Imbil is in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast, about 40 km south of Gympie. When we first got here we thought it wasn't going to live up to its name, as the forecast was for showers and storms all week, however after some drizzle on the first day the weather bureau changed their minds, and it has been glorious sunshine for the rest of our stay. The main industry around here is timber, and Imbil is surrounded by forests and national parks, including the Imbil State Forest right on our doorstep. We have, of course, done quite a bit of walking, as well as spending time driving around the scenic countryside.
John will remember Imbil for his wildlife encounters. The caravan park we are staying at also has deer, and at some time in the past there have obviously been escapees, so feral deer now live in the surrounding forest. John was most surprised one night to encounter a full grown doe right outside the men's toilet block, luckily it responded appropriately to a gentle shoo. Not quite so pleasant was the leech that attached itself to John's foot during one of our forest walks. It somehow managed to slip through his sock to feast on his blood, swelling up to several times its initial size. The advice given in the national park brochure is to sprinkle it with salt, but lacking that we eventually got tired of waiting for it to gorge itself and drop off and Wendy rather squeamishly pulled it off with a tissue. The bleeding took quite a long time to stop, and after that John was much keener on the scenic drives than the forest walks!
The highlight of our stay was our day trip on the Mary Valley Rattler, a steam train that runs from Gympie to Imbil. The train runs along the line built in 1914 to service the towns of the Mary Valley. Services on the line ceased in 1994, but already locals were planning to run a tourist train service on the disused line. The Mary Valley Heritage Railway commenced operations in 1998 and has proved a popular attraction. One very interesting part of the day is watching the turntable used at Imbil to turn the locomotive around so it can do the return journey to Gympie. The engine only just fits on the turntable so the driver has to position it exactly, a feat achieved by the low-tech device of lining himself up with a piece of cloth tied to the railing!
Imbil is in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast, about 40 km south of Gympie. When we first got here we thought it wasn't going to live up to its name, as the forecast was for showers and storms all week, however after some drizzle on the first day the weather bureau changed their minds, and it has been glorious sunshine for the rest of our stay. The main industry around here is timber, and Imbil is surrounded by forests and national parks, including the Imbil State Forest right on our doorstep. We have, of course, done quite a bit of walking, as well as spending time driving around the scenic countryside.
John will remember Imbil for his wildlife encounters. The caravan park we are staying at also has deer, and at some time in the past there have obviously been escapees, so feral deer now live in the surrounding forest. John was most surprised one night to encounter a full grown doe right outside the men's toilet block, luckily it responded appropriately to a gentle shoo. Not quite so pleasant was the leech that attached itself to John's foot during one of our forest walks. It somehow managed to slip through his sock to feast on his blood, swelling up to several times its initial size. The advice given in the national park brochure is to sprinkle it with salt, but lacking that we eventually got tired of waiting for it to gorge itself and drop off and Wendy rather squeamishly pulled it off with a tissue. The bleeding took quite a long time to stop, and after that John was much keener on the scenic drives than the forest walks!
The highlight of our stay was our day trip on the Mary Valley Rattler, a steam train that runs from Gympie to Imbil. The train runs along the line built in 1914 to service the towns of the Mary Valley. Services on the line ceased in 1994, but already locals were planning to run a tourist train service on the disused line. The Mary Valley Heritage Railway commenced operations in 1998 and has proved a popular attraction. One very interesting part of the day is watching the turntable used at Imbil to turn the locomotive around so it can do the return journey to Gympie. The engine only just fits on the turntable so the driver has to position it exactly, a feat achieved by the low-tech device of lining himself up with a piece of cloth tied to the railing!
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