Queen Mary Falls via Condamine River Road.
It was Sunday 10th February and we headed off to the Shell Servo at Jimboomba to be there before 8 am. We got there to find a long line up of eager club members. Joining the front of the queue where we belonged, we said our Hello’s and passed the trip sheet around for signing. It turned out that Jessie came 5 minutes late and we were just waiting for 3 more vehicles. At 8.15 am a few calls were made – The Smith’s were still in bed, the Bailue’s were running late and Mr Jager wasn’t answering his phone (a few fines in that).
We eventually got going just before 8.30 am with 14 cars in total. If you all remember the weeks before had given us a lot of rain so even though it was a beautiful day, there was uncertainty about the roads ahead. We travelled through Boonah and via Mt Alford and towards the Condamine River road. There was so much chit chat over the two-way, that when we drove passed where we were meant to be heading, we couldn’t inform Brian and Susan in time. So it turned out that they were the only ones we led astray that day.
Along the way we stopped at the Wilsons Peak lookout. The falls were easily visible with a huge amount of water pouring down. Whilst there we stretched our legs and had morning tea. Some of us remembered how cold we were last June when we stopped here on the way to Basket Swamp. Heading off again we were over joyed to see the Condamine River Road was NOT closed.
Knowing there were many river crossings, we were very cautious crossing the first one. The water was higher than we had seen it before and still flowing quite fast. There were no dramas with that crossing so on to the next.
The second crossing turned out to be very deep and when the water came to our bonnet, I remembered assuring Rana on the phone that the water would only come half way up the tyres. Safely across we watched each vehicle come across and it was very interesting to watch how high (or not) the water came on different vehicles. A few breaths held but everyone managed it wonderfully and congratulations to those that did it for he first time. Hoping that we didn’t have anything worse ahead we continued. We came across a group of vehicles coming the other way who informed us that the second crossing we had just done was the hardest or deepest. This came as a relief to some and as an anti-climax to others.
Along the way we stopped occasionally to take photos. The second last crossing was a concrete causeway and fairly shallow so we all had to take the opportunity to pose with large splashes for the line up of cameras. It was fun!!!!
Just before the road merged with the main road we came across a ROAD CLOSED sign. The bridge was no longer there. We turned around and detoured around the back of Killarney. Passing through town, some took the opportunity to visit the rest rooms and others checked out the high tide mark along the river banks in town from the recent flooding.
Finally we made it to Queen Mary Falls just in time for lunch. It was a challenge, but we all found a parking spot and unloaded our chairs and picnic items. We all sat and had a leisurely lunch. Afterwards some went for the 2 Km walk to the falls. They were breathtaking. There was a huge flow and the cool water sprayed over us as we watched. Across the road from the picnic grounds at the kiosk we fed the King parrots with the kids for a while.
At around 3pm we made a move for home. The plan was to come home via the Lions Road but when we got there the road was CLOSED. So, with much dismay we all turned around and back-tracked to go home via the Mt Lindesay Hwy. It was getting quite late and one by one we went our own ways.
I thoroughly enjoyed the day and it was nice to get out and socialise in such beautiful surroundings with such a great crowd.
Thanks Danny for leading us and hope to see you all at the next social event.
Heidi Power
