Thread: Duck Creek run on the 15th of April ( FINALLY )

soooooo,, I gather DUCK Creek is close to Jimboomba?

hmmm,,,,

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

soooooo,, I gather DUCK Creek is close to Jimboomba?

hmmm,,,,

Well, within 35-40mins drive.
Where is this heading? ....

a bloody long way south if he is considering coming...

Originally Posted by andynuttz

Do you know if there are any decent camp spots around that area

I camped at the top at O'Reilly's about 9 years ago. Nice spot but they had those annoying bollards surrounding the campsite so tents only.
I'm sure someone has some more up to date info though.

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

soooooo,, I gather DUCK Creek is close to Jimboomba?

hmmm,,,,

Hi Pedro, it’s about another hours travel for but I thing you will enjoy and it’s no where near as dusty as Mt Mee was.

Cheers

NOTES for DUCK CREEK TRIP.

First some general pointers

Duck Creek Road is opened to all forms of vehicles when it’s dry and you will often see cars using this TRACK, but once wet, this is a 4x4 road only. As you can imagine, this road is not an extreme off road journey and is the ideal place for people to take their Landies and have some fun while getting to know their vehicles behaviour in basic and safe off road conditions.

Once you are travelling in the convoy, turn your headlights but please make sure your fog lights are turned off. Beside the fact that it is illegal to have your fog lights on in anything other that adverse weather conditions, on the return section at night, fog lights create a glare for the vehicle in front of you and makes it hard for them to concentrate safely on the road in front of them

Travel at a safe distance from the vehicle in front, both on and off the tar, make sure you have at least a 2 seconds gap between you and the vehicle in front of you.

For those of you that have not come across this 2 second gap before, pick a point where the vehicle in front of you, passes a marker like a guide post and the count “ One thousand and one thousand and two ”, and your vehicle should not have reached the same guide post before you finished counting. It make no difference as to what speed you are doing, this 2 second gap is an excellent safety margin.

When travelling in convoy, always keep the vehicle BEHIND you in sight.
If you loose site of the vehicle behind you, slow down till it catches up or if you come to an intersection, stop before turning and wait till the vehicle catches up and can see which way you are going.
Remember, the vehicle in front of you will be doing the same thing for you.

Try to stay in the same order in the convoy and if you do stop, the rear vehicle, know as Tail End Charlie will also stop and will NOT proceed until you drive off in front of him.

Last but not least, make sure you have plenty of fuel because once we leave Canungra there are no more service stations.

Also, if your vehicle is prone to getting warm on long climbs, I would advise you to take some additional water with you, just in case.

We will be charging a $5-00 fee per each car for attending this drive. $4-00 of this fee goes to the Beaudesert group responsible for Maintaining Duck Creek Road and the other dollar goes into club revenue.


Now to the trip.

There are two meeting points, the first is on the Gold Coast and the other is at Canungra, please choose the one that is the most convenient for you.

There are two meeting locations, at the Gold Coast and at Canungra.

The Gold Coast meeting point is in the car park, in front of “CellarBrations” Liquor shop on the south side of Nerang, next to Bunnings. Meeting time is 10.45 am and departure is 11.00 am sharp.

If your coming down the M1, south bound, take Exit 73 and turn right at the roundabout and go over the M1 to the second roundabout and turn right into Hinkler Drive

If your coming up the M1, north bound, take Exit 73 and go straight through the roundabout into Hinkler Drive

Travel north along Hinkler Drive for about 500m to the first set of traffic lights, next to McDonalds and turn left into Pappas Way and move to the right-hand lane and then into the right turn lane. This will take you into the car park between “CellarBrations” Liquor shop and Bunnings.

Milage = 0. GPS location = E 153.34093 x S 28.00742



At 11.00 we will leave the car park via the north exit and turn left into Mortonson Rd. The speed limit is 60 kph.

Travel west through the roundabout and on up the hill.

At the next roundabout, turn to the left into Gilston Rd.

A short distance down the road, at the next roundabout, turn right into McClaren Rd.

Travel about 1 km along McClaren Rd, through 3 roundabouts and as you leave the 3rd roundabout, go up the short hill, make sure you are in the left lane.

At the top of the hill, turn into the left turn exit lane and into Nerang -Beaudesert Rd.

Caution - When entering Nerang -Beaudesert Rd, it’s a bit of a blind merge lane so watch for on coming traffic.

Once on Nerang -Beaudesert Rd, travel about 200m and move to the right turn lane just before the traffic lights.

Milage = 4.4 kms. GPS location = E 153.30192 x S 27.99957


At the lights, turn right into Mount Nathan Rd. The speed limit rises to 80 kph. Watch your speeds long this section of road to Canungra as it is heavily patrolled. and the road speed changes quite often.

Continue proceeding along Mount Nathan Rd., after a few kilometres the speed will rise to 100 kph and the roads name will change to Nerang -Beaudesert Rd., again.

Keep an a eye on road speeds as they change down to 90 then back up to 100.

Continue along Nerang -Beaudesert Rd., for a few kms, through the overtaking lane and the speed then becomes 90 kph.

Another few kms and the road come to a steep climb and the speed drops back to 70 kph just as you approach a Slow Vehicle Lane.

With a Slow Vehicle Lanes, the law does not require you to move from the right lane and as this is a very short Slow Vehicle Lane and we will be in convoy, if other vehicles want to pass, use your own judgement.

Once down the other side of the hill, the speed limit drops to 60 kph as you approach an intersection.

Milage = 24.6 kms. GPS location = E 153.17713 x S 28.02445

Turn right at the intersection and proceed up and over the hill and down a steep decent into Canungra. Take care, the speed limit changes down to 50 kph, half way down the hill.

As you drop down the hill near the bottom, you will come to 2 small shops on your left, you will be turning to the left just after these shops, into Kidston St.

Milage = 26.3 kms. GPS location = E 153.16461 x S 28.01732

Drive along Kidston St., along side the park on your right.

Note, there are public toilets in the park and these are the last till we get to our BBQ area.

Kidston St., turns to the right and then a short distances turns to the left and runs beside a white pub on your left and then the street turns tightly to the left around the pub.

As you come around this corner, the main road continues on but there is a One Way street and Police station further to your left. Turn into this One Way street and park in the marked parking bays on the right side of the street.

This is our Canungra Meeting Point, so if anyone finds Canungra a more convenient place to meet, particularly if you are coming down from Brisbane, meet us in the car park near the police station. We expect to be there about 11.45 and plan to depart at 12 noon sharp.



While in the car park at Canungra, we will go though a few safety pointers, as the road, if you haven’t been over it before, is not like any roads you are use to travelling and things like convoying rules will probably not work once we reach the top of the range but in this case should not pose any real problems as there are no intersections or turnoffs, until we get to the Duck Creek Road turnoff, which we will be placing a person at the turnoff to direct our convoy on to Duck Creek Road.

Once we leave Canungra, you will be travelling on a normal country road, marked with 70 and 80 kph speed signs for about 10 minutes, then you will come to a 60 kph speed sign and some other signs indicating the type of road ahead of you.

Very little of the next 25 kms is going to be travelled at more that 40 kph and there is a long steep climb and NO WHERE to overtake on this road so if we strike a slow vehicle, we will be behind it all the way to the turnoff.

While climbing the range, with exception to the single lane sections, passing on coming vehicles is not a problem, but keep an eye out for buses as they do need both sides of the road on some corners and at any of the single lane sections, the climbing vehicle, in this case us, gives way to any descending vehicles and this is where the CBs will become invaluable.

It’s Tar all the way to the Duck Creek turnoff but there are many hair pin bends and single lane sections on the climb up the range and once on top it is nearly all single lane road through the rain forest and there can be some BIG buses coming the other way.

Once in the rain forrest proper, the road speed drops to 40 kph, not that there is much chance of travelling at that break neck speed and the only way to pass on coming vehicles is for one of the vehicles to pull off the tar and stop to allow the other vehicle to pass.

SPECIAL NOTE :- While travelling through the rain forrest area on the top of range to the Duck Creek turnoff, because of the road conditions for about the last 8 or so kms before we turn off into Duck Creek Road, it is impractical to wait for the vehicle behind you if you loose sight of them, so do not wait but keep driving to the turnoff and normal convoying practices will resume from the turnoff.

The country and the road through the rain forrest is spectacular so take your time and enjoy the slow running.

At the Duck Creek Road turnoff the lead vehicle will turn on to and continue along Duck Creek Road at a slow speed to allow all the convoy to catch up, when you reach this turnoff please continue driving as there is nowhere to park or stop.

Milage = 60 kms. GPS location = E 153.12622 x S 28.21434

Duck Creek Road turnoff is very hard to spot so the second vehicle in the convoy will stopping near the turnoff to Duck Creek Road and act as a flag man to direct the rest of the convoy on to Duck Creek Road.

You will be travelling along Duck Creek Road ( which by now you will see is nothing more than a dirt track ) for about 3 kms and then we will make the first of our stops.

Milage = 63.2 kms. GPS location = E 153.10092 x S 28.19966

At this location there is a side track which runs off to the left and parallels to the main track.

This side track is an easy 4WD exercise drive for about 500m. You can either stay on the main track or take the side track for a bit of off roading fun and experience.

Where the first side road rejoins the main track, there is another side which runs off to the right and parallels to the main track for another 200m. Again, this is an easy 4WD exercise drive.

You will then continue down the main track for about 1 km to a lookout.

Milage = 64.9 kms. GPS location = E 153.09392 x S 28.18791

There is limited parking at the lookout so find a spot along the road either just before the lookout or just around the corner below the lookout.

At the lookout we will be discussing Down Hill Driving Techniques so if you have any questions about your vehicle and how to set it up for the hill decent, this is where to learn.

Leaving the lookout you will make your way down a long but not very steep decent and it is a good safe place to learn how to handle your vehicle. There will be others around if you need any advice or assistance.

As you travel this section of road, you will see many MANY signs with names on them, these are the names of locals and people who helped put the road in place.

Once down this hill and along the flat section, you can stop beside a cairn with a plaque on it, giving a brief history of the location. The cairn is fairly low and you have to look for it but you don’t have to leave your vehicle to read the plaque. The cairn is located at

Milage = 67.8 kms. GPS location = E 153.09148 x S 28.17875.


From this point, the track winds it’s way down to the valley floor and proceeds to a gate. At 72.7 kms.

About 1 km after the gate , you will be back on the black tuff and we will travel along the tar to a dry creek area where, depending on how dry it still is, you can have a play at some steep ( but very short ) creek access crossings. There is no water but the crossing is the same.

We will then travel to the end of Duck Creek Road, to a T intersection.

At the intersection is a sign post with signs pointing left, to Lost World and Darlington Park.

Milage = 76.5 kms. GPS location = E 153.04134 x S 28.14574

Turn left and continue for about 5 kms to Darlington Park.

Milage = 81.5 kms. GPS location = E 153.04046 x S 28.18454.


Darlington Park can have some crowds there but there is lots of open space so we will pick our BBQ area once we get there.

There is a small shop run by the park’s caretaker and you can get drinks and a few basics from the shop so I recommend you bring everything you need, including plenty of drinking water, with you.

There are free gas fired BBQs in the park so you can bring your own gas BBQs or use the park’s.

After lunch, we will have some demos of vehicle recoveries and so what driver skills you have and answer any questions you may have about your vehicles or anything else.

Just before dark, we will head off for the return trip back up Duck Creek Road, BUT if anyone wishes to head off home from Darlington park, we are only 25 kms from Beaudesert so you can head back home that way.

The trip back up Duck Creek Road will be in the dark and hopefully we will see some wildlife along the road or when going back through the rain forest, up on top of the range.

The guestimated time home will be roughly 9-00 pm for Gold Coast travellers and no later than 10 to 10-30 for you northerners.

Cheers.

northsiders/brisbanites want to arrange a meet up time ?

soooooo,, I gather DUCK Creek is close to Jimboomba?

hmmm,,,,

Id say not much difference from distance from here on the coast. Ahh the boomba, miss my days living there,

Regards

Stevo