Sunday, Jul 17, 2016 at 10:31
The beauty of both the parks i visited was you can't take caravans in there and taking a camper trailer into one would
test someones sand driving capabilties fairly
well, hence why they were near empty (though school holiday periods would see both busy i assume).
Byfield National Park North of
Yeppoon was one, there's a very steep long sand
hill you need to get up as you enter into the park (it just keeps going up and up and gets very chewed up), this keeps all caravans out (no chance of taking one in there unless it was a small cross over type, but it's weight woud likely end up getting you bogged, and recovery on that
hill would be interesting to say the least), and if towing a camper trailer you'd want it to be fairly light and you be running about 14 psi max tyre pressures to be any chance at all of getting up that
hill....it's not the park you'd go to if you are a novice sand driver IMHO. I saw several people towing camper trailers bogged at the very bottom of that
hill as we entered and left the park that day....one guy i saw later on ended up leaving his trailer somewhere to explore the park, the other guy i helped recover on the way out decided to go
camp elsewhere instead. I sent him to Stoney Creek which is not far away, and a lovely spot. If you really know what you are doing you can get a camper trailer in there, but anyone that thinks 20psi is a low tyre pressure is not much of a chance of getting a trailer up that
hill IMHO. I was running 20psi rear and 18 psi fronts running the rear locker in my vehicle not towing, and had plenty of wheel spin happening on the climb up, i started losing momentum about 3/4 of the way to the top. In hindsight i was in 2nd gear high range and had to go back to 1st gear to keep climbing that
hill, i should have been in lowrange to do it easier i reckon and probably slightly lower tyre pressures....but having never been to that park before i had no idea just how long and steep that sand
hill actually was.
Be aware that if you head for the drive down to 5 Rocks Beach you'll cop some good bush pin striping on your vehicle, the track is closed in height and width wise in
places, and the sand on that track back up was harder to negotiate then the big sand
hill you drive up to get into the park. I lowered my tyres to 14 psi and engaged the rear locker to to be sure i got back up it being we were travelling solo (i wasn't towing and no way would recommend taking a trailer down to that beach, 9 Mile Beach is fine if you get up the first
hill though, just head for
Stockyard Point beach entry as it's boarded).
The thing about this park is there is zero warning about the big sand
hill you are about to encounter on entering the park until you hit it, and by then if you haven't deflated your tyres you'll likely get bogged..... i'm sure it would catch many a unexpected traveller out each year. As soon as you reach sand on the track instead of
the rock / gravel lead up track, it's about then would be a good time to deflate your tyres.
The other park we visited i'd prefer to keep that location to myself, i plan on heading back there with my camper trailer in the future, and don't want to tip everyone off about it.....lol.
FollowupID:
872102