Overland Australia

Our original plan was to head south to Tiaro and stay at another free camp that we had heard good reports of called Petrie Park on the Mary River. After a quick pack up we hit the road and stopped in at Gin Gin to refuel. It didn't take long for us to reach Tiaro and we thought that we would have been early enough to grab a spot at Petrie Park given that it has a 24 hour limit on stays. Unfortunately we arrived to find most of the spots taken by our old mates the grey nomads that appeared to have been set up for sometime.. . Petrie Park is a beautiful little spot and we could have squeezed in if we really wanted too but we prefer our space and the current occupants didn't seem too thrilled with our arrival. We ate lunch down by the river then jumped back into the car for the last couple of hours south on the Bruce Highway home. Our trip was over a little earlier than expected but we had a great time away together and got to explore another beautiful part of Queensland. We&#

We woke up to another cracking day, unfortunately we have to pack up and head home today. I got the fire going and Anna cooked another awesome feed of pancakes while I slowly started to pack up.  Once the breakfast clean up was done we finished packing up all our gear and the camper and were soon hitched up ready to hit the road. We took our time navigating the steep descent out of the National Park and fortunately we didn't meet anyone coming up the range on our way down. Once back on the flat we made good time and stopped for a quick toilet and lunch break at Westwood before continuing on to Gracemere where Anna grabbed a few more supplies and we re-fuelled the car. After Gracemere we hit the Bruce Highway and the busy road conditions, I certainly do prefer the quieter back roads.  Just after 2pm we arrived at our overnight destination which was the free stop on the Calliope River at River Ranch. This is a very popular spot with free camps on both the South and North banks

Today was our last full day in Blackdown Tableland National Park and we had 2 more walks to tackle before leaving. In the morning we left the camp ground to walk the Mook Mook walking trail, this was a nice easy walk through beautiful forest ending at another lookout offering more stunning views out off the plateau. On the way back we explored a few of the rock pools in the South Mimosa creek, unfortunately the creek wasn't running but our girls still managed to find a swimming hole deep enough for them to have a splash around. After lunch we drove back out to the main information centre and walked the Goodela track, this track is sign posted as going out to 2 Mile falls so we were expecting another beautiful waterfall. We were a little disappointed with this walk as there certainly wasn't a waterfall to view. At the end of the trail there is a little waterhole which is pretty but our of all the walks this is one we wouldn't do again. We headed back to camp and fo

Today we decided to do the Gudda Gumoo gorge walk which is a 4km return walk down into a gorge with a nice little swimming hole and waterfall. It didn't take too long to get down into the gorge, care must be taken with young children as the track does follow the edge of some cliffs and there are 240 steps to navigate down into the gorge. Our girls had no trouble and couldn't wait to get changed into their swimmers once they saw the plunge pool. We had a great time down in the gorge swimming in the freezing water and soaking up the sun. We were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves while we were there which was great. After some morning tea and exploring some of the lower levels and cascades we decided to make our way back to the car. On the way back to camp we spotted the 4WD only loop track and decided to take it as an alternative route back to camp. This 19km track is also the only access to the Mitha Boongulla lookout. About half way along we found a series of rock

We had a really peaceful sleep overnight, we shared the camp ground with a couple of other groups but we were all spread out and could barely see each other let alone hear them which is just the way we like it. Anna cooked up a breakfast of pancakes on the Snow Peak fire pit which is a great bit of gear. Unfortunately the kit we ordered didn't arrive with the grill bridge to lift the grill up off the coals. As luck would have it the grill bridge was waiting for us when we got home from this trip. We were still able to cook on the fire pit we just had to let the coals die down to avoid burning our food. This morning we walked the Goon Goon Dhina circuit which took us through some open woodland over a few small creeks. About halfway into the walk we came across a Ghungalu rock art site. The walk was very easy and provided lots of information on how the Ghungalu people used the natural resources to live off the land. After lunch we drove back to the main information centre to have

We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning and after a quick breakfast and pack up we hit the road towards the Blackdown Tablelands National Park. First order of the day was to find an open service station early on a Sunday morning... I had assumed that Eidsvold would have diesel which it didn't so we arrived in Cracow last night with the fuel light on... Cracow doesn't have fuel either and the closet available diesel was in Theodore. Luckily we arrived in Theodore with what it turns out to be 7 litres of diesel left in the tank, after filling the car and grabbing a couple of coffees we were on our way again. We stopped on the way to collect some firewood for our new Snow Peak fire pit which we were going to use for all of our cooking on this trip. Our lunch time stop today was Duaringa on the Capricorn Highway where we filled up with diesel again and continued west towards our destination. It wasn't long before we were turning off the highway and we could see the ranges in

Blackdown Tablelands National Park has been on our "to do" list for some time and the September School Holidays seemed like the perfect opportunity to get away for a week and explore the area. We left home on Saturday morning after fitting our new Stone Stomper stone guard which had arrived the night before just in time for the trip.  We had an uneventful run north on the Bruce Highway and it wasn't long before we turned off on to the much quieter Wide Bay Highway towards our lunch time stop in Gayndah. After a quick bite to eat and a play in the park for the kids we were back on the road. Our planned overnight stop was Cracow as we had heard the free stop in town was fantastic we wanted to stop in at the Hotel to see if Fred Brophy was in town. We arrived in Cracow just after 3pm  and after a quick lap of the town we found our camp-site for the night. Cracow is a tiny place and we were surprised that it had 2 free stops on offer, we choose the Cracow Heritage Centre as