Waking at 7am , after a great nights sleep , we packed and headed out to Byfield - about 35 klms out of Yeppoon . We had been out here before , but had heard stories about how badly it was damaged by the cyclone in February , so we wanted to see for ourselves .
Lyn was driving , and I was keeping a close eye on everything I could , checking out the damage . The trees have regrown foliage in a bid to recover from the smashing they got . You could see trees on the ridge lines that had very little foliage - you could see through them quite easily . The damage didn’t seem to bad at first , but gradually increased the further we drove . There was the odd tree blown over , then a few more , then a lot more . There was a lot of pine plantations out this way - but not so many now !!!!
Logging trucks were not in short supply , with loaders sitting beside piles of tree trunks waiting to be loaded onto trucks . The pine plantations have been decimated - trees still standing for the most part are leaning over toward other trees , and are standing in a heap of tree trunks lying on the ground where they fell . Thousands of acres of trees pretty much written off , with only trunks that are straight , being harvested from the forest floor before they start to rot and are useless .
We continued into Byfield ( a locality / very small village ) , with many buildings having damage , roofs missing , windows broken and some walls missing , sheds leaning over and some no longer in the place they were built in .
It’s very hard to comprehend how much damage was done in about 6 hours of terror !!!
There was some beauty in all of this carnage , with some grass trees starting to flower .
We drove out to Byfield National Park , and decide not to try a 4wd track that would take us to the beach at 5 rocks . Instead we went back to Waterpark Creek and put the kayak in and paddled up the creek - there was 7 klms that you could paddle . We took our lunch and headed up the creek . One of the national park signs said to put in on the western side of the causeway and go up that side of the creek - there are three separate sections - the first and recommended one was blocked off by fallen trees , hmmmm . We tried the second after going through a narrow gap and slide over a tree trunk , only to find that one blocked as well !! Over to the third , and off we go - we found a way through the tree carnage and made it over / under it and we were away . We were free and clear untill we came around a corner in the creek , to find it was blocked again by fallen trees and branches , leaves & twigs etc. Again we found a way through it , and kept going - we had to this five times over the course of our paddle . There were many trees fallen , and many more just hanging there waiting to fall .
Finding a small beach , we pulled in and had some lunch , before changing positions in the kayak - me in the front and Lyn at the back - Well , that didn’t work , we seemed to be drunk , as we traversed the creek from side to side seemingly without any control at all - we found another small sandy section and remedied the situation after having a good old laugh at ourselves - it’s like sleeping on the other side of the bed - it just doesn’t work !!!
After about 3klms , we turned and headed back to the ute , making our way through the obstacles again . It was a great day for a paddle .
There is a fish ladder at the causeway to assist them to get back to areas where they can spawn the next generations . Beside the ladder was a small pool that had a sandy bottom - you could see the sand occasionally , but only when some of the 1,000’s of fingerlings moved around - we have never seen that many fish in the wild before - albeit very small
fish !!
Back to the RV for a quiet beer , salsa , doritos & macadamias with Heather & Pete .
Todays map link :-https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z1G8gwwxwyYo.kRGrsMkPs-ao
No comments:
Post a Comment