Dalby QLD – Tagalong22

About Dalby

Dalby is a large and prosperous rural service centre located in an area of fertile volcanic soil. It is surrounded by fields of wheat, cotton, mung beans, sunflowers, sorghum, millet and barley. Although the area is known as Queensland’s wheat centre – it has the state’s largest grain receival centre – it also produces stud cattle, sheep, pigs and angora goats.

The region’s thriving cotton industry spreads from Dalby, south to Goondiwindi and west across to St George. Add to this its importance as a centre for natural gas, coal and power generation and it is easy to understand that it is one of the state’s most important regional industrial, agricultural and manufacturing centres. Dalby has pleasant picnic spots beside the river, an attractive park in the centre of town, wide country town streets (particularly Cunningham Street, the main thoroughfare) and plenty of attractions for visitors. Dalby is located on the Myall Creek 208 km west of Brisbane via Toowoomba and it is 342 m above sea-level (sourced from the Aussie Towns website – click for more).

Getting there

It was a fairly straight 270km drive from Roma to Dalby (route map) along roads that went from nice & smooth to broken asphalt, pot holed and shake the shite out of everything.

Accommodation

Arriving at the Pioneer Caravan Park, only 2kms out of Dalby (maplink), first impressions were that of a fairly run down, tried looking caravan park. But after meeting Lisa, the park owner, and settling in we soon changed that impression to a much better one. The site was a good size, water was good and amenities were spotless with the (artificial) flowers and little positive quotes in every toilet.

Day trip to Bunya Mountains NP

With Merrisa back in Melbourne, I decided to hit the trails in Bunya Mountains National Park.

It was a 64km trip from Dalby to the national park (route map), so off I went, stocked up with plenty of water and lunch in the backpack. The road up the mountain is extremely narrow and very windy (no caravans allowed). As the road opens out at the top I found JS Fisher Lookout with some amazing views across the countryside, well worth the stop, but photos don’t do the breathtaking views.

Barker Creek Circuit

The walk I chose was the Barker Creek Circuit, which is a 10km (Grade 3) track taking in several water falls and view points over the national park. The walk begins at a rather unique looking access point where you must run your walking shoes over a thick brush then a wash by pushing down on a metal pad, which sprays water over the bottom of your shoes. This is to protect the Bunya Pine trees from Phytophthora (a microscopic disease-causing plant pathogen).

The Barker Creek circuit is fairly flat and you just cannot miss the enormity of the Bunya Pines, some with a heights over 100ft and 15ft diameter.

Park gateway
Park gateway
I took the 9km trail
Bunya Pine - the hero of the walk

Tim Shea Falls

The 1st set of falls along the track are the Tim Shea Falls, which are not all that fantastic, but the sound of bubbling water down rocks is always a pleasant experience while walking through a forest. Tim Shea Falls can dry out completely. Best time to visit is after decent rain.

Big Falls Lookout Lunch break

A spur off the main Barker Creek track takes you to Big Falls & Barker Creek Lookouts. It was a perfect spot to rest the legs and sit back and take in the view while devouring a couple of sangers. You look out this beautiful valley which is one of those views that a photograph could never do any justice.

Heading back onto the main track took me out of the forest onto open grassy plains. All was fine until, coming around a bend, I came across this massive wild boar which was a bit of a “whoa” moment. Turns out it was dead (found out it had been baited by the rangers)

Little Falls

Back into the forest again the next stop is at Little Falls, which is a nice quiet place with a water fall that is about 5 metres high. Not a torrent of water coming over but it was still nice to sit and reflect for a while.

Paradise Falls

Paradise Falls are about the same height but much wider than the other falls I visited, with just a trickle of water running down the rock face. I would love to be here when there’s been a decent fall of rain in the catchment.

Last section of the walk

For the whole duration of the walk I could hear all types of bird calls but hardly saw any birds. Leaving Paradise Falls the last 3 kilometres of the track takes you through more dense forest but it’s here that you start to see the birds which you’ve been hearing for the last couple of hours. It made this section of the walk just as fascinating as seeing the water falls and magnificent Bunya Pines.

Ending back at the start of my walk I cleaned my boots off at the cleaning station once again and was greeted by this cute wallaby hiding in the long grass.

Thus ends my trek through the Bunya National Park, returning to Dalby to prepare for the last leg of our “Pre Tagalong 22” trip to Mudjimba.

Summing up…

Accommodation – Pioneer Caravan Park (07) 4662 1811
- Cost per night – $33.00 (@ 22-Aug-2022)
- Stayed for – 2 nights
- Facilities – Basic but clean, with nice flowers on the benches & quirky notes on the dunny doors
- CP Location – 28 Black St Dalby QLD
- Our rating/score – 5/10
Was it a nice town to visit? – Not bad – good water & heaps of shops
- Activities & places of interest – probably best choice would be the Bunya Mountains
- Tourist info centre? – Drayton St, Dalby (in Thomas Jack Park) (07) 4679 4461
- Would we return? – Probably not
- We rate the town – 6/10
Overall thoughts – Staying for only 2 nights in a location makes it difficult to rate, but my research beforehand indicated that there’s not much to do here. A trip to the visitors center may uncover something interesting.