Kroombit Tops and Beautiful Betsy

After being told that Kroombit Tops had received 750mm of rain over the past three days, I must admit to feeling that we would not be able to visit the tableland on this trip.  That said, it did seem like an unbelievable figure - after all it is more than our annual average rainfall at home, and there was no evidence of widespread flooding.

Our camp hosts suggested we drop in on the National Parks base nearby and ask them directly.  We did, and were told that a crew had been up in the park the previous day, and all tracks were definitely open!  There was no mention of biblical downpours, and I believe that our information source may have made a error involving the placement of a decimal point.

So we went.

If you haven't heard of Kroombit Tops, we hadn't either until we were talking with a couple from Gladstone a two of weeks earlier.  Of similar geological formation to Blackdown Tableland, it too was opened up for logging from the 1960's until 1995. Its cool tableland provides the northernmost range for many southern dwelling plants and animals, as well as the southernmost range for many northern dwelling plants and animals.  It really is a unique place to visit, and we were looking forward to heading up there ourselves.

Getting there was half the fun.  We wound north from Cania Gorge, on a dirt road that at times resembled a farm track.  There were numerous creek crossings, farm gates and cattle as we traversed this isolated part of the country. 

The drive in had plenty of gates

And creek crossings

We finally made it to the National Park entry, after a steep climb up to the tableland.  It was on the steep side, but we would have been happy to tow our trailer up this track.  At the top, there was an information sign, and a relic from the logging days - just to remind us that the roads up here were not built for the odd tourist in a four wheel drive..

The roads were not built for tourists, but timber.

There is two wheel drive access from the north east, and we followed this well maintained forestry road to one of the most spectacular lookouts we have seen all trip.  The ground fell away beneath our feet, and we felt the breeze blowing up from the valley below on our faces.  Pockets of rainforest in the valleys below were surrounded by dryer eucalypt forest.  On a clear day you can even see shipping making its way to Gladstone from here.  

The view from the escarpment was stunning

There is a four wheel drive loop road on the tableland that we decided to follow.  There were a couple of rocky sections where we had to go carefully to avoid any new under body dents.  It was all good fun, but slow going.

Lunch break - nothing like fresh chicken and salad on crisp-bread. 

In 1945 a Liberator Bomber "Beautiful Betsy" on a ferry flight from Darwin to Brisbane crashed in the Kroombit Tops.  Despite extensive searches, no trace was found until the wreckage was discovered in 1994 by a Park Ranger.  For nearly 50 years the wreckage was undiscovered and undisturbed, causing great sadness for the families of the 6 crew and 2 passengers who were missing.

The tail section of Beautiful Betsy

The wreckage of the aircraft still lies scattered in the bush, with the engines thrown about 100 metres uphill from where the aircraft struck.  Whilst they were able to work out a few details from the wreckage, such as the aircraft was at full power, nose up attitude when it struck, no one will ever know what the young men in the aircraft were thinking or feeling when the ridge loomed up in front of them -or if they even saw it.

The wreckage was strewn all over the place

The interpretive signs at the crash site told a moving story.  A sad story.  The two passengers were Spitfire pilots from the RAF on their way to Sydney.  One was getting married and other was to be his best man.  A letter written home reveals a young man looking forward to a future as a husband once the war is over.  It brought home the tragedy of the accident by making it personal, and was exceptionally moving.  Or perhaps as the grandson of a wartime pilot, it was all a little closer to home.  Either way, a quiet tear was shed in this desolate, remote and rugged ridge top.

After leaving the resting place of Beautiful Betsy, we continued on the loop road, and things started to get interesting.  The first was a long steep descent to 'The Wall'.  The steep rocky slope had some nasty rock steps to negotiate - and The Little Helper jumped out to record our descent in all its glory.

We had some steep descents

Rocky made it all too easy.  In 1st Low, we crawled down the slope with the hill-descent control keeping the car at walking pace.  All I had to do was steer as gravity tried to wrench us free from the road and accelerate our descent.  We enjoyed a leg stretch at The Wall, before continuing on the loop road.

Checked out The Wall

As we continued on our way, some of the driving became more and more technical.  I was too busy driving to take any photos of the really interesting bits, with one particularly steep rutted climb enhanced by the steep escarpment dropping off to one side.  Good fun? Absolutely.

Climbed some nasty bits

We were poking along nice and slowly, but the sun was starting to sink lower into the sky as we commenced our descent from the Kroombit Tops via the new (and appropriately named) Razorback track.  This track is signposted very firmly 'No Trailers' - and I would be inclined to agree.  This track was steep - with some magnificent scenery revealed to us as we descended down the western slopes towards Biloela.

And felt on top of the world as we drove Razorback Trail

Awesome day in the car

You cannot imagine how steep this is from the photo

After finally returning to the bottom of the hills, we pumped up the tyres and returned home on the blacktop at highway speeds.  We got home late - and it had been a much longer day in the car than we had intended.  We could have camped up on the Kroombit Tops, but it would have necessitated leaving Matilda behind (or going by a different route).  We had travelled a mere 280km in about 8 hours of driving.  When we considered the last 100km had taken around an hour, it meant for the first seven hours we averaged around 25km/hr.  Good, slow four wheel drive fun.

It had been a thoroughly enjoyable few days inland, however it was time to heed the heat, and head back to the coast.  We were going to spend a couple of days in paradise getting ourselves ready to tackle the largest sand island in the world.