Naz, Chris and I left Brisbane on Friday night for the three hour drive south to the NSW border. We made good time heading over the Main Range via the Cunningham Gap, from then it was an easy night drive past Stanthorpe until we made it to the park entrance.
Feeling alert we decided to continue on and try to make it to the Red Rock Gorge campsite for the night. The track was very rough and rocky, but we slowly made our way there under the clear night sky.
We arrived to an empty site, cracked a beer and sat down after unpacking our sleeping gear. After a close call with a large and nasty looking centipede crawling millimeters from my feet we decided hit the sack, considering it was past midnight at this point.
It was such a beautiful night that it didn't take much for Chris to talk me into sleeping under the stars. We each unrolled a tarp and laid out our sleeping gear, trying to fall asleep to the thunderous noise of the nearby frogs and crickets. The far off lightning didn't cause any concern.
It wasn't soon after that the lightning flashes became more frequent and brighter, I had barely checked the car windows before all hell broke loose. Diving back into my sleeping bag and rolling up in the tarp, the sky opened up and proceeded to hammer us with rain for the next few hours. Mostly dry in the tarp cocoon it was impossible to get any decent sleep, and the long night soon turned to morning.
We woke bleary eyed just after dawn as the skies began to clear. We made the short hike to the Red Rock Gorge lookout and were surprised that the waterfall wasn't running.
It was a great view, but the temptation of a hot cup of coffee and some breakfast soon overcame our vista and we returned to camp. I butchered some pancakes, but eventually we were awake enough to continue further into the park.
Given that the overnight storm had cancelled any plans to go explore the gorge and try some rock climbing, we decided to push on to Burrows Waterhole, set up camp again and do some hiking fishing. The continuing track was rocky and rough in places, and we slowly made our way further into the park. Chris, being an avid bird watcher, had us willingly stop every time he spotted a new species. All to often I miss these things when I drive, it was nice to see the outdoors with a fresh set of eyes.
We passed an old mine site, and continuing along the main ridge we came out along some beautiful open fields where we decided to stop for another coffee.
We were getting close to Burrows Waterhole and decided to take a few alternative routes that would prove a bit more challenging than the main trail. We found some steep and rutted sections that proved to be a lot of fun, The videos make it look a lot easier that it was, and it was good to get the pulse racing a little.
Around midday we arrived to a beautiful shady, grassy area on the banks of the Severn River. We set up camp, and I put up my tent (without the waterproof fly) and unrolled my bedding to dry. After a late lunch we lazily explored the area, taking a swim in the river, casting a few lures hoping to catch some fish, and putting out a few things to dry.
Later in the afternoon we decided to visit nearby Rat's Castle. Chris set off on foot looking for wildlife, after giving him a head start I drove to the beginning of the track and stopped at the top of a nasty looking track down.
I was greeted with an unmissable warning sign relating the danger of attempting the Rat's Castle 4WD track. I walked the three tracks down and picked the least intimidating line, Naz was leaving his Pajero back on the hill so I wouldn't have any help getting snatched or winched out.
I crawled slowly down the hill without issue, and further along the track I stopped to check out the rocky river crossing. It wasn't deep at this section, but the natural rock features made the cross slow and delicate, having to dodge diff scraping rocks and making sure my wheels didn't drop down any sharp ledges. With Naz and Chris spotting the rocks I slowly made my way across, as I made it past the point of no return we realized that a storm was almost upon us. Lightning lit up the sky, and thunder and severe winds ripped through the gully.
There was no option but to continue on and hope the rest of the track wasn't too tough. Soon after the rain began to pour down, winds battering the tress, branches and debris flying everywhere. Before long I was driving through muddy holes and deeply rutted tracks that I would have been hesitant to tackle in the dry.
The storm continued to rage, but my Patrol with its front locking diff crawled up every obstacle, performing perfectly when I needed it the most. Steep, rocky, rutted terrain with torrents of water pouring down the wheel tracks, we kept moving, gaining higher and higher ground. The weather didn't let up, as we were nearing the end of the Rat's Castle loop we halted at the ridge. Ahead, as far as we could see, was long steep rutted track back down to the beginning of the track. I hesitated and weighed up my options. I could wait out the storm, then wait even longer for the worst of the groundwater to run off, or I could attempt the descent. If I made a mistake on the way down, or if the car started sliding uncontrollably down over the rock and mud I could very easily slip over the edge and tumble off the side of the track.
I started down.Very slowly I went, inching down over the drop offs, crawling as slow as possible in 4L first gear, down the track. It was a long few minutes in which I barely breathed and my heart was racing, but we made it down without incident. The videos make it look tame, but it we were on edge the whole way down.
Another small river crossing then the hard slow ascent back to Burrows Waterhole and we were back at camp! I breathed a very big sigh of relief.
Or what was left of it....
In our absence camp had been destroyed. Eyelets had been torn from the tarp which had collapsed, container lids covering our food had been ripped off and scattered, and the tent containing all of my sleeping gear was sitting in a few inches of water.
Naz's tent stayed dry, and Chris's sleeping gear wrapped in a tarp had managed to stay untouched, but the rest was drenched.
Thankfully the esky was fine, so we opened a few beers, and once the rain had passed we set to work on getting a fire started. Once done, Chris and Naz went off in search of fish while I went about trying to restore some order to our camp. Dinner had to be improvised as the box of cous-cous had exploded in the wet container, but two minute noodles and Osso Bucco next to a camp fire with a few cold beers is pretty hard to beat.
Naz returned just in time for dinner with a nice sized Murray Cod. It was released into the Severn River to catch another day, and we spent the rest of the night relaxing around the fire.
It was an early night as we were tired from the night before, so I made space in the back on my Patrol, laid out my windscreen sun shield as a mattress, wrapped myself in a picnic rug, pulled a beanie down over my eyes and went to sleep.
Sunday morning was glorious, we laid out a few things to try and dry off and spent the morning relaxing around camp.
Chris was up early to go fishing, but came back empty handed. He was soon cheered up when he spied a whip snake nearby camp.
The day grew hotter as we packed up camp, and set off out of the park. Driving back we noticed a lot of debris from the previous nights storm, but the trip was uneventful, slow going over rocky roads and a few more mud puddles on the way out.
It took just under two hours to get back to the park entrance, then another three hours back to Brisbane. All things considered it was a fantastic weekend, we will definitely return with some kayaks and a lot of waterproof gear!
More photos here
More videos here
