Coolayla

I have often mentioned the Mary Valley Rattler steam train that runs from my home town of Gympie out and along the Mary Valley and back again.

This video shows a little of the area. The reason I am showing this video, apart from just showing off this area, is that much of the area shown in this footage is to be flooded as a part of a dam to supply water to Brisbane, the states capital.

Such a waste of good land.

Being on the banks of the Mary River has its draw backs. When it rains, it really rains and the Mary River can only hold so much water. Being relatively flat to the west of the township, once the Mary River breaks its banks to whole area is inundated. Even the center of town suffers as can be seen by this photo.

This is the main street of Gympie, aptly named Mary Street. When the Mary River breaks its banks, Mary Street becomes part of the Mary River. These pictures where taken from the 1992 flood where flood waters peaked at over 20 metres.

Unfortunately these pictures are part of a ten year cycle. The current Queensland Government are using these floods as one of the excuses for creating a dam on the Mary River. Whilst the dam may prevent some of these floods, it will destroy thousands of acres of prime land and displace hundreds of families. The wildlife, well the consequences for them are unthinkable.

Floods are hard on businesses and local people, however most residents in the Gympie would much rather put up with the occasional flood than a dam.

The following photos are from the 1999 floods.

This next photo is from the bottom of my street - about 200 yards from where I live.

Where are almost due again - and its raining - bring it on!

Pomona, King of the Mountain Race
By Kumar Ravi

Running has many legends. Take ‘Marathon’ for instance. In 490 BC, Phidippides ran all the way from Marathon (a place in Greece) to Athens, a distance of 26.2 miles, to inform Athens of its win over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. He said ‘Nenikikamen’ (we were victorious), and died. The legend around King of the Mountain Race is almost as romantic.

It all goes back to 1958, when Bruce Samuels, a local footballer and railway porter, claimed that he went up the nearby Mt. Cooroora (438 metres) and made it back within an hour, eliciting the scoffs and taunts of idling drinker in the local bar. A bet was placed, and with the whole town of Pomona watching, Bruce made the distance in an astonishing forty minutes. The feat was recorded on the wall of the hotel bar. The record fell the very next year to a 21 year old Barry Webb. The same year the first official Pomona King of the Mountain Race was organized where Bruce came 1.5 seconds behind Frank Mainwaring’s 31.51 minutes. In 1979 the Cooroy/ Pomona Lions Club along with the King of the Mountain Committee revived the race which has now become a major hinterland festival. It was in 1987 that the racing record was set at 22.50 minutes by Queenslander Graham Baralett.

Today, the race is the biggest event of the local calendar. The whole of Pomona comes together on the fourth Sunday of July every year to welcome runners from around the world. It is a grueling event, and it has inspired healthy rivalry between neighbors New Zealand and Australia since the beginning. Festivities run through the Saturday preceding the Sunday event, and there are non-stop events happening in different parts of the small town of Pomona. With less than a thousand residents, the Race-day population rises to a huge ten thousand!

So, if you are one of those who like few adventures and challenges in his life, why not take the Cooroora challenge. You can run with the others on the fourth Sunday of July, or if you prefer to go it alone, you can go to the picturesque town of Pomona any given day, and seek the Cooroora top for yourself. With a cozy small town atmosphere, a tropical climate, dozens of historical hotspots, a charming riverside, Pomona has a something for everyone.

Pomona is just 1.5 hours drive from Brisbane along the Bruce Highway. If you travel from Gympie, travel south along the Bruce Highway for half an hour, and take the Pomona exit at the top of Black Mountain. Thereafter follow signs on the road. From Noosa it is a mere 20 minutes, and on a nice day you can take a long walk to the town. If you are staying in Noosa, then there is no better place to stay than Sebel Resort Noosa (http://www.sebelnoosa.com). There are a few accommodations within Pomona itself, but be sure to book in time if you are planning to visit on the fourth Sunday of July. For on that day, the King of the Mountain is coroneted.

Produced by the team at http://www.travelAU.com.au - a group of travel and technology industry professionals promoting unique Australian tourism and travel products, produced this article on Sebel Resort Noosa. You are permitted to republish this article, provided the references to the Travelau.com.au and http://www.sebelnoosa.com remain intact.

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A Colourful Getaway at Rainbow Beach
By Jenny Brewer

Rainbow Beach has everything to offer the adventurous sun seeker, with camping spots in every direction, the world’s largest sand island a short ferry ride away and spectacular coloured sands along the coastline. A hire car is the ideal choice to visit this region as you can pick and choose your favourite location to base yourself and spend the rest of your holiday enjoying the idyllic surroundings.

Located close to three hours drive from Brisbane, it is easily reached via the Bruce Highway just past Gympie. It is often known as the gateway to Fraser Island and is surrounded by the incredible Great Sandy National Park. On the final stretch into town there are tall trees on either side of the road, and thick forest as far as the eye can see. These eventually lead to white endless beaches popular for camping.

There are two camping grounds that stand out from the rest, Rainbow Waters Caravan Park, accessible just as you enter the town, and Rainbow Village Caravan Park, located in the heart of town. We have enjoyed numerous family holidays at these locations and each have a different atmosphere and cater to most travellers.

At Rainbow Waters, we noticed there was plenty of space for everyone, with trees and grasslands surrounding the entire park you feel instantly relaxed. Camp fires are permitted, great for that Billy tea and damper. There are pelicans on the river bank waiting to greet you, with the nearby jetty the best place to watch the fishing boats. With excellent amenities, a kiosk and restaurant nearby, it is an ideal place to set up especially if you have a boat and are keen to fish or get out into the calm waters. Bring the insect repellent as the midges come out at dusk.

Rainbow Village is fantastic for families with the pool and playground, barbeque areas and great facilities, and as it is within walking distance from the beach it is an ideal choice for those who want to be close to everything. Head to the beach in the afternoon to fish for dinner and enjoy the beach air. You might to need to call ahead to ensure there is plenty of spots still available, as it is very popular. Come prepared with as much of your own food as you can bring as there is only one grocery shop which can be expensive. We caught our dinners as much as possible, adding to the family fun.

There are a number of natural tourist attractions within easy reach. The coloured sands are the most popular, with bright red, orange and yellow sands amazing to look at. You can climb to the top of some of these sand dunes for incredible panoramic views of the coast. The combination of colourful sands with the long stretches of beach and deep blue waters is what attracts visitors from all over the world to stay in this untouched paradise. Surprisingly, tourism has not affected the friendly township and it is easy to unwind and enjoy the surroundings.

You can’t visit Rainbow Beach without a taste of Fraser Island. As the only way to travel around the sand island is by four wheel drive, you might want to look at the number of excellent day trips available. Choose from a number of walking, adventure or short day tours available which can be easily organised from the mainland. The ferry leaves from Inskip Point, which is also a haven for campers and fishermen.

Fraser is beautiful rain or shine. We headed out in the middle of a thunderstorm, and the scenery was still breathtaking. There was thick birdlife in every direction, giant trees in every direction, and freshwater lakes that are like an oasis within an oasis. Lake McKenzie is the most popular, the white sands setting off the blue of the lake beautifully. Lake Wabby can only be reached by a half hour relatively easy walk. It is the deepest lake on the island and is surrounded by sweeping sand dunes.

If you have the time, it is worth driving further north to visit Tin Can Bay, the main attraction being the dolphin feeding which start at 8am through to 11am. The drive is fantastic and it is worth a day trip to see this unique town. Rainbow Beach is unique in many ways, and is the ideal holiday destination. Come any time of the year and enjoy the chance to unwind and explore on the most beautiful places on earth.

Jenny Brewer is a travel agent whose passion is writing. After spending her leisure time writing time writing children’s stories, she now enjoys writing about travel destinations. For more of her articles visit Car Hire Australia

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A Town That’s Powered By Nuts
By Jan Smith

Many people think Politicians are nuts and the thought of having a town officially powered by nuts is unacceptable or unrealistic.

But as the issue of Nuclear Power hots’ up, it’s interesting to look around and see what other potential resources are being used as Fuel to generate electricity. Gympie has instigated a power source for the town fuelled by the cast-of shells from the locally grown Macadamia Nuts that grow prolifically in the area.

Gympie is a Queensland town of 60,000 people and is located in Australia 160 kms north of Brisbane on the Mary River. Gympie is the gateway to the Cooloola Region which encompasses the well-known Fraser Island. It is a fertile area that grows Macadamia Nuts among a wide variety of other fruits, vegetables and timber. Gympie had a disposal problem with the shells from the Nuts after processing and packaging was completed. For many years these shells took up land-fill rather than being left in big heaps to become an eye sore. Gympie is a lot of things, including a pretty and a tidy town. It appears that it also produces innovative thinkers.

Or perhaps that is another product of the times we live in? What about the use of Biodiesel to fuel our cars? It is capable of fuelling more than our cars as we could all have small, quiet, electricity generators built into our homes. If we also put on gutters, water tanks, and solar panels and built our homes to our environments rather than to the finance company’s loan limit, we would not have such a high cost of living. Biodiesel is a fuel source that is grown around the world and even reduces greenhouse gas. It is clean and green – literally! What do you think about the use of Nuclear power stations?

I Endeavour to help construction contractors with their marketing and someone among them will no doubt have to contract to do the work to build these nuclear power plants. My concern is, how safe are they really? Perhaps Gympie is the only town that really is sane because it is powered by nuts.

Jan Smith

http://www.constructingprofits.com
Showing Contractors how to make more money~while working less hours
http://www.learninghowsite.com
Where learning is a journey, not the destination

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You can see from some of the previous posts and the associated pictures, Gympie can at times get a little wet. We have had quite a wet March, not enough to cause any major flooding, but persistent rain that has really waterlogged the ground.

Being a former gold mining town, Gympie is covered in old mine shafts that have never been thoroughly documented, or for that matter, properly sealed.

Recipe - take one old mine shaft, add a couple of inches of soaking rain - and hey presto, instant hole in your backyard. This hole took out water pipes - which of course added to the problem, water meter and an outdoor table and chairs setting. The hole, measured around 30 feet in diameter and was 12 feet deep. This picture shows just one corner of the hole. The fence in the corner is dangling over the middle of the hole.

An interesting side note  - the property is owned by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s uncle whom he was named after.

The hole is expected to be filled and sealed by the end of this weekend.

A nice surprise to wake up to. I wonder what other interesting surprises all this rain will uncover.

To the north west of Gympie lies the sleepy little town of Goomeri, a town which, for one weekend a year, explodes into life with the famous Goomeri Pumpkin Festival.

The last Sunday in May each year sees Goomeri’ population explode as over 13,000 visitors invade the area to enjoy the fun, the games, and some of the silliness that goes with a pumpkin festival.  The festivities begin the night before the festival with a dinner dance. Here, you can enjoy a country style dinner, local wine and continuous dancing until midnight.

The following morning and Goomeri is full of action with up to 200 market stalls lining the streets. Entertainment and displays vary and often include a street parade,  whip cracking demonstrations and competitions, Clydesdale competitions, square dancing and fashion parades. A variety of music plays throughout the day. Goomeri’s speciality shops are open for the day and local wineries are in attendance.

What is a festival without some hilarity and with the Pumpkin Festival we have the legendary Great Australian Pumpkin Roll. Come 2pm pumpkins of all shapes and sizes go rolling down Policeman’s Hill - some make it, some become pumpkin mash.

As if the Pumpkin Roll is not enough, you can try your hand at Pumpkin Bowls, enter the Decorated Pumpkin competition, of course the Giant Pumpkin competition and a Pumpkin Patchwork Challenge and Quilt Show.

You want food, then try these tempting pumpkin delights which include soup, damper scones, pumpkin pie and the delicious pumpkin fudge.

I discover Goomeri shortly after arriving in Gympie on one of our casual aimless trips around the area. The pumpkin pie is an absolute treat. The people warm and friendly. The atmosphere is calm, relaxed and easy going.

Goomeri is the perfect spot for a lazy day trip - well lazy unless you visit on that last weekend in May.

Yum - pumpkin pie - it’s not May yet is it - beauty - I am off to get some before the tourist invade the place and eat the lot.

Gympie, ‘The Town that saved Queensland’. This grandiose claim is more fact than fiction. In 1867 Queensland, less than a ten years old, was facing bankruptcy - there was widespread unemployment and banks were closing in Brisbane (the states capital) - when James Nash discovered gold near the present site of Gympie. Overnight the wealth from the goldfield led to Queensland’s first goldrush and saved the state from potential disaster.

The story of Nash’s discovery is a typical rags to riches story of luck. Nash was so down on his luck at the time that he literally had nothing more than a dog, a pick and a panning dish. When his pick broke he walked to Maryborough (5o miles to the north) where, with an ounce of gold which he had panned, he bought rations and some more equipment. He returned to the Gympie area and within a week had 75 ounces of gold which he sold for £200. The rush was on. Tales of the early months in Gympie are typical of a wild mining town. Every night it was brawls and fights. The cause in nearly every case was beer and barmaids. Nash managed to make £7000 from the field.

Located 166 km north of Brisbane and 95 m above sea level, Gympie is one of those strange towns which stretches for miles and miles. Gympie is named after a local stinging tree which the local Aborigines reputedly called ‘gimpi gimpi’ and was officially named in 1868. At this time all that existed was a mining shanty town with tents, small stores and of course, liquor outlets.

As with all mining towns, Gympie grew quickly. Within months there were 25 000 people on the goldfields. Within a year a gold battery had been built. It was proclaimed a municipality in 1880, became a town a decade later and was a city by 1905. The railway arrived in 1881 and in 1888 it became one of the few towns in Australia to have its own stock exchange. The gold mining continued until 1925. The city then became the most important regional center for the area servicing the rich variety of agricultural activities which spread from the coast into the hinterland. In recent times with the increase in gold prices, the mine has reopened and whilst only produce small quantities, is financially viable.

Today Gympie is the center of the Mary River Valley agricultural district in which beef, dairy, pigs, tropical fruit and vegetables are produced. Tourism plays a major role in the local economy together with events such as the National Country Music Muster and the Heart of Gold International Film Festival. Gympie is also the central to many of the whale watching activities with whale watching cruises leaving Hervey Bay. Whales can also be seen from Rainbow Beach. Campers on Fraser Island ofyen wake up to the scene of many whales playing less than a mile off shore.

Gympie is where I call home. Picture below is part of the camping area at the National Country Music Muster. As you can see, one of the highlights of the muster is the rainfall and the muddy camp grounds. I don’t think there has been one Muster where it has not rained.

The Gympie Gold Mining Museum is on the southern approach to Gympie and covers over 5 hectares. The museum contains over 30 display areas in and around 15 major buildings with entry through a souvenir shop.

Set by a lake, the museum houses memorabilia from Gympie’s early gold mining era , as well as displays showcasing military, rural, transport, communications and steam development in Australia.

The historic goldfields of Gympie date back to the 1800’s and were famous for the so called “Jewellers Shops” zones where gold reefs formed extraordinarily rich veins of visible native gold in quartz rock. In this early time and up to 1924 the area gained particular renown for producing many collectors’ and jewellery specimens.

You could spend hours or even a full day looking through the museum and walking the parkland. Great picnic grounds and BBQ areas surround the museum, the lake is alive with fish and turtles that love the occasional piece of bread thrown into the water.

There’s over 100 years of history to enjoy in the well presented, informative displays which have been designed to entertain adults and children alike.

The site of the Museum is that of the former No2 South Great Eastern Mine (pictured above and left), with some original relics still on site and an operational authentic steam winding engine, compound air compressor and generator reconstructed on the original footings.

You can really take a look back in time and walk through some of the old buildings and displays.

You can discover how people lived in the past by walking through the Bungawatta Hut (left) which was relocated from nearby Tin Can Bay. The hut stands in its’ original style and layout with original furniture and furnishings from the era.

The museum is an eye opening look at how we lived in the past. I wonder how we would have survived with no electricity; no computers, tv or radio; and no refrigeration or telephones.

Known as the “Town that Saved Queensland”, Gympie’s  heritage began with the discovery of gold by prospector James Nash. At the time, Queensland was facing bankruptcy due to drought and the fall in wool prices. Nash dug up 75 ounces of gold in six days and staked his claim. The Gympie Gold Rush was on.

You can relive the tradition that has given Gympie its special place in history. At the Gold Mining Museum, displays covering the gold rush days are mingled with exhibits such as the Lighthorse Museum and Andrew Fisher House to provide an outstanding range of cultural as well as historical exhibits.

Other attractions such as the Mary Valley Heritage Railway and Woodworks Forestry and Timber Museum provide outstanding links to the region’s railway and timber history.

The city’s heart is Mary Street, a fantastic blend of shopping, heritage and nearby parkland that combines the activity of a regional centre with the relaxed, carefree experience of a holiday.

Take a heritage walk past traditional shopfronts as well as excellent examples of 19th Century architecture. Or stroll to a coffee shop and take in the casual atmosphere that seems to be lost in the modern era.

Gympie has many parks and gardens. These are not only great places to relax but also serve as home to much of the wildlife in area.

Ducks and geese abound in at least four different locations several colloquially referred to as the duck ponds.

Gympie - a fabulous place to live.