A Day trip to the Bunya Mountains from Jandowae

We did a day trip from Jandowae, to Jimbour,  the Dingo Fence, the town of Bell, up through the Bunya Mountians from the south to the north, and back to Jandowae via Niagara Road and the Coopers Gap Wind Farm, approximately 200km.

We started the day heading south from Jandowae to the small village of Jimbour to see the Jimbour Tractor. This is located on the south side of town and has a toilet block, picnic tables and a rain water tank. Nice place for lunch or a snack if passing through.

We back tracked about 15 km and turned right heading to Jimbour House. Jimbour House on Jimbour Station was closed due to Covid 19 restrictions so we will go back another time. Built in 1876 and heritage listed, the house is a private residence and and only open for special events. The gardens however, are usually open during the day for a living history walk that takes one through the gardens with sight and sound displays.

Backtracking again back to the main road and turning right at the Dingo Fence sign and following the signs to the tourist section of the Dingo Fence. We came here a number of years ago and enjoyed the trip, but we must have had a better map as this time we only traveled along one section of fence. It is not sign-posted very well, so we were a little disappointed we couldn't visit the same locations again. The longest man made structure in the world is the Great Wall of China, and the Dingo fence is said to be the second. Originally constructed in the early 1880's and completed in 1885 as a rabbit fence to protect livestock in the southern states.The fence stretches 5,614km through Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia. At one stage it stretched over 8,000km. Originally constructed of wooden posts, today it is a combination of posts, and star pickets. The fence was to be maintained by landowners, and often fell into disrepair. In 1948 the Dingo Fence Scheme was proposed and the fence became known as the Dog Fence. Today the fence is much shorter and maintained mostly by the government. Here at this 'photo' location is a picnic table and information board.

We followed the track running alongside the dingo fence up  until there were no more signs and we ended up back on  a main road, so we headed south towards Bell, a lovely little town. Named after Joshua Bell, owner of Jimbour Station, and was originally a railway terminus. The town grew around the railway and the streets are named after workers on Jimbour Station. There is a beautiful church, that we didn't visit today, but have previously. Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church has a lovely garden with trees and plants mentioned in the Bible. Well worth a visit.

From Bell we headed to the southern end of the Bunya Mountains.The higher we got the cooler it got.

There are some picnic areas and a lookout.

Being part of the Great Dividing Range, the highest section is 1100m above sea level. Historically, the mountains were used by Aboriginal people as a meeting place to feast on the bunya nuts every three years. Dandabah is the only village in the National Park and has a couple of cafes and picnic areas. There is also some historical building located behind one of the cafes. They were closed due to Covid19.

Walkers would love this area. There are many walks of different distances and ability levels and camp grounds and picnic areas. We did see a could of small caravans at the Dandabah campgrounds, but the roads are narrow and steep and windy in places, we would not take a van up there.

Heading back to Jandowae via Niagara Road, we went past the Coopers Gap Wind Farm. With 123 turbines, we have not seen a larger wind farm in our travels. Completed in 2019, this road is an alternative route to Jandowae from Kingaroy.

We had a leisurely trip, but one could do it in less time, or much more time.