Day 18 Sunday Palm Beach to Somerset Dam, sunny 21

There’s frost on the car this morning. Being Sunday, the motorway is not backed up which is a blessing but today we’re going to bypass Brisbane going via the west. As always, we’re amazed at the busyness of this crazy Gold Coast City, so much noise, so many cars, so many high-rise buildings in juxtaposition to the pockets of dense bush land and picturesque waterways. Maybe we just spend too much time in the bush these days.

We spin off onto the Logan Motorway then the Warrego Way skirting Ipswich before we pick up a country road to Fernvale which has been assaulted by day trippers. The road climbs the wall of the Wivenhoe Dam giving brief stunning views that I doubt Woody even sees. The Wivenhoe is the dam that overflowed in 2011 flooding the Lockyer Valley and Brisbane and killing 23 people. We get more brief glimpses of the lake, perhaps the view would have been better from the road on the other side of the lake but the GPS is dictating the route today… And getting it wrong when she sends us in the opposite direction at a T intersection.

Merv greets us at Somerset Park Camp Ground. He’s a cheery bugger, gives us 4 nights for the price of 3 and talks us into paying for a fire pit when we’ve got our own. He later offers to sell us a bag of wood for $25 when the going rate at the shop across the road is $16. Our unpowered site has views down the river. We’re just below the wall of the Somerset Dam and the river in front of us flows into the Wivenhoe Dam. When the breeze drops the reflections are captivating. Blue Tiger and Monarch butterflies flit in the sun. Our campsite is huge and big enough for half a dozen vans.

We light a fire in the evening and watch the sky turn pink. We are surrounded by hills, the top of the hill to the south east of us glows with the light of Brisbane. The sky is awash with stars. We cook snags on the barbie and listen to the babble of the river. This is our kind of heaven.

Accom: $23.00 (water, toilets & showers, no power)

Towing Kms: 178 kms