Garry and Carols Van Trip: Girraween

We checked out of Stanthorpe at the end of last week and took up residence in the Girraween National Park. Girraween was a completely different national park to one we had seen before. The camp area for vans, and tents was roomy with good facilities and complete silence and darkness at night; water (boil before drinking) but no electricity. The park is in the middle of hills of exposed granite. There are several running streams but the exposed bald rock faces and balancing boulders are worth seeing. Both Carol and I managed to “walk” (climb) the Pyramids, 1277m above Sea Level, and the views from the top are impressive. We also walked to the junction of two streams and the rock pools and exposed granite colors were impressive as was Dr Roberts (swimming) waterhole located on another stream in the hills.

Leaving the peace (and dwindling water and battery power) we moved on to Tenterfield. Our Camps Aust. Book suggested a cheap site at the showgrounds so we gave it a go. As our drive from Girraween was not a huge one (55km’s) we arrived early and got the best spot. It is cheap, convenient to town but the amenities are rather basic yet clean. Most trips to town and around the sites were done on foot. We took on the Heritage walk around the old buildings and were impressed how well they are being kept. The Tenterfield Saddler was interesting; it still sells leather goods but has no resident saddler any more. The smell of leather hits you before you even make the verandah. We also saw a huge cork tree which was transported from England in a jam tin and planted in 1860. Garry spent an hour going through the Railway Museum while Carol went on a tour of Stannum House, a multi-storey residence which was built in 1888 by a rich tin miner with 12 children. It has been lovingly restored and has been filled with beautiful old furniture and fittings. I must also mention the Tenterfield Golf Course. It is a great course. The fairways are lined with many different large trees, there is water, hills, gardens, and a few exposed granite boulders in strategic places. The best bit was the excellent grass on the fairways and the greens that took borrow on any slight slope and ran quickly while being lush green. There is a huge clubhouse and 14 motel units on the fairways (6 more under construction) – not bad for a town of 3,500 people (plus a few rich graziers I suspect). Oh, and I did hit the ball Ok too - 45/44.

Wednesday night we enjoyed an excellent meal at Henry’s on Rouse restaurant to celebrate 37 years and left the town for the bush again in Boonoo Boonoo Nat Park. The Cypress camp area was very peaceful beside the river but the access is difficult for larger vans and I would recommend the camp ground at Bald Rock instead (about 20km’s apart). We managed to find a nice shady spot and even had a dip in the cool running water during afternoon nibblies. The falls were impressive were the river falls 200+ metres over the edge of the tablelands but the lookout is a little disappointing as there is no access to see the main drop – you can see the rapids and the edge which were good but could not see the main falls, only the riverbed in the valley 200m below. Being so fit (!) we decided to tackle the Bald Rock climb on the same day. This was very impressive large bald rock hills similar to Girraween but higher. The views from the top were great and would be fantastic after rain on a clear day. We took the gradual walk up but came straight down the rock face which reminded us how old our knee caps were. Just north of Tenterfield were 2 interesting sights – the first was “Thunderbolt’s Hideout” and the second was the WW2 tank traps. The road to Beaudesert was rhe only road from Sydney to Brisbane in WW2 and the second line of defence was set up at the top of the Great Dividing Range 10km north of Tenterfield. Between hills of granite a trap of 3 lines of fixed 5’ high posts was installed and large boulders were placed into the hills from them. During the war about 10,000 soldiers were stationed just south of the tank traps at London Bridge. The bushranger Thunderbolt also many years earlier recognized the benefit of blocking the Syd – Bris road and found a great hideout between huge boulders just off the road. The gaps in the rocks were big enough to hide his horses, there was running water in a creek 20m away, and from the top of the boulders he could see a long way. One boulder has weathered and is balancing on the back edge only providing a domed roof cave about 10m in diameter and 2m high in the centre. The opening is only about 0.6m high but is clear of the ground for more than half of the bottom of the rock – a great little hidey hole.

Today, Remembrance Day we have moved into Glen Innes where they are having a Celtic Festival over the weekend.

Balancing rock on top of Pyramids in Giraween Nat Park