Unfortunately the museum was closed when we visited but we got a sense of time and place.

We are not into BIG things but couldn't go past the Big Orange in Gayndah. A bit of trivia: Gayndah claims to be the oldest town in Queensland and at one stage competed with Brisbane and Ipswich to become the Sunshine State capital! Its more modest claim today is the Citrus Capital.

And the oranges are delicious. Eat your heart out Wayne!

We did love the murals painted on silos, water tanks, even pubs as we travelled the Country Way.

Bunyip territory.
Rumour has it that this fellow devours cattle and people if they stray near his waterhole.
We stayed a respectful distance.

We ducked into Cania Gorge National Park for a wee look.

Dragon Cave

Lots of King Parrots

Cania Dam. Old gold mining town at the bottom of the lake.

Then it was into coal mining territory: Middlemount, Dysart, Moranbah. It's sobering to see the hillsides carved away as millions of tonnes of coal are hauled to the coast and beyond.

Trains that seem to go forever ....

Abandoned equipment, abandoned mines.

A restored big bucket at Moranbah

More super-sized equipment coming in ...

... we got out of the way.

Collinsville is Queensland's oldest coal mine. The Workers Club has a fascinating museum - the Coal Face Experience - which provides an insight into the trials and tribulations of the early miners.

At one stage Collinsville was known as "Little Moscow" with the local miners - and their union - agitating for safer working conditions and higher wages.