We've been trying for 2 weeks now to get away camping but weather & Craig's work has been interfering, so Tuesday we decided we were definitely going this weekend regardless of the weather and work.
Where are we off to this time I hear you ask.... - well, we're going to Cobb & Co Nine Mile Campground just south of Gympie.
(When I rang the campground today, Sean the fellow who runs it did mention to me not to follow the directions on a GPS at all. He strongly suggested to look for their signs along the road once we made that right hand turn at the Matilda. Word of warning to everyone, he's right! Even our Hema GPS was sending us in the wrong direction, luckily we were looking for the campground signs and were following them instead of the bossy bitch on the dashboard.)
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| Entrance to Cobb & Co Campground |
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| Cool sign |
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| Road in and the Barrel sign |
We don't get away until 6pm, I feel for Craig a bit because he left for work at 6am this morning, worked all day got home at 5.30pm and now he's driving us about and hour up the road. I know, the effort will be worth the reward though. Traffic wasn't too bad once we got onto the highway and headed north toward Gympie. We had to stop at the Matilda Roadhouse just south of Gympie for fuel, which works out really well as we have to turn right at the Matilda Roadhouse to head out to Cobb & Co campground.
Looking for the signs at night was certainly interesting, but we saw them and it's all just part of the weekend adventure really isn't it.
Fuelling up took a little longer then usual, as a fellow pulled up next to us and spotted our Travelander (it's not hard though, big white box on the back of the ute, haha). Turns out he owns a Travelander as well, but ours looked different. Craig explained that ours was Mark One of the models and also was customised, so the fellow walked around it asking questions. I popped in to pay for the fuel and the fellow behind the counter commented to me with a smile "don't you just love it when people start talking to you like that and all you want to do is get going to your destination". Had a giggle and a quick chat with him, then jumped back in the truck. We are sort of used to people taking an interest in our camper, it has been happening since we got it.
Finally got going again and arrived at the campground around 7.30pm. The office is open to about 8pm on Friday nights and when we walked into the rustic reception we were created by a smiling Sean. We booked in for 2 nights and grabbed a bag of firewood. Sean was lovely enough due to our late arrival and not knowing the campground to throw our firewood in his ute and show us to the less busy area and a couple of suggested campsites. You couldn't ask for a more helpful host.
We picked a spot after some discussions and were setup in no time at all. We're trying a different way tonight of preparing dinner - knowing that we were going to arrive later tonight I prepared a Yellow Chicken Curry & Rice earlier today in our DreamPot. At least we didn't have to worry about cooking dinner after we arrived. Had a relaxing drink, then served up dinner. Rice & curry were nicely cooked, if I do say so myself :)
No campfire tonight, it's getting too late. Did the dishes and climbed into bed around 10pm. Tomorrow morning we can have a look at our new surroundings - how exciting!
Saturday 24th May, 2014
Don't you just love a weekend sleep in! Woke up about 7.30am this morning to a chorus of birds singing and carrying on. We've never heard such a concentration of birds before, it was wonderful! Awoke to a blue sky with some fluffy clouds about and it feels like it's going to be a bit warm to.
Well what a pretty place is Cobb & Co Campground. Beautiful and green, the grass is doted with little ant hills of rich red dirt, a dam down yonder. Horses on the other side of the driveway and that's just what we can see from our campsite. There's plenty of room for everyone to spread out so you're not camped on top of each other.
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| Looking toward the entrance |
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| Toward driveway |
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| Our campsite selected in the dark. |
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| New side awning |
We headed toward the billabong area which Sean said was pretty full up with campers - yeah he was right, a few too many people for our liking. We passed the communal fireplace with small bush stage, first set of toilets (4) and the showers which are at the back of the shed and a little rustic, but just fine. We also passed the corral where the horse rides are organised from. Down the slope to have a look at the vacant family sized onsite safari tent (2 bedrooms (queen & 2 single beds), central dining area with table, bbq, plates, cutlery, kettle and fireplace out front - all you need is the clothes line out the back and an ol' rocking chair....... by the sounds of it, all you need to bring is your food.
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| Bush Stage on the right, toilets behind the blue ute. |
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| Family Safari Tent |
We wondered into another large grassy flat camping area near the billabong with another 4 toilets and playground.
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| Lets call it the lower playground |
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| Directions... |
From there we followed another track down to the end of the billabong and wondered along that taking note of the various campsites that we thought looked good. Across the billabong we saw the large camp kitchen with bbq's & dining tables and more flat grassy campsites. We turned off the track and headed up into the bush to follow a walking track.
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| Walking down toward the Billabong |
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| Looking across at the Camp Kitchen |
Craig spied a nice creek down below us, so we continued on following another track which eventually led us down to the little creek. It was alive with activity, birds and fish. It was so peaceful, we followed the "track" along the creek until we came to some steps leading us back up to the main walking track again.
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| Nice little camp spot right on the billabong |
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| Stumbled upon this on one of the tracks |
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| Walking track heading to the creek |
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| Looking down at the little creek |
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| On the creek bank |
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| Big log across the creek |
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| Steps back up to the walking tracks |
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| Nice little campsite |
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| More camping areas |
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| Flying Fox & Bike bridge thingy |
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| Old carriage and bike |
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| That's a funny cow! |
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| Looking from reception down the driveway |
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| Reception |
We had a small group of scouts arrive this morning and set up camp across the paddock from us. Was entertaining watching the scouts focus on their tasks of setting up camp, then get unfocused again. By the time we got back from our walk, the scouts had to our surprise actually erected their camp.
We had another surprise waiting for us when we returned from our walk..... Now Cobb and Co campground is 50 acres and you can pretty much camp anywhere. You can just imagine our level of annoyance upon returning to see 2 older couples had setup camp with their caravan only about 5 meters away from our galley door - I kid you not and No I'm not exaggerating, they were literally 5 metres from the back of our camper!! Needless to say I went for a walk over the other side of the paddock to see what it was like, came back grabbed Craig to show him a potential new campsite.
We decided on a new spot, packed away enough so we could close up the camper and I walked the chairs & table across. Made as much noise as we could and had a loud conversation about the situation so our annoyance, frustration, anger at being camped on top of was very obvious. Within 20 mins we had packed up and moved camp and setup again. Our new campsite was actually better then the one we had picked in the dark last night anyway.
(I am not going to rave on about the camping on top of us subject, there is a camping etiquette and most campers are aware of it, apparently these idiots are not and it is not a bad reflection on Cobb & Co Campground, as they encourage people not to do this)
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| Much happier |
After all that activity it was time for lunch - Hot Dogs! Yummy. Afterwards we wondered over to the reception area as Sean had said last night to grab a couple of good coal burning logs from him (no extra charge or anything), so we did, because tonight's dinner is a boneless lamb roast with vege parcels consisting of potatoes, carrots, beans, onions and we've thrown a whole garlic bulb in with the lamb to roast (it's the yummy thing a roasted garlic bulb).
So a fair bit of relaxing, reading, downloading photos, chatting with our new neighbours (no, not the camp on top of people) and chatting amongst ourselves. Decided to grab an early hot shower to avoid the cold night air (supposed to be 11 degrees tonight, might get a bit lower we think). We did have a little drama this afternoon, when Boris got bitten on the foot when we moved camped by a big black ant. He needs a cuddle when that happens and we didn't have ice for his little tootsie, so he got a cold can of coke to cool his bite down. Now, don't you say it - Boris is not a princess, that ant bite would have been very sore!
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| Poor little puppy |
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| Our campfire |
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| Making coals |
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| A blanket of campfire smoke formed as the temperature cooled |
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| That's dew you can see sitting on the grass. |
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| My first attempt at a starry night sky shot |
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| My boys - Boris gets cold |
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| Craig looking after the roast |
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| Roast Cooking |
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| The Scouts campfire. |
We all had a great sleep in this morning, it was 8am before we even opened an eyelid. It was so relaxing laying there listening to the birds chirping and appreciating the peace and quiet that is camping.
We had a very yummy bacon, fried eggs, toast, spinach & cherry tomato breakfast this morning which I cooked under the watchful eyes of Boris, accompanied of course by cowboy coffee.
Due to our late start this morning, it didn't take long for the day to start getting away from us. We slowly packed up the camper, we'd pulled everything out of the under tray draw as we found out yesterday it must have gotten a bit wet when we camped at Flanagan Reserve as the peg bag and shade cloth had started to go mouldy - yuk. We dried it out or aired it out, dried the draw and packed it back in.
We left our camping serenity about 12pm, taking the back roads to eventually hit Kin Kin, then Lake Cootharaba then home by about 2.30pm. Nice drive home through the rolling green hills.
Summary:
Would we camp at Cobb & Co Nine Mile Campground again: YES definitely
Cost: $12.00 pp/pn
Campfires: Yes
Wood: $15.00 a bag
Dog Friendly: Yes
www.cobb-and-co-nine-mile-camping-grounds.com
Great place to stay, friendly hosts, huge camping area, grassy.
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| Camping area on the right as you come in the driveway |
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