Extended Trip on the Yabba (Piccie Intense)

[hairymick01]

G'day guys.

I haven't posted much here lately. Evie and I have been away on holliday (vacation). Our original plan was a long road trip to North West Queensland's outback country but with the recent floods and ongoing heavy rain up there, many of the places we wanted to go to were still cut off.

Plan 2 was still a road trip, just sort of heading generally west and see and decide where to go to from day to day. sort of, a mystery tour. The planned first stop was a small town called Imbil situated on Yabba Creek, in the heart of the upper Mary River Valley.

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=imbil ... CAQQ_AUoAQ

This is our camping set up

The park where we planned to camp first was right on the banks of Yabba Creek and consisted of 11 acres of shady, well grassed areas. We arrived early afternoon, booked in and I asked the very laid back bloke about where we could pitch. he replied, "Oh, anywhere mate. Just go down and find a spot and set up. Come back and fix me up (pay me) when you get a chance. I'm having a beer now." so we found a spot and we quickly set up camp here.

View from the camp the following morning. I snuck the boat in while the very lovely miss Evie was cooking brekky.

 

[hairymick01]

Oy yerh, there were three other camps in the park at the time. 8)

After brekky, Evie was keen for a paddle so we headed upstream from the camp

Walking our Sasquatch ovder some shallow rapid sections and going from one beautiful water hole to the next.

interspersed with frequent stops to make a cuppa.

even in the rain

 

[Kayak Jack]

Pretty, Mick. Yabba Creek should flow through here.

 

[hairymick01]

Thanks jack. there is a fair bit more to come. I will post as i get a chance.

 

[hairymick01]

This was the first of many trips up the creek.

On the second day, Evie asked if we could stay longer which suited me just fine. She was yet to catch her first bass and the creek was looking very fishy to me. The creek is renowned for big Bass and Saratoga

http://www.google.com.au/images?hl=en&s ... group&sa=X

So we set some prawn traps to catch these little guys, Cherabin or a fresh water shrimp

they are not bad tucker (food) either 8)

and that night, we went to bed with Evie's admonishment ringing in my ears, "Now don't you go fishing without me in the morning."

We hit the first spot bright and early,

and all I could manage was a bloody turtle

to plan B, fish the wash below some rapids,

Evie persisted with what was left of our Cherabin while contented myself with throwing some topwater lures around. As usual, Evie came up trumps, with a solid bass and similar sized catfish

and she lost a cracker of a saratoga that would have topped out the metre mark. She lost if because i forgot to take the landing net.

while I got zip.

 

[hairymick01]

Which we had for dinner that night.

One week turned into two and then two and a half with the numbers in the park steadily building as school hollidays and Easter approached.

We headed for the nearby mountains and to another creek,

for a lil four wheel driving

and a big storm hit while we were up there. We eventually got back to camp late that night and when we awoke the following morning, the creek had risen a couple of feet 8)

Time for a lil play in some rapids.

 

[hairymick01]

The following morning, we put in at thefirst crossing above the camp, and he had paddled about 300 yards to about here,

with the water about 3 feet higher than in this pic, when we lost control and overturned, losing my camera in the process. We were very glad to still be alive, though wet and cold.

We continued on down stream over some fun little races,

Recovering our gear as we went.

When we got back to camp, we cadged a lift with another camper who very kindly drove us back to the put in to get our car.

Easter was rapidly approaching and the numbers in the park continued to build. The clincher for us was on the Thursday before Easter when mobs started turning up playing very loud doof doof "music" We had two choices, we could break camp and leave or Evie could bail me out of jail. We opted for leaving. and came home for the Easter break.

 

[Kayak Jack]

The creek with gravel bottom (pictured immediately after the "Dry Weather Road" sign), looks a lot like our streams here in the Great Lakes area.
You and Evie look happy. Good on ya!

 

[caddepa]

G'day mate,

After looking at the photos, Mick, I have come to the conclusion that you had a great catch despite not landing any fish

Quality time spent at some picturesque locations.

World class paddling.

And "interaction" with a first rate paddling partner

It doesn't get any better than that! However, you might want to upgrade to a more luxurious tent. That little backpacker model you currently have is really roughing it :roll:

Happy to see you enjoying life to the fullest. Good on ya, mate.

 

[hairymick01]

G'day Jack and John,

Thanks guys, appreciate it. I keep trying to finish this post but seem to get side tracked all the time. My mind is now working at geezer warp speed.

John, the place we camped is the little town where we had lunch after paddling near Kenilworth. I wish I had known about it when you were here. I think you would have loved this creek mate.

Re my camping fishing and paddling partner, Evie definately is first rate. She is a bloody good sport, will have a crack at anything and just loves getting out in the bush "roughing" it.

I will try to finish this post today.

A few days after Easter, we returned to Imbil and even got our old camping spot back During our previous stay, there were kids playing in little recreational kayaks in the water in front of our camp and Evie expressed a desire to have a go in a kayak. be fore she met me, she had never paddled anything at all.

With that in mind, I loaded my two Lakers on top of the camper and took them. the following day, we put them in the water and after a few basic pointers, Evie was rearing to go.

The plan was for her to just paddle round a bit in front of the camp to get the feeel for these great little boats, but before I knew it, she was off and heading upstream away from the camp, past the township (this is our retirement home BTW only the current owners don't know it yet. )

and into the rainforest.

She only stopped when the water got too shallow where we had our customary cup of tea. John, she actually drinks more tea than you mate.

While we were having the cuppa, Evie was telling me how much she loved paddling this boat so I gave it to her. She has asked me to de-purple it and it will be my pleasure to do so. I haven't paddled my laker in a very long time and had forgotten just how much fun they are. Light, fast and responsive, in short, the perfect little recreational kayak.

 

[hairymick01]

The following day, Evie was keen to go back upstream and look for my camera. The water level had dropped 2 - 3 feet and she had a feeling that we might be able to find it. The camera concerned was a little pentax, waterproof point and shoot jobbie and there were over 200 images on it. I held little hope of finding it but it was a good excuse for a paddle in paradise so we headed off bright and early in the Sasquatch, working our way up stream. It was about 5 miles or so to where we tipped.

and involved some interesting walks

and a few hours later we got to withing about 30 metres of where we bombed out.

 

[Kayak Jack]

It's nice to see a couple of olde fartes :wink: such as you two enjoying yourselves. Really nice looking territory there. Boats and camping give you a very good way to get away from workaday Life.
I'm planning a few-day trip on which I might even fish a bit. Haven't fished much since the summer I was 14, and discovered both girls and motorbikes in the same summer. I never looked back.

 

[hairymick01]

I walked to about where I was standing in the last piccie of the previous post while Evie was making a cuppa on the gravel bar and lo and behold, there was my little camera sitting in about a foot of water in about the only place in the creak where sunlight shon through the trees. I picked it up and couldn't believe my eyes when I turned it on and it still worked.

I was one very happy camper.

This camera, the cheapest of the Pentax waterproof range and rated as waterproof to a mettr for up to two hours had been immersed in running water, bounced over rocks etc, for ten days and it still was working. Bloody OUTSTANDING!

 

[hairymick01]

Thanks Jack,

Camping and paddling are our favourite passtimes. The fact that we catch a few fish sometimes makes it even better. After finding the camera we worked our way back downstream and i just had to give a strainer a hair cut on the way.

This is what we call a turpentine tree, very hard and heavy timber - beautifully grained. The trunk is as straight and clear as a gun barrel and i plan to take the chainsaw back and get about 20 feet of it for future use. It was washed over in the recent floods and no one will miss it.

 

[hairymick01]

Over the coming two weeks, we had several visitors. Evies mum and dad who live in the valley came by several times for morning tea.

and damper

her daughter and husband and four grand daughters came by and played in our boats,

and on the mudslide opposite our camp.

 

[caddepa]

Thanks for sharing the additional pics, Mick, they remind me that Oz is such an outstanding country, in so many different ways.

You must have some really good karma to have found that camera: and it working order :shock: I have an Olympus Stylus that has also been "down under" (pun intended) a few times. I have even had it snorkeling in salt water for extended periods. Chuck has the newer version, which is even more rugged. No doubt he will test the unit at some point

Seems to me you are spending a great deal of time in the Great Outdoors: Good on ya, mate. Are you taking vacation days, retired, or collecting unemployment? No matter, just keep living life to the fullest. And if it's still on your Bucket List, now would be an opportune time to visit the States. The Aussie dollar is so strong that you could come here on the cheap and live the high life. My door is open :wink:

 

[hairymick01]

G'day John,

Karma is a beautiful thing mate

Been taking a little vacation time but back at w@#k now still doing the pest control thing we were lucky enough to get nearly 6 weeks off this year due to the way my roster turned out. - bargain!

Evie and I are trying to make up for lost time - all those years before we found each other. We are very happy.

Thank you so much for your very kind offer mate and a visit stateside is definately on the bucket list. There are one or two health issues to sort first tho.

I got to take Evie's oldest grand daughter - Jessie fishin during their fisit and introduced her to her first bass.

and her second one

I met my first lungfish(Dala)

and later, a much bigger version.

Then a saratoga

The local aboriginal people the Gubbi Gubbi believe Dala is the ancestor to all living animals and is sacred. After meeting and handling this prehistoric, air breathing but scaled fish with an eel tail, I can well understand why. All Dala were released unharmed.

 

[Darrells]

Fantastic trip and report, almost felt like I was there.
Thanks,
Darrell

 

[Kayak Jack]

Aborigines provide a different perspective for us. Civilization has its bennies - as well as its drawbacks. Same with being primitive. You're getting a mix, and you know how to handle it.