Miles and Kumbak Kamping
Words have not flowed easily lately but as I sit in the breeze, enjoying the bluster, I am delighting in watching a young kookaburra sit on the fence nearby, having allowed me to come fairly close this morning and watched as I assembled a hammock. It’s a gorgeous bird, beak open, looking for grubs, probably the ones that form Christmas beetles and which I have been guilty of dispatching, now I know what they look like.
So, this blog covers a couple of adventures – on to Miles for the Back to the Bush Festival and a weekend camping at Kumbak Kamping. Both were delightful adventures, soul replenishing in different ways, both involved seeing new things and travelling different roads from what we have before and just exploring. The country is amazing and beautiful and it’s right on our doorstep from this gorgeous city of Brisbane.
Miles is a lovely town a few hours north west of Brisbane. There are various road options to take to get there and back and not always is the most direct route the best. It is the “where does that road take us” option that enables the finding of gorgeous spots such as Gil Weir and Caliguel Lagoon, the fields of crop where you can see kangaroos bounding through but only by their heads and to their front paws. It is these roads less travelled that make it such interesting and fun adventuring.
The wheat and cotton fields are out this way and they are huge. Take a loop off the Leichhardt Highway one day and see where it takes you, it might also include the sleepy town of Tara where they have Camel Races. We didn’t make those but that would be a fun outing – so very different.
There are long straight roads but not quite like some that we found earlier this year travelling western Queensland. The Moonie River is but a sandy creek bed evidencing the potential of water flow. The dirt and asphalt roads are a great place for sunbaking snakes and reptiles but sadly not when the passing car/truck drivers don’t see you or allow you time to get out of the way.
The mirage is something else too – you completely understand why the early explorers thought water was just up ahead. They are so deceptive and unforgiving. The contrast of country is pretty cool to as you wind through these areas, come through the ranges and see where the rain doesn’t visit so much. The Condamine River, at times, is a string of ponds rather than the raging river it can be. You also see some massive earthmoving and cropping equipment, that crosses both sides of the road, unassembled and on the back of massive flat bed trucks (one of which required 2 big rigs one pushing one towing). It is not until you explore these areas that you get some appreciation of the vastness of this country and the size of the gear required to excavate or crop harvest. It is also intriguing that at the time, fuel was $0.30 cheaper per litre than Brisbane – no price gouging.
There are a few pubs to choose from, each doing good meals. This time we stayed at Possum Park in a cabin – these cabins beat motel rooms. They are nothing special but they have basic cooking implements, a small stove, microwave, crockery and cutlery even if it is like sitting down to nanna’s table back in the day. There was a car port and table and chairs on the veranda. For $95 per night, it was well worth the stay even if it was a little distance from town. The place has armament bunkers from WWII which is really cool and they are adapting an old DC-10 as a place to stay. Pretty cool site.
Moving forward, an extra long weekend was had at Kumbak Kamping where we had the most amazing site of 1,000m2, fire pit, creek, trees, bird accompaniment and complimentary thunder storms all for $12.50 per person per night for the self-sufficient camper and that means completely self-sufficient. The largest site is 1,850m2, the smallest 650m2.
For each of the October long weekends 3 and 5 years ago, I was at Girraween, this location made for a fabulous change of scenery. The quiet before the storm was amazing, just enough time to tie everything down then watch the light show and hear the accompanying music – what a fantastic sound to go to sleep to, even if you did get woken up by a dump of water because you forgot to ensure that the car awning you are sleeping under was properly taught. The temperature drop was also a welcome relief. The overhead thump would roll around then sashay away, the wind would squall through and then disappear. The storms played around for a good couple of hours, leaving a 9.5ml infusion of water into the land.
The storm makes for a clear diamond studded sky later around midnight and a fresh morning.
Serenity is a scarce and amazing thing and not the sort appreciated by The Kerrigans in The Castle. It comes from the complex simplicity of the rolling thunderstorm that dances around and away, banging and crashing along its path, shining some light here and there; the fresh air and morning light, bird song and majestic morning after the sky’s tantrum. The campfire leaps and dances, shifting and changing constantly, devouring everything it is fed. It is the reliance upon everything you have brought with you whilst also knowing that 4km down the road is the town of Imbil where if you had to get supplies, you could.
Kookaburras announce the morning, as with the magpies and the other birds who chorus, some continuing throughout the day. The simplicity of the sun stirring and starting her daily march across the sky, the dripping of water from the shrubbery under which you could refresh yourself with the volume of droplets on the leaves; the rise of steam off the earth as the cool air descends before rising into a warm day; it is the coffee you sip, with your feet up on the spare chair you have packed, not having to be anywhere or do anything. It is taking in the complex simplicity of nature or is it the simple complexity.
This is the serenity that re-sets my equilibrium. It is getting tired by doing “nothing”, something anathema in today’s society. There is much going on in my nothingness – a healing, a tiredness, a repair from simply reading, eating as and when I wish, having a coffee, sipping water and later enjoying a glass of wine while watching the fire do her thing. It is listening to the wind through the trees, reaching crescendo then disappearing, the road noise you can hear because you aren’t too far but yet far enough from the road, the bird that mistakes my glass and flutters in front of my face surprising me, then buzzing off. The night sky would be fabulous to photograph but it’s also about being willing to set up the tripod and gear when all you want to do is look at the stars.
This time allows me to finish a couple of non-fiction books – a biography of Michael Kirby and a book on Georgian society. It also allows me to air and dry the gear wet by the Friday night storm. Of all the things aired on the Saturday, I forgot to pull the mattress out of my swag and dry it – oops. Not to self – if it is wet on top, it is likely to be underneath where there is a plastic liner.
The mist on the last morning tells me it is going to be a hot day – and it is. I am packed and on road by 9am. Some of the roads are very ordinary as I travel back through Kenilworth and the majestic hills. There is always a drought of some sort through these areas – sometimes it is green, other times it is brown. The rolling hills are spectacular as are the roads which require your attention and focus. This helps the head space. The valleys are also something to behold. Take time coming through Mt Mee having ogled at the Glasshouse Mountains – which never cease to attract my attention and amaze me, it always captivates.
So, after 3 nights camping, my idyll is over and to work I return. I am slightly refreshed for the remaining 3 day trial of the 3 already attended to over the last 3 weeks, all 2-3 days each. One will occur on another occasion, one awaits a decision, the other resolved after much negotiation and this last one will have day 4 in a couple of months. Finding whatever helps keep your head straight is so important. Thank you for taking the time to read this rather long series of somewhat rambling thoughts. For now, get out on the road, enjoy life and don’t ever stop marvelling at what nature has made available to us.
