Rover Park

Australia Day Weekend - 2004

With instructions from our daughter not to make a noise and wake her up we quietly put the last bits and pieces in the van and we were on the road by 8am. We had an easy drive down with a stop at Stanthorpe to put fuel in the tummy. We arrived at the park entrance at 12noon.

Trip leader Merv had told me to bring my swimmers to cool off in the dam, however in the steamy conditions I went looking for them before adding the tarps to the van, quite a shock for some. An interesting arvo watching cars and trailers, caravans large and small and same of the tents being erected around us.

Saturday morning we went to the rock climbing area. For me, this was great. What those drivers and there spotters did was something to be seen. The spotters were the fellows giving the drivers directions around the course. The spotters had some trouble at times trying to pull the vehicles out of tight corners as well as trying to miss the witches’ hats which had a penalty for running over them. The rain which had fallen before we arrived made the competition all the more interesting by raising the water level in the competition area. On the way back to camp Daryl and I went to the waterfall. What an exercise. The falls were cascading re; the photo. The track was awash from all the rain & I didn’t realise how steep the hill was. I don’t know how many stops I had on the way back to the car. I thought this was going to be my resting place. No more waterfalls for me.

After lunch on Saturday Merv took us on a trip on the property where we saw the remains of the copper mine perched high up on the ridge a long way above the Cataract River and the shafts of the abandoned gold workings. How the workers put those props in those areas always beat me. While the gold & copper mine processing plant was right on Crooked Creek.
Sunday morning Derrick and Julie Cross, Annette and Arthur Davis, and Hanne and Ian Menzies went into Tenterfield for a look around. The men went out try Merv’s hill before going to watch more rock climbing while Valda and I stayed home to do the housework at the camp.
Sunday arvo some of us went looking for a waterfall that David Hobbs knew about. However we came home without finding it, thinking we would look for it next time after coming to the gates at Boonoo Boonoo N P.

Sunday night we made a mixed fruit damper which went down well the club members. Ian and Valda had grandsons Josh and Cory in tow at the weekend and there were some very intense games of UNO happening at their van and ours as well.

Monday morning there was movement at the camp as most of the 260 camps headed home. Slow pack up but somehow there wasn’t any traffic congestion on the way out. I think we left around 11.30 am. Once on the bitumen Daryl being Daryl thought we would go and see if we could find the elusive waterfall so we took off in search with the van in tow. The road / track was Ok & we soon discovered we were no where near it the day before. David’s instructions were if you came to a steel plated bridge the falls wouldn’t be far. Well, we found the bridge and drove some distance before finding the sign to Basket Swamp Falls. A sight worth seeing. We were surprised to find that the road back to Stanthorpe past Boonoo Boonoo & Bald Rock which used to be a gravel road was mostly bitumen and the gravel sections was extremely well maintained. Soon we were on the bitumen and on the outskirts of Stanthorpe and 2 hours from home.

A great weekend

Beryl P