Monday, August 27, 2012

26 August 2012 - Dululu Rest Area, Banana Shire, Queensland


We had tossed up the possibility of staying another night given the fact that the Cania Gorge Tourist Resort is one of the loveliest camps we have stayed in, but instead decided to rise early, complete the last of the chosen walks and head on our way.

And so we were breakfasted, packed up and parked up the road in the gorge before 7.30 am, all without the aid of an alarm clock. We are returning to our old routine which suits the weather and light conditions here in Queensland at this time of the year. We set off on the three hour Fern Tree Pool and Giant’s Chair circuit, following Doctor’s Gully up through the eucalypt forest between towering sandstone bluffs. The early morning mist rose up out of the gully in front of us and the birds were still fresh of throat and happy to entertain us. Soon the vegetation turned to dry rain forest, and we crisscrossed the dry bed of the creek, across large stones which in wet times must be most welcome. After about an hour we reached the deep dark pool lying near the top of the escarpment, beneath overhanging rocks and surrounded with ferns you would find in New Zealand, including maidenhair. Here we encountered a delightful couple from south Victoria with whom we could have spent the entire day conversing, however they, unlike us, had yet to return to camp, pack up and remove themselves before the 10 am pumpkin hour. We walked on, they down the gradual descent to the carpark and us on up the steep climb to the top, then along the ridge and down to a lookout high above the camp, before descending hundreds of steps through the black boys and eucalypts. We reached the carpark to intersect the Victorian couple coming from the opposite direction. We had taken just less than two hours and that included our time spent in conversation.

After a quick cup of coffee, we drove back out through the wide irrigated valley to the Burnett Highway just north of Monto and proceeded on over the Coominglah Range, a slow trip in low gear, and then down into the wide wide plains south of Biloela (pronounced Billoweela). This is cattle country, feeding the cattle market at Gracemere we visited last year from Rockhampton, but it is also well irrigated fertile lucerne and cotton growing country. We pulled into Biloela, walked through the very quiet wide streets of the town to the Visitors Centre and inquired after a map and information about the region, Banana Shire.

The Shire’s name has nothing to do with bananas, but all to do with a dead dun coloured bullock. In days gone by, stockmen used working bullocks as decoys to lead wild cattle to pens. A bullock named “Banana” was one of these. After he died, no doubt having been a good old boy to have earned such an endearing name, his body was chucked into a gully, and the gully became known as Banana Gully. Then the town that grew around the gully took its name and eventually the shire followed suit. The settlement of Banana is no longer the centre it was back in the 1880s, however is long remembered for this story.

Anyway, back to the two old ducks in the Visitor Centre, what helpful souls they were! I came away with the last of the informative books about the area, vouchers for a free drink at the RSL and a mine of other information. And speaking of mines, Biloela (which is local aboriginal speak for White Cockatoo of which there are many here), now backs it’s wealth on coal and power generation beside the agricultural activities. We were given directions and encouragement to drive out to Lake Callide and the nearby lookout from where we could view these industrial wonders, however we decided to stay with Plan A, which was to continue on our way along the Burnett Highway.

We soon learned that Biloela is shut on Sundays like many a good Queensland country town, and so we were unable to patronise the local Woolworths supermarket so instead bought fresh rolls at Anderson’s Market just along the street which was doing a roaring trade being the only commercial food outlet open for the day.

We lunched outside the Queensland Heritage Park, a museum which we were also encouraged to visit, but did not, and then headed on up toward this “township” of Dululu. Here we found this excellent free camp already well patronised by several campers, with a 48 hour time limit, power and showers available for a fee by request at the pub, the one commercial operation in the settlement. The official population is just 139 and now about thirteen camping parties to boost the numbers. We are still without internet and my battery power will probably run low soon. Time for a game of petanque with my beloved husband?

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