Very excited to be heading off again to a remote location (note to selves - get weather report before heading to remote locations and tell people where you are, including rangers). Despite Rob's concerns regarding the road, I assured him that his concerns were groundless and with that talked him into staying at the most remote section of the park. The road in to Mt Moffatt, even though dry, was pretty rough and definitely not suitable to 2WD with deep sand ruts and clay for about 64 km. 
In the north-east of the park, sandstone cliffs lead up to the basalt-topped ridges of the Great Dividing Range. At more than 1000 metres above sea level, the Consuelo Tableland is the highest plateau in Queensland. Spectacular views reveal a sweeping landscape of mountain ranges, rugged peaks, escarpments and gorges.
Great camp spot all to ourselves - quite surprised seeing it is the start of the Qld school holidays! We had intended to stay only two nights here but even though we had a couple of showers and rain overnight we thought we might stay a bit longer. We had done a couple of 12-14km hikes and found the wildlife amazing.
With 54 different types of mammals including koalas, seven species of kangaroos and wallabies as well as gliders, 160 species of birds including emu, wedge-tailed eagle, honey eaters, parrots and lorikeets, 63 reptiles including the tiger snake (glad we didn't encounter him) and 17 species of frog and butterflies galore there was lots to see. We also
enjoyed checking out the tracks left by various critters on the road - not sure what creature belongs to these but they are cute!
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| Whose are these? |
Well I'm feeling pretty happy with myself finding this great spot all to ourselves even had our own little crystal clear creek to take a bath and honing in on my damper cooking skills - haven't quite perfected that yet! Enjoying the silence (funny how you can "hear" it)
Day 3 rained all night and all day today not terribly worried we have plenty to eat and lots of water. Enjoyed tramping in the rain with Rob but wishing that I'd let the Ranger know that we were going to stay on hmmmm. Great dinner - really enjoying our meals and Rob still managers to get a small fire going even with the wet wood. Rob and I collected wood today and put it undercover in case the rain set in (I went along with his request but remember thinking - "we didn't really need to do that").
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| Cycad's everywhere |
Day 4 Rain - still hiked and checked out the road out decided that we might have to stay a couple of days as the road is definitely impassable worst case scenario we could walk the 17km to the Rangers Camp. The Cycad's here are amazing I found some nuts and collected them - Rob wouldn't let me eat them (found out later that they are full of toxin and have to be leached for 5 days before being used - generally made into a type of bread). Despite the weather enjoying each others company Rob entertained me with stories of "Oog" (a piece of wood he found that looked like a 3 headed monster) and his beautiful music - the birds love it too!
Aboriginal rock art is evidence of people's connection with the land that stretches back for at least 19,000 years. Stockyards and fences are a reminder of the area's history as a cattle station.
Day 5 Rain - It rained all night and has set in all day, managed a walk but I/m starting to feel anxious especially as I have dragged Rob here - No idea how long we might have to stay here it will take at least 3 days for the roads to dry out and no-one knows where we are! Trying to keep our spirits up but feeling very soggy. Moved campsite as we were starting to bog in. Rob still manages to get a fire going just to warm ourselves
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| Healthy looking cattle on the way to Mt Moffatt |
Day 7 - No rain last night and Sunshine today YEAH!! Happy campers - bathed and washed each others hair (very nice), lapped up the sunshine. Walked a good deal of the road to the rangers camp 14km) and happy that the road is really drying out a pretty awful patch at One Mile Creek - looks like someone tried to get to us but couldn't (Feeling a bit guilty thought maybe our kids are worrying about us and alerted the ranger!!).
Day 8- Sunshine but heavy dark clouds accumulating looks like a storm coming in. Decided to pack up and check out One Mile Creek. We decided to dig out tracks down through the creek so the car wouldn't slide off the greasy muddy surface into the side drains. Feeling very proud of ourselves as our vehicle plods through without a hitch although just started to slide out on the bend. Called in at the rangers office - who was surprised to see us - he had no idea we were there. Asked him what the road out was like "Should be OK" he says. Glad that's all we knew as we may not have had the courage to attempt the 64 km's of greasy slippery mud - some sections were OK although the sand ruts were very deep. I watched in horror as the steering wheel swivelled left and right - no photos folks too dammed scared! I was so relieved when we hit the asphalt - thanks Rob for getting us out! It certainly was an adventure wasn't it!! Yep I'd do it again!!
Oh and by the way nobody was worried about us!!!
