Cedar Grove Camping Area, Amamoor State Forest, QLD.

Cedar Grove Camping Area, Amamoor State Forest.

There are two campgrounds at Amamoor State Forest: Cedar Grove Camping Area and Amamoor Creek Camping Area. I have covered Amamoor Creek Camping Area in a previous blog here. Standard Qld National Park fees apply and bookings need to be made online before arrival. Cedar Grove camping area is about an hour and a half drive north-west of the Sunshine Coast and Amamoor Creek camping area is another 20 minutes further along Amamoor Creek Road. Amamoor Creek road is an unsealed road suitable for 2WD vehicles. After heavy wet weather, water can flow over the causeways and the road may be closed. Cedar Grove Camping Area is an open grassy area with no designated sites and is suitable for tents, caravans, camper trailers and motor homes. There are flushing toilets, fire pits and hiking trails. There are no longer any showers here. There is no phone reception but a pay phone is placed at the entrance. Domestic pets and generators are not permitted. However, dogs are permitted at Amamoor Creek Camping Area.    

Before reaching the camping grounds the drive takes you through the small village of Amamoor.

Historic Amamoor Station, Amamoor.

The Amama Picnic Area is on Amamoor Road on the way to the campgrounds and it is worth planning to spend some time there. There is a carpark at the picnic area suitable for cars but if you take the first entrance immediately before the picnic area (coming from Amamoor) there is a small loop road suitable for towing rigs. The picnic area has toilets, tables and wood BBQ's in a lovely tree studded area adjoining Amamoor Creek. A 300 m loop walk starts from the picnic area and proceeds along the creek bank. There used to be a platypus viewing platform here but it was washed away in heavy flooding. However, it is still easy to view the creek from the walk. Unfortunately, we have never seen any platypus at Amama but we have not spent time there in the early morning or late afternoon which is probably when they are most active.

Amama Picnic Area and the trailhead for the Amama Walking Track.

Immediately across the road is the entrance to Amama Walk; a 1.5 km class 4 walk. We did not do the walk this trip but, if my memory serves me correctly, the first half is uphill so some fitness is required.

Cedar Grove Camping Area.
It was fairly hot weather on this December trip but there is plenty of room to find a spot with some shade. There is a waterhole at the campground that is popular on hot days.

Amamoor Creek waterhole at Cedar Grove camping area.

There were a few cattle roaming around the campground from time to time but one day we returned to the campground to find quite a large herd. Our lightweight ensuite seemed to have come off second best from an encounter with a cow. We never did recover one of the tent pegs and can only hope the cow didn't end up with it stuck in it's hoof. We noticed that both the cattle and goannas liked to check out the fire rings.

Australasian Figbirds and Woompoo Fruit Doves were easy to spot feeding in the campground. Spangled Drongos were present in large numbers. Every afternoon we enjoyed the spectacle of White-throated Needletails soaring overhead. 

Spangled Drongo

Wompoo Fruit Dove

Whenever we can, we camp next to the edge of campgrounds so that we are close to the forest. At Cedar Grove we had Eastern Yellow Robins, Spectacled Monarchs and Green Catbirds as our neighbours.

Spectacled Monarch and Eastern Yellow Robin.

We went for a walk along Amamoor Creek Road and were rewarded with sightings of Leaden Flycatchers but the road is surprisingly busy and after being enveloped in dust by the local school bus we retreated.

Leaden Flycatcher

I finally got a photo of our nemesis the Blue Triangle. For the first time, I also managed to get a photo of an Evening Brown with it's wings open. We saw large numbers of Glasswings, Large Grass-yellows and Monarchs when we were on the walks.

Blue Triangle Graphium sarpedon

Two photos of the same Evening Brown Melanitis leda

Unfortunately, the whole area is under threat from the Cats Claw vine, an invasive weed from South America. 

Cats Claw Vine smothering a tree. Cutting the vine is one method of combating it's spread.

There are two walks starting from the campground. The Rainforest Walk has three entrances from the camping area and the Cedar Grove Hiking Trail leads off the Rainforest Walk near the waterhole.

Rainforest Walk: 1 km loop, Class 3.
Despite seeing very few birds on this walk we did it several times on our camping trip because it is a pleasant forest walk alongside Amamoor Creek. 

Cedar Grove Hiking Trail: 4.6 km loop, Class 4. 
There is an advisory sign to take water and that fitness is required on this hike. The initial 1 km is a steady uphill hike. The habitat changes throughout this walk from rainforest, to gumtrees along a ridge and then alongside a Hoop Pine Plantation. 

There were lots of skinks on the forest floor.

Seeds on the forest floor.

Towards the end of the walk the trail divided into three and we had no idea which track to take. We suspect we may have inadvertently taken a shortcut and ended up wading across the creek and scrambling up a cattle trail before arriving back at the campground. At least our sense of direction is good. 

Birds we saw on this trip: Australian Brush Turkey, Pacific Black Duck, Cattle Egret, Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Sulpher-crested Cockatoo, Laughing Kookaburra, Forest Kingfisher, White-throated Treecreeper, Red-backed Fairy-wren, White-browed Scrubwren, Large-billed Scrubwren, Brown Gerygone, Noisy Miner, Lewin's Honeyeater, Scarlet Honeyeater, Leaden Flycatcher, Eastern Yellow Robin, Golden Whistler, Little Shrike-thrush, Spaectacled Monarch, Magpie Lark, Spangled Drongo, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Olive-backed Oriole, Australasian Figbird, Australian Magpie, Pied Currawong, Green Catbird, Red-browed Finch, White-throated Needletail.

Amamoor State Forest, QLD. Amamoor Creek Camping Area.

Amamoor State Forest is about 170 km north of Brisbane. The road in from Amamoor is suitable for 2WD vehicles towing caravans, however, flooded creek crossings can cause the road to be closed after heavy rain. There are two camping areas: The Cedar Grove Camping Area and, further along, the Amamoor Creek Camping Area. Both campgrounds have large grassy areas, fire rings and nonpotable water. The main difference is that dogs are allowed at the Amamoor Creek Camping Area but not at the Cedar Grove Camping Area. Generators are not permitted in either camping area. National Park fees apply and must be payed online before arrival. 

The Gympie Muster is held every year, at the end of August, at the Amamoor Creek Camping Area. The campground is open all year round but bookings for the Muster are made through the Muster website. We camped there in July 2013 and were fascinated to see all the small tents that people had erected, many weeks in advance, to stake their claims near the Muster stage.There are several overflow camping areas that are used during the Muster.

All staked out for the Gympie Muster.

Facilities at Amamoor Creek Camping Area.

Overflow camping areas for the Gympie Muster

The Gympie Muster Stage

Wildlife is plentiful in the camping area. Noisy miners, Bell Miners (Bellbirds) and Butcherbirds are common. We found that our every move was being closely observed by several Kookaburras. We also saw goannas, ducks and Evening Brown butterflys in the campground.

Kookaburras checking us out.

Lace Monitor (goanna).

Australian Wood Ducks, female (L) and male (R).

We walked around exploring the creeks where we enjoyed watching a gorgeous Azure Kingfisher darting in and out of the water for a feed.

Amamoor Creek

Azure Kingfisher

Cedar grove camping area was closed for maintenance when we were there but we are planning on going there for a shake down camping trip when we get our new Kimberley Karavan. The Cedar Grove Hiking Trail, a 4.6 km return, Class 4 walk starts and finishes in the campground. 

The Amama Day Use Area is a great spot to stop for a picnic on the way to the campgrounds. Here you can enjoy a pleasant short walk along Amamoor Creek and stop for a while at the Platypus Viewing Platform.