Our monthly Social Drinks evening is THIS coming Friday, September 6th at the Community Hall. The bar opens at 6pm. Come and mingle and catch up on the latest. Locals and visitors alike are all welcome. Bring a plate of nibbles to share.
Last Tuesday night, August 20th, village residents who were getting ready for bed, if not there already, were surprised by a sudden 10 fold increase of Paluma’s population. The Mystery Box Rally had come to an unplanned halt in our little town and could go no further due the night works road closure on the range road. Around 68 cars were backed up on our main drag with about 150 people unable to continue to their end destination of Rollingstone and nearby campgrounds.
To say there was some confusion and chaos amongst the thickest mountain fog this village has seen in a while would be an understatement. A few phone calls and requests for help saw Rick and Dave Roveda kick into action with Sam Stedman putting his organisational and leadership skills into action.
Firstly, Sam tried to get the road closure opened for the group but this was not possible. Later in the night, once campers were established and were being fed, the Rollingstone police weighed in and managed to get a 5 minute window for the rally drivers. Participants were given 10 minutes to pack up and go for it but but only a few took advantage of the opportunity.
Once confirming the road would not open, Sam arranged all rally participants to meet in our community hall. They were unsure of what was going on and what they could do so Sam went through various options with them but in the end, they decided they would stay. Three camp areas were then established: McClellands Lookout car park (with toilets); middle of town / hall area with toilets and Hussey Road.
Outer Limits Adventure Centre was actually running a camp for more than 100 secondary students so Sam used supplies available from his business and was permitted access to our community hall resources (bbq and urn) to provide a hot meal for everyone. His own employees, Aranda and Matt, helped out ensuring cooking and clean up was done efficiently and all campers at the three sites were settled. Dave from Paluma Tea House (Ivy Cottage) provided milk and coffee and by 10:30pm, all went to bed warm and fed.
In the morning, the lucky campers out at Hussey Road got to meet and have coffee with Don who generously served it up. By 8am, all participants were well caffeinated, decamped and were headed down the range for their final destination of the rally – Airlie Beach.
If not for the willingness and capabilities of a few, the consequences of this unplanned stopover may have been very negative for rally participants and the community. From the ‘heads up’ phone calls from the Furbers to Tony at Gumburu, to those who wrangled a confused and stranded 150 strong crowd into organised camping groups who were provided with hot meals and drinks, it ended really quite well.
Credit needs to go to Sam who actually started his Tuesday at 5am at the start of the world championship cross tri at Pallarenda in the morning! Following this with the secondary school camp and ending it by stepping in and helping sort things out. His Outer Limits events and business have truly supported our community over the years. His positive ‘can do’ attitude is refreshing and we can certainly do with more of it. He, with all others involved in ensuring a happy ending to Tuesday night’s debacle deserve a pat on the back and thanks from us all.
Text: J Poletto based on report from Wilfred Karnoll and Sam Stedman
(This is an edited version of “Paluma in the Clouds” submitted for the Rolly Rag September issue)
Scenes from getting out there and enjoying Paluma’s natural offerings
Recently, I met some delightful and dynamic Millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) who were up enjoying our beautiful Paluma village and surrounds. There were two fellows from Adelaide, who were currently working at a local coastal business but were very keen and enthusiastic to know what it was like to live in Paluma. They had been looking at available real estate for sale. It was a lively conversation.
The other was an outstanding young woman (an assistant principal) who popped in to see the history display and was truly impressed with what was on view. A credit to all those who have put in their time, skills and effort over the years. She was on a scouting trip to prepare for an active birthday weekend with the girlfriends sometime in the future. She counted herself lucky to have easy access to such a beautiful and unique part of the world.
Meeting and talking with these young people and the future plans they had made me reflect that small communities like Paluma can only benefit from the energy and ideas this age group offers. Their enthusiasm and skill set can only refresh and energise a small community. Welcoming and supporting all newcomers, regardless of age, who are keen to be part of and wish to contribute to our community makes sense. Like the natural environment, there is strength and resilience in diversity.
We’ve seen this already with businesses which use Paluma as one of their bases such as NQ Cycle Journeys and Outer Limits Adventure Fitness. Both have an ethos that promotes a healthy lifestyle across all generations through enjoyment and respect of our rainforest and its surrounding environs. Paluma isn’t just about woodfires and red wine (though I’m certainly partial to this ☺️), its key draw is its cool, misty climate and incredible walks featuring waterfalls, fascinating biodiversity and blissful peace. Our very own ‘Blue Zone’ right here on our doorstep… literally.
The recent working bee included laying and packing gravel into the parking area out front of the hall as well as garden bed maintenance.
For those wishing to put into practice other key aspects of blue zones – community, belonging and a sense of purpose – in a beautiful environment to boot, check out the calendar to see what’s coming up. We’re grateful for all Paluma enthusiasts who volunteer their time and skills.
Text and Images: J Poletto
Our Master of Games, Peter Klumpp has declared the Paluma Mini Olympic Games Night held on Saturday August 17th at the Community Hall a rousing success. In Peter’s words, “There was much fun and laughter!” A live auction was held at the start of the night for one of Paluma’s prime athletes, Mark, to be a games partner for the night. This alone raised $110! Wife of said ‘prime athlete’ set the reserve at 5cents, so well done to all who attended to get that final price result!
Everyone enjoyed competing in the games of Table Tennis, Foosball-table soccer, Badminton, Axe Throwing, Indoor Bowls, Indoor Golf, Quoits, Cornball, Skittles, Darts and even Knock-em downs. There were 16 teams plus children playing as well as spectators, around 50 people all up. Noise and laughter could be heard throughout the village.
Much merriment and technical prowess was aided by Lynda’s infamous mulled wine and other offerings at the bar. The badminton room was a winner, with the younger members of the community having a smashing time. The Viking axe throw was heart-stopping and quite intense with some not able to watch where the axes landed.
At the end of the night it was Sandy Smythe and Stuart Watterson who won the gold cup and chocolates. At the conclusion to the games, many participants sat around the fire-pit enjoying a “quiet drink” and debating their close wins and losses. The sausage sizzle, onions and coleslaw was a success thanks to Mark and Wendy, Lynda and Wilfred.
Kudos to Peter, Dorothy and their dynamic team for another fabulous games night. It was a wonderful way for new residents to experience the friendly and helpful attitude of the locals at Paluma.
Text: Peter Klumpp and J Poletto Images: Peter Klumpp
Our next Paluma working bee 🐝 will be THIS coming Saturday August 3rd.
We will meet at the Community Hall at 2pm. We will be spreading gravel along the parking area at the front of the hall so please don’t park there. Bring a wheelbarrow, shovel and steel rake if you have these items. All good if not, most importantly, bring your willing hands and smile. Drinks to follow on the hall verandah at 4pm.
Our monthly Social Drinks evening is THIS coming Friday, August 2nd at the Community Hall. The bar opens at 6pm. Come and mingle and catch up on the latest. Locals and visitors alike are all welcome. The darts board will be set up so you can hone your darts skills in preparation for our upcoming Games Night. Nibbles to share are always welcome.
… AND there’s visual proof collected from camera traps set up in a range of places in the forests in the Paluma Range area. Please read Wren Mclean’s (project leader and researcher) update on data recently analysed.
A multi-year study of the cassowary across Paluma Range is underway and has returned some exciting early results with images of at least 7 individual birds so far. On the tail end of the Wet Tropics, the Paluma Range holds the most southern population of these iconic, cryptic, assertive and very cool birds. These ancient ratites are the original rainforest gardeners, having evolved to their current form 50 million years ago! They have spent that valuable time in symbiosis with the rainforest, consuming the fruits and dispersing the seeds of rainforest plants. They depend on the rainforest and the rainforest depends on them.
Having lost a majority of their rich fruiting lowland rainforest habitat to human endeavours, sadly, our much-loved Southern Cassowary is an endangered species. Some inhabit poorer fruiting high altitude forests and those that remain on the lowlands are susceptible to road strike, dog attack, pig competition and the challenges of habitat fragmentation.
We can rejoice that cassowaries are breeding in the Paluma Range with a pair of stripy chicks accompanying their Papa in November and two young sub-adults travelling together in December 2023.
We know cassowaries here are in low density but was this always the case? More information will help us put the pieces of the jigsaw together to understand their seasonal habitat use, whether there are threats we don’t understand and actions we can take to secure cassowaries for the long-term.
There’s cassowaries in dem dere hills, but are they using the lowlands and coastal vine thickets? A citizen science program is calling out for any historical or current sightings or signs of cassowaries from on, or below the Paluma Range.
Please record your sightings on this URL https://arcg.is/1vjLaq or by scanning this QR code.
The annual Paluma Push in the bush is over for 2024 and was a really successful event for all involved. Sam and Aline’s crew and the local volunteers ensured as smooth a run as possible for all participants. Members from our community who manned checkpoints along the various routes enjoyed one of Paluma’s perfect blue sky winter days. Some of volunteers saw quite a bit of action whilst others simply pointed the way. All were acknowledged and appreciated by many of the entrants as they passed by.
It seems it was a more health conscious group this year as Wilfred says the PDCA Bar at Hidden Valley didn’t sell as much as usual. Regardless, the approximate profit for the fabulous efforts of the PDCA volunteers was around $2000. The PDCA is VERY grateful to those who made the time to enjoy the atmosphere which is always fantastic down at the finish line and who put time into service through helping out at the bar. The ‘heavy lifters’ involved in the set up and pack up of the bar are especially deserving of our gratitude.
We have some barstock left over for those needing to drown their blues (pardon the pun) after the ‘big game’ between Qld and NSW. We are willing to sell at cost price to our community members. Anyone interested in buying any of these are to contact Wilfred on 0447 822 626. The following sixpacks are available as of the publication of this post:
Text: J. Poletto and W. Karnoll
Images: J Poletto
Our next Paluma working bee 🐝 will be THIS coming Saturday July 6th.
We will meet at the Community Hall at 2pm. Drinks to follow on the hall verandah at 4pm.
See you there!
Our monthly Social Drinks evening is THIS coming Friday, July 5th at the Community Hall. The bar opens at 6pm. Come and mingle and catch up on the latest. Bring along some nibbles to share if you’d like.