Simpson Falls & Eugenia Circuit, Brisbane Forest Park - January 2017

The view from our balcony.

Early in the year Sam and found ourselves in Bris Vegas for a couple of days. While the aim of the trip was to break the drive home from Bundaberg a bit and do a little walking, I also used the opportunity to catch up with my friend Jane from Mildly Extreme. Now with us staying in Bris Vegas  I thought that it would be appropriate for us to stay at the casino, so we booked a room at the Treasury Hotel of which I'll crap on about a bit later. After spending our first day in town doing a bit of shopping and generally chilling out, I pulled on the boots on day two and headed off for a walk in the Brisbane Forest Park.

Todays amble started at Simpson Falls Picnic Ground.

Now when I'd walked with Jane last year she'd mentioned that Brisbane has its own Kokoda Trail so my plan for this morning had been to go and check it out. Unfortunately my inbuilt navigation system, while working really good in the bush, leaves a lot to be desired in an urban environment. Yeah, to cut a long story short I didn't manage to locate the start of the walking track, but hey at least I got to go for a scenic drive! Having arranged to meet Jane that afternoon for lunch the pressure was on, so after finding myself in the Simpsons Falls Picnic Area car park I pulled out my walking book and worked in reverse - I found a walk that started from here, well it beats driving around looking for the start of a walk that I was running out of time to complete anyway. So that's how I found myself walking through the deserted picnic grounds heading for Simpson Falls.

The path climbs up the north bank of the creek.

I was never far from the creek on my climb to the falls.

Once on the track navigation wasn't really an issue today, to start with I just followed the north bank of W Ithaca Creek up stream to the falls. The good track climbs through open forest, never far from the creek which was flowing fairly well after a big dump of rain last night. The sound of voices signalled my imminent arrival at Simpson Falls, although you couldn't really miss the spot as the parks people have constructed a lookout come bridge that can be seen from the space station. After exploring all the angles from the huge lookout, and finding none of them gave me a really good shot of the falls, I headed off on the continuation of my stroll.

You'll know when you've arrived at Simpson Falls!

Simpson Falls, even with all the infrastructure I couldn't get much of a photo.

I was continuing up stream but now I was walking the Eugenia Circuit. This section of the walk continued climbing gently, eventually meeting a paved track in a damp gully before heading off up a fire track via a series of zig zags to the highest spot on the walk. From the ridge top fire track I could easily see the high rise buildings in the Brisbane CBD through the sparse trees, although getting a photo was another thing. I now started dropping back down towards Simpson Falls again along a spur, like the climb though the descent was pretty cruisey really and it wasn't long before the more luxuriant vegetation meant that I was about to arrive back at the creek.

Leaving Simpson Falls I continued to climb, now on the Eugenia Circuit.

Zig Zagging my way up to the ridge top.

If you squint and use a lot of imagination you may think that you can see the CBD through the trees.

Leaving Simpson Falls for the second time today I started down what was the roughest section of the walk, the pad down the south side of the creek is un signposted and is a little vague for the first few metres. Once the falls recede from view the pad becomes better defined staying even closer to the creek that the track up the north side did. The creek along here has an unusual geological feature in that it looks a bit like a man made channel, the water having eroded and almost straight, deep gutter in the rock. The stream side pad featured a few spots to get down to the creek to explore small the small pools but I decided against a dip today, although there were a few teenagers making the most of the water. Fifteen minutes or so after leaving Simpson Falls for second time the wide open grassy expanses of Simpson Falls Picnic Ground came into view and all that was left to do was rock hop across the creek head back to the ute. Incidentally I did manage to catch up for lunch with Jane on time that afternoon, where we enjoyed a nice lunch and a great catch up talking about all our adventures.

The pad back down to the car park along the south side of the creek is more of your typical bush walking  track.

The creek almost looks man made to my eyes.

Approaching Simpson Falls Picnic Ground on my way back to the ute.

Alright, I did mention that I'd talk a little about our accommodation. Like I mentioned earlier we stayed at the Treasury Hotel which is part of the casino complex in the Brisbane CBD, our hotel suite was one of the bigger rooms that I've ever stayed in. The room featured its own balcony with views across the Brisbane River, as well as views down to the Queens Gardens below us. Our massive room had two huge flat screens and all the other modern conveniences that you'd expect in a flash hotel now days. Apart from the room size and the view the other notable feature of the suite was the split level marble bathroom, yeah we were doing it real hard! Incidentally while in Brisbane we checked the Miel Container Café,  if you fancy a burger in Bris Vegas then this little café is worth checking out.

Our suite at The Treasury Hotel was huge.

A split level marble bathroom, yeah we were really goin' feral.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked 4.8 kilometres and climbed 204 metres on this easy stroll. If you ever find yourself with half a day to spare this little stroll is worth checking out. I used the notes out of John and Lyn Daly's Take A Walk in South-East Queensland and the notes, mud map and my GPS were enough to complete the walk. The Treasury Hotel is not a bad value for money option especially if you go for the ye olde look, it looks like they are developing a new casino in the CBD though so I'm not sure what that will mean for this hotel, I'd imagine that the old treasury building would be heritage listed so I'm thinking the building will survive, but as for it still being a hotel I don't know. 

Relevant Posts.

Art in the CBD Walk, Brisbane, 2016.

Ww looked down over Queens Gardens in one direction.

And out over the Brisbane River in the other direction.

We ate at the Meil Container Café one night, the burgers are highly recommended.