Bunya Mountains and Drive Towards the Outback

Monday, 31.10.2022

Hannes and I are going on a big trip. Equipped with a tent and a complete camping gear and Helen's car, we start early in the morning. First, towards the Sunshine Coast, but then soon inland towards the west.

After about 3 hours, we made a stop in the Bunya Mountains, a wooded mountain range that formed from lava millions of years ago. The trees that gave the mountains their name (or was it the other way around?), the Bunya Pines, are giant, distinctive trees that can grow up to 45 meters tall.

'The Bunya nut, which reaches the size of a soccer ball, weighs one kilogram, and contains 100 to 200 seeds, was collected by the Aboriginal people as bush food. The seeds were eaten raw or roasted, processed into flour, or baked into bread. The nut also had significance in ceremonies, trade, weddings, and other occasions. Recently, the wood of the tree has been used to build guitars.'

On a short hike through the national park, we could not only admire some magnificent specimens but also enjoy wonderful views again. And watch the busy bush turkeys building their nests.

Especially great: there are many parrots living here, which are hardly shy, but on the contrary, rather cheeky and try to snatch part of our lunch.

And we even discovered an echidna, a spiny anteater.

But we had to tear ourselves away because we still had a long way to go. Our destination was Carnarvon Gorge National Park. So we left the Bunya Mountains and headed inland towards the west, towards Roma, from Dalby on the Warrego Highway. We got about 200 kilometers further before we needed accommodation for the night. Just before Yuleba, at Judd's Lagoon 'in the middle of nowhere,' we found a remote campground. The only infrastructure: an outhouse. But enough space to set up our tent, just in time before it got dark and the rain started.