I decided to get on the road at midday and headed out on my usual route through Dayboro, over Mount Mee and into Woodford for a quick fuel up and a sausage roll at CJ's Pastries (always worth it!). Then it was into the unknown... I headed through Woodford, took a right off to Stanmore and then up over the hills towards Maleny.
Up until now the weather had been great for riding, a little cooler than normal and greyish skies. But when I stopped at McCarthy's Lookout for a look down the valley I realised that all that might change... Within minutes of riding off down the hill the heavens absolutely opened! I spied some shelter at the Maleny Dairies and got in under the trees to get out of the worst of it. The downpour only lasted minutes but it was enough to soak me through and I drove on steaming as the sun came out again.
This was familiar territory again and I was having a blast winding through the twisties onto Montville and then Mapleton. It really is a beautiful part of South East Queensland, real 'diary country' with loads of farms, cows and stunning countryside. But all that was going to change pretty rapidly...
I'd clearly not studied my route closely enough as things got tricky as I headed out of Mapleton and onto Obi Obi. Alarm bells rang when I spied a big read sign by the side of the road stating 'very steep descent next 3km' and then a 2nd sign further on stating 'caravans prohibited beyond this point'... And then the road turned to gravel... Where the hell was I going?!
Pulling over to the side of the road I flagged down a passing ute and asked the driver what I was getting myself into. He took one look at my loaded bike and said 'yeah... you should be ok if you go really slowly'. Not exactly confidence inspiring?! Looking at the map, there was no other way and with time marching on it was time to put on my big boy pants and soldier on.
Initially it wasn't too bad... but then the road quickly got steeper and steeper until it was (in my mind!) near vertical. It was pretty hairraising but I limped the bike down the steep incline using a mixture of engine braking in first gear and a very light foot on the rear brake - the last thing I wanted to do was start a skid as I doubt I'd ever stop and would end up in the bushes! Luckily the road surface was heavily compacted gravel and despite the number of cars that'd whizzed past me while I was deliberating if I should set off down the hill, I managed to make it down to the bottom of 'the mountain' unscaved and without anyone on my tail giving me the hurry up.
It was with a sense of relief that I continued my journey through stunning countryside, first onto Kenilworth and then on and on and on to Kandanga. I really had underestimated how long the ride would take and it was almost 5pm by the time I pulled into town. A quick stop at the local bottle shop for some beers and then onto the campsite.
I'm not going to lie, first impressions were not that favourable. Initially I put it down to being slightly exhausted after my ride but I couldn't help feel a little disappointed by the location but I found the host, managed to buy a bag of firewood, got the tent set up and cracked a well earnt beer.
Although the site is secluded I quickly realised that the rest of the campers used my area to get down to the the creek! The fire pit did overlook the creek as advertised but it's was on a 'cliff', I imagine where the bank has caved in - it defo was not safe for small kids and to be honest I stayed away from the edge. The creek water was pretty slow moving and stagnant and the banks are crazy steep so getting down to the water side to fish wasn't really possible. Despite fancying a dip I defo wasn't going to be swimming as I spotted at least one snake (this is Australia though right?!). Its prettyish but kinda ruined by the massive electricity pylon right overhead.
And the less said about the 'amenities' the better... They were grim! The shower and toilet shed behind the 'Macadamia Camp' was damp, dirty and pretty foul... In the end, I headed to the excellent public toilet block at the park up the road which was really clean! I think there might've even been showers there as there was a 'public RV Park'.
But hey, gotta make the best of a bad situation. Yes it was disappointing that the campsite didn't live up to the reviews but I'd had an excellent ride getting here, I'd got some beers, some food, a new camp chair to try out and it wasn't raining!
As always in Australia, it got dark quick and after getting the fire started I got stuck into dinner which I'm ashamed to say was a very basic 'noodles and snacks' meal - the next time I head out I'm doing proper camping over the fire! I was pretty exhausted and crashed out early but two interesting things happened overnight.
The first was I was woken up by some croaking and got out of the tent to investigate. It turned out there was a cane toad under each tree, staring fixedly up into space and croaking... Really weird.
And the second was that I was visited at around 2am by a horse and her foal who were investigating the bike and my tent which terrified the life out of me!
Apart from that, the night passed pretty uneventfully and I was up bright and early to have breakfast (a slightly more civilised boiled egg wrap) and got up and out by 9.30am for the long trek home.
I had a loose plan to stop in at the Eumundi Markets but by the time I got there around 11ish it was absolutely heaving... So after a quick bite to eat and a drink I got back on the highway and just blasted for home. The weather was turning and I was knackered!
Somewhere between turning off to Landsborough and heading onto to Beerwah I began to notice a knocking coming from the bike and after stopping at a cafe for a drink I realised the bracket on my tail tidy had snapped and the number plate and light fitting had been bashing on the exhaust pipe and rear tyre! Far from ideal. But if you can't fix it with cable ties and gaffa tape it's unfixable right?! Ten minutes later I had everything botched back in place and thankfully the light still worked so I could continue my journey getting home at around 3pm.
So, my official review of Platypus Hollow, Creekside Farm in Kandanga: ok for a quick overnighter but defo nothing spesh! On one hand, I enjoyed my stay - after a long day on the motorbike, I just wanted to pitch the tent, light the fire, sink a few beers & crash out... and I did just that! It was cheap, cheerful and did the job. On the other hand, there were a number of things that were less than perfect and if like me you we're attracted by the write up of the site and reviews you might be disappointed...
The highlight of this trip was defo the ride out, the steep decent down to Obi Obi being the thing I'll always remember. But the search will continue for the perfect motocamping campsite!