As of the latest BOM Tracking Map, ex-Tropical Cyclone Hamish has been downgraded to a Tropical Low. Currently the low is moving up the coast again (almost doubling back on its tracks) in a north west direction. Dangerous weather is expected for the Capricorn Coast (RRC Media Release).

Tropical Cyclone Hamish from bom.gov.au.
View a timelapse animation of Cyclone Hamish.

The BOM has stopped issuing track maps.

Rising Creeks by Jylan Wynne

From 9am on Tuesday morning to 9am on Wednesday morning, Yeppoon and surrounding districts had over 80.6mm, or 3.1 inches of rain. This is enough to flush out all the creeks and leave a lot of water lying around on the ground, but so far there has been no major flooding like in February 2008.

The Capricornia district forecast from the Bureau of Meteorology has this to say about Wednesday and the days ahead:

CAPRICORNIA DISTRICT

Outlook for Wednseday: Rain areas. Isolated thunderstorms. Moderate to heavy falls possible. Moderate
NW to NE winds, shifting W to SW inland during the day.

Outlook for Thursday: Scattered coastal showers, more isolated inland.

Outlook for Friday: Scattered coastal showers, isolated inland. Late rain.

YeppoonInfo.com will keep you updated on any weather developments in the area.

Stony Creek is a large camping and picnic area, with the main feature being, of course, the creek that divided those two areas. To cross there is a concrete causeway which is covered by about 10cm of water in normal flow. After heavy rain the picnic area is sometimes cut off because the causeway is too deeply covered.

Stony Creek has many important facilities such as toilets, free gas barbeques, picnic tables, taps, and bushwalks. Because the Stony Creek area is protected, no domestic animals such as dogs or cats are allowed. There is one marked bushwalking track, which winds along beside the creek for kilometres. The main circuit is only about 1km long however.

Camping can be booked through the EPA website.

Below I’ve put in some photos of Stony Creek from the day:

The Stony Creek crossing, looking towards the entrance and camping area.

The Stony Creek swimming area. This is the main swimming area, looking from the road crossing.

Looking in the other direction from the above photo, Stony Creek merrily continuing on its way downstream.

This view shows the platform on the picnic side of Stony. This is where most people jump in the creek from. The drain in the middle helps keep the water level over the crossing down.

Water spilling over the other side of the road crossing.

Looking over the road crossing towards the day use area of Stony Creek.

A small bridge on the main walking track. The blurred corners are an added effect.

One of the many lovely plants growing along the walking track.

Rows of pine trees on either side of the road on the way out from Stony Creek. Again, I’ve added the blurred corners.

Last but not least, above are the two panoramas that I made from photos taken at Stony Creek. Click on the thumbnail images to see the full-size versions.

This shows the extent of the floodwaters that came into our paddock, as well as our neighbours paddock.

The corner of the road where the floodwater was running over. You can see how the water had uprooted some of the grass and rolled it back. The view in the photo above is just to the left of this.

The damage caused by the floodwater to the edge of the road. It has now been repaired with some concrete. Don’t forget that this road will soon be replaced by the new one, so it isn’t the most tidy repair .

The floodwaters down at the big new bridge. The deepest point in there would be over my head, and flowing very strongly.

Looking on the other side of the creek, over the old bridge, you can see just how much water there was flowing through there.

This is amazing. Have a look at the grass on the other side. See how high the water has been? That’s right, the little bridge was actually submerged under the creek! It probably only lasted an hour or less like that however, because as soon as the rain stops the creek starts going down.

The roadworkers are in the photo because something from the new bridge had been pushed off by the floodwaters and hit the old bridge. They were then checking it for structural damage. None was found, though.

This is the worst-hit area around our place. Located about 3km away from us, this flooding probably extended for 500 metres or more. The deepest place on that road would be around 2 metres. While I was there locals kept driving up and taking photos of the flooding.

[tags]adelaide park, woodbury, bungundarra, rain, bridge, creek, water, flooding, flood[/tags]

The title says it all. Currently we are having some very heavy rain as a result of a tropical low that is moving down the coast. Heaps of roads are closed, including the one on our corner. So now we are basically unable to drive into Yeppoon. About half an hour ago I put my swimmers on and went outside to look at the flooding. What I saw amazed me, because this is the first time in my life I’ve seen flooding personally.

I had previously prepared some alternative pictures for this, but that was yesterday before we got the real flooding. So I dumped those pics and I am using the photos that I took half and hour ago. They reflect what is happening here right now. Sorry for the blurriness of some, I had to wrap the camera in a bag to protect it from the rain. BTW a local who was just outside our driveway waiting to get through said that this area hadn’t had flooding like this for 17 years!

The road at our corner is currently closed, although 4wd are able to get through. I will try to take some more pictures, maybe one down at the big bridge when I can get through. That would be really thundering right now!

A general overview of the corner.

The water thundering into our back paddock and then into the neighbours.

Looking up north in the opposite direction. The water in this picture is only about shin height.

A closeup of the water flooding over the enbankment.

For the last few days of the week they then concentrated on the section near our place, which involved filling in part of the creek near the Bungundarra intersection and also dumping over 30 truckloads of rocks and dirt to bring the new road up to the level of the smaller bridge near out place. Photos are below.

The new section of road just up from the big bridge. If you look at previous roadworks posts, you’ll be able to see what this section of road used to look like. On the right you can see a turnoff for cars going to Mt Rae Road.

Looking down onto the big bridge. Now all they have to do is put gravel down on the other side and they are almost finished.

Located just to the right of the smaller bridge near our place, you can see how they’ve filled in a section of the creek. This is to make sure the water goes the alternate route, which is straight under the bridge and road and back into the creek.

The water coming out from the other side of the road. The white posts you see are marking the Telstra fibre optic cable, which runs under the road too. Beats me why we can’t get broadband with a cable (and fibre-optic at that) running right near us.

Finally, this photo taken yesterday (Friday) shows how they’ve filled in up to the level of the bridge. I expect to see this section laid with crusherdust and then tar in the next few weeks.

On Wednesday the 23rd this month we drove to Blackdown Tableland National Park, which you can find out more about on the EPA website. The day before I’d booked for two nights on the web, because self registration at the campsite is no longer allowed. After stopping at the Horseshoe lookout on the edge of the tablelands (photo to the left) and finding a geocache, we arrived at the South Mimosa Creek campground at about 1PM.

We had a limited choice of campgrounds, because about 20 of them were closed for maintenance and redevelopment and only 9 were available for camping. After a while we chose a campsite and I was able to explore the surrounds. A small creek (about the size of Kemp Beach creek) flowed near us and we had a composting toilet block just opposite our tent. Unfortunately, possibly because of a lazy ranger, there was no water in the taps and we had to use the creek for washing hands and utensils.

The first place we went to after arrival: the potholes. Some, like the one shown above, has water cascading into it while others, such as the ones below, are covered by water. These particular potholes can be found at the beginning of the Mook Mook (or Officer’s Pocket) walk, just down from the campground.

Taken at the same locations as the potholes above, this photos shows the ones covered by water. I had fun jumping off the ledge to the left, which is about twice my height. There are also very short tunnels connecting some of the potholes.

This waterfall is located about 50 metres down from the potholes, and although quite small, it is still very beautiful. The sides are approximately 7 metres high.

The view from the top of the above waterfall. I like the dynamic aspect to this pic. All the water has just been frozen in place. And don’t panic, although it looks as if I am hovering above I was really lying down and holding the camera out.

The most used item that I brought along was my mountain bike, which I rode practically everywhere. You name it, up stairs, down stairs, across creeks and over rock outcrops with plenty of challenging spots. I feel like I can tackle anything with it now . The photo was taken on the Mook Mook walk.

The beautiful view from the lookout at the end of the Mook Mook trail. Unlike the picture at the top of the post, which was taken at the Horseshoe lookout on the rainy day that we arrived, this view was clear and unimpeded by rain.

Another view from the lookout with the fence in the foreground. In the background you can see a minor landslide, caused by a slab of rock peeling of from the cliff.

Rainbow Falls would have to be among the biggest (if not the biggest) falls in a 100km radius around Blackdown Tableland. I estimate the height of the falls to be around 25 metres, which is really big if you get a tape measure and measure it out. I climbed up a bit on the right side and put my hand under the water falling on the rock you can see. It felt like someone was slingshotting you (not withstandable for more than about 5 seconds). Swimming under the falls is bearable though, because the water isn’t falling from as great a height.

They can be accessed by driving 8 kilometres from the campground and then following the walking trail for about 2km downhill. To get to the very bottom of the gorge you then have to go down 240 stairs

This photo can also be found on Contrasting Sharply.

In total there are 3 defined tracks in the vicinity of the campground (not counting the walk at Horseshoe Lookout) and the last that we walked was the Cultural Circuit. The wooden, burnt out fence above was part of a settler’s stockyard. The posts have been there so long that the tree has grown around it.

The Cultural Circuit also boasts some Aboriginal handprints (OK artwork if you must…), which are created by placing your hand on a rock and blowing paint over it.

Back at the campsite I experiment with waving a lighted stick in front of the camera, creating a fiery hammock for daring (and foolish) people

On the way back from Blackdown we drove over the Dawson River again (we’d gone over it on the way to Blackdown, but it wasn’t as high as this), which was now fully in flood. Almost all the trees were partly submerged.

A tire tube caught in some flotsam and jetsam on the Dawson River. I bet it would have a story to tell.

And with that photo, my retelling of our trip to Blackdown Tableland National Park ends. Hope you enjoyed it.

[tags]national park, blackdown tablelands, holiday, travel, water, waterfalls[/tags]

Last Saturday I went with my family to Kemp Beach, because we wanted to explore the creek there, especially after the recent rain. I was a bit disappointed, because it was only flowing under the footpath at it’s usual slow rate. However when we walked up a bit I discovered that it mostly goes underground near the footpath, but further along it flows freely.

Anyway, just a couple of meters into our exploration I spotted a small snake with a yellow belly and a black top sunning itself. It wasn’t scared at all, because even when I stood on the other side of the stream it just stayed put.

Later on I had a glimpse of another snake, and from what I saw I think it was about 3 times thicker with the same markings as the little snake. Unlike the little one, however, he was definitely no hanging around, so he took off as soon as he saw (or heard) me.

The snake – which I think is a tree snake or a yellow belly.

As we progressed, we found quite a few small waterfalls such as the one above, although that is more like a minature waterfall.

Further up, we came out of the fairly dense tree cover and emerged into the open, where we could see up the rest of the hill.

In one particular spot we found there were heaps of little ferns (I think) growing under a tree.

We kept going up and entered into some more tree cover, where I found some really brightly coloured tendrils that were creeping across the rocks (in some places there was just sold rock that the water ran over).

Eventually, after I’d found some really pretty green moss and caught a glimpse of a much bigger snake with the same markings as the small snake, I reached the top. The above is a view over down the creek, over Kemp Beach and Rosslyn Bay, and in the distance, Yeppoon.

[tags]yeppoon, creek, water, kemp beach, mountain[/tags]

In other places around Queensland some roads have been cut, including the highway between Rockhampton and Emerald. You’ve most likely seen that on the news.

Thankfully though, all this Saturday has been rain-free (although with a very overcast sky), and the weather is showing signs of clearing up.

These drains just near our place have been inundated with water, and because there is only a end on the other side, all the water just backs out again and flows under the road.

Meanwhile the creek down at the bridges (old and new) is fairly raging along, and I couldn’t wade across at one place because the water was higher than my knees. The photo above shows the creek exiting after going through both bridges.

The place at the bridges where I tried to cross. The channel is in between the main clump of grass and the top side.

While down at the bridge on the day I took the photos (Friday) I happened to see the Livingstone Shire Mayor, Bill Ludwig, taking photos with some people.

This shows a small creek (just near the two bridges) flowing on it’s way into Plain Creek, the biggest one around for a few kilometres.

[tags]roadworks, adelaide park, woodbury, rain, bridge, creek, water[/tags]

Hardly any work has been done on the roadworks since before we went down the Gold Coast for our Christmas holidays, with the exception of some work on the new big bridge, which you will see a photo of. They have also broken up a section of the temporary road that was built, presumably to stop people hooning on it.

Below are some photos.

You can see how full of water this section near our place is. Because the water can’t go anywhere it is overflowing towards the top of the pic.

Just a macro of the overflowing water. The grass has been overpowered and subdued

This is what our dam looked like yesterday. Today (sunday) it has gone down noticabley because of the overflow that we dug a few years ago.

This is basically the only roadworks activity since Christmas, so far. They have gotten rid of the steep access path that was used to go down under the concrete, and piled up a lot of dirt in preparation for the road.

Two boys on quads were having a great time spinning their wheels and causing erosion on the tracks. In the picture above you can just see the two quads in the upper left corner.

[tags]roadworks, adelaide park, woodbury, rain, bridge, creek, water[/tags]