Mt Moffatt Nat. Pk Qld Oz

Got away again recently to Mt Moffatt National Pk which has some 4WD access only areas, great camping and interesting history.

This is sand belt country so you get some interesting formations caused by erosion and is also pretty rugged mountainous bush country. The main camp area is about 800 meters above sea level and part of the range which is in the 4WD access area is over 1100m.

The road in had been graded after recent rains which was a pity but it did make it dusty! For the photographers, I was on my own this trip and took this shot by remote with the camera on a tripod on the side of the road and the trusty remote in my hand….works upto 100meters (109 yds)!



Camp area was really nice and the bush walkers in the back ground were on a 5 day 86km trek. The youngest was 50 and the trek leader was a 72yo woman!



You don’t need Macca’s in the bush when you camp with nugget. Low tech hamburgers….everything touches the hot plate here!



Wash this lot down with a XXXX or 5 and the night is roll’n



Got a bit chilly over night! That is -21 in your currency and I was pretty glad I had thrown an extra blanket in the swag.



Everything was covered in a frost/ice….even the edge of the blue sleeping bag in the swag . This was at 6.30am so it would have been a couple of degrees C colder at 3.30/4.00am!



One of the hikers left some water out in a pot and bingo..instant ice! He recorded -2C in his tent.



Cannot sit around all day trying to unfreeze the goolies so it was time to hit the trail…..actually I remembered that the H3 had heated seats!!!! This is the site of an infamous episode in Aussie bush ranger (outlaw) history. 2 crooks who had been stealing cattle from the local station (ranch) killed the local copper (policeman/sheriff) and the station manager and proceeded to try to burn the evidence here at what has subsequently been known as the Incineration Site! These guys were Australia’s last bush rangers. One was hanged and the other jailed in 1901.

Bit of Granite and rock pools around as well



This campsite was at 1000m above sea level and right on the edge of the cliff. I think how the rock shroud around the campfire had been built gives an idea of the wind levels.



View isn’t half bad



Thought the head of the river needed a bit of assistance



One of the many sandstone highlights



Aboriginal art hasn’t progressed much in 20,000 years



Waterhole by one of the camp grounds..Be sweet in summer for a cool dip



I took this a bad sign!


Turns out a clamp head had rubber against the heater hose where it was redirected to the hot water shower heat exchanger mounted in the wing of the bullbar….no hot water shower tonight obviously but I did manage to bypass it and ensure the engine didn’t cook…mildly important when 300kms to anywhere!



Cattle grids can be a bit lethal out here. I hit this one on the way in at 20mph and loosened the back teeth. They look pretty harmless but this one was at the top of a bit of a ramp and there is about a 4” drop and then the exposed edge…hard to see in the photo but a suspension tester/rim denter if hit at any speed for sure.



After a 500mile drive, next stop was home and a hot shower!

Thought you might be interested into whether I got home or not after the hose problem! I did and the 500 mile drive gave me some thinking time to decide how to stop from happening again. The first thing was that I realised how here in Oz we fit heat exchangers at the drop of a hat without really considering the full implications of what we are doing…..bottom line is that we are cutting into the engine cooling system and if something goes wrong the end result could be a cooked donk..and then you become a cooked goose when the handbag sees the repair bill!

So this is how I went about hopefully solving the problem. Firstly this was how I shortened up the hoses and bypassed the heat exchanger to get me home.



What I decided to do was to have a system where I could bypass the heat exchanger…effectively keep the cooling system as a closed loop utilising 3 valves. I can then keep the engine cooling isolated but switch the valves to flow through the heat exchanger when a hot shower was on the cards.



A strong bracket and bingo….legs 11



All of the threads were tapered and would not clamp up on the bracket so I ran a die nut down them and then used a high temperature rated pipe sealant.



It is messy stuff so having been well house trained I cleaned up as I went!



The only place I could find to mount it was at the back of the battery using the battery box base as a mounting point.



This is the clamp head which caused the original problem. I should have seen it when I did it originally!



Amazing how much more clearance simply by turning it around.



All done, battery back in and ready to rock and roll