Rick's Next Adventure: The Mad Dash to Brisbane

The day had a nice start. I had breakfast outside my room in a little courtyard, the weather was perfect and I was anticipating my leisurely drive along "Waterfall Way" as I made my way to Brisbane. Bright and early I took off to see the first of the falls, Wollomombi. It was an easy drive and I arrived to find that I was the only person in the National Park. I headed down the trail to the river gorge below, where I could see a bit of pale green water.

It was one of those go up to go down hikes, but the morning was cool so it wasn't too hard. I arrived to find that the green I saw from above was just the last gasps of water in a dry river. No waterfall. It was still a good hike. Off to the next waterfall, Ebor Falls. I hoped there would be actual water at this one! Once again, I was alone in the park. I walked to the Upper falls and there was water! It's a nice two drop falls and was very pretty. I could get used to quiet National Parks...

Then it was off to the Lower falls, which of course also had water, and was a single drop into the river. I headed down the road to my turnoff to take the back way to Brisbane and along the way I saw a sign for "Cathedral Rocks" National Park. I thought "Why not?" and headed down the gravel road...for miles...seeing nothing but large boulders strewn around the landscape. The road ended, so I turned around and looked again. Nothing much to see, no wonder I was the only one at this place!

It was time to head for Brisbane. The apartment I rented has check in from 4 to 6 pm and I had plenty of time for the journey. I continued down my way in the middle of nowhere road, winding through the mountains and rarely ever seeing a soul. I had numerous sightings of kangaroos. Sadly, they were all roadkill. And there were a lot. Rounding a corner, I saw a group of men putting cones across the road. They waved me over to tell me the road was closed due to a bush fire. The day officially turned to crap after that.

My back way to Brisbane didn't have alternates. There was nothing to do but turn around and go all the way back and take the road to the coast, which is much longer. I had essentially lost about 2 and a half hours, but was optimistic that it was no big deal. Silly me. I went back the way I came and headed down the new road...which had construction everywhere, was barely two lanes and no fun at all. I eventually made my way down to the coast and reached the main north-south highway. I was so relieved to be on a good road!

Well...that lasted 20 minutes. Then we were unceremoniously dumped off the highway for a construction detour. By now I'm getting worried.
I had google do the math and I was down to 45 minutes to spare. From that point on it was driving as fast as I could and forget about stopping. There were more construction delays...then backed up traffic along the Gold Coast...and I had two new concerns. I needed gas and I needed to pee. Neither of these were optional and by now I was down to 25 minutes of leeway. I kept hoping for a gas station near the road...and finally I saw one...dashed in to use the bathroom, put $20 of gas in because filling would take too long and raced back onto the highway. Down to 13 minutes.

Stressed and white-knuckled, I wove through traffic like a mad man and cursed at all of the cars in my way. I dropped off the highway into downtown Brisbane, in full-on rush hour and pulled up to the hotel with scant minutes to spare. I put the car into the garage and there it can stay for a couple of days. I need a break from driving! The day did improve though...the Mexican restaurant down the street was having 25 cent wing night! And they were really good.