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TMR Range Road Update – Notice of Road Closure

TMR Range Road Update

Good afternoon,

Thank you everyone for your patience whilst we work quickly towards the Mt Spec Road weekend closure next weekend from 7pm Friday 27 November to 6am Monday 30 November 2020.

We appreciate all of your feedback on what would be the most suitable one hour opening time on the Saturday and Sunday for the community.

As a result of this feedback, the one hour road opening times throughout the weekend closure will be:

10am – 11am, Saturday 28 November 2020

1pm – 2pm, Sunday 29 November 2020

I have already personally phoned those that requested specific times and explained why the time was chosen and they were kindly understanding of this if it wasn’t the time they had chosen.

Please note: If this weekend closure cannot occur due to wet weather, it will need to be pushed to the following weekend. We will advise you as soon as possible if this occurs. If you have any concerns regarding a potential closure on the following weekend please let us know as soon as you can so we can get an early understanding of any implications if this occurs.

Our next steps will be to inform the general public of the weekend road closure of Mt Spec Road. As a one hour road closure will not allow day trippers to get up and back in one day, and we don’t want them getting stuck overnight, all of our messaging to the general public will be that Mt Spec Road is closed for the entire weekend. This will include messaging on roadside VMS boards, QLDTraffic, radio announcements, media statements and so on. So please don’t be alarmed when you see this. The one hour openings will be happening as per the attached flyer, they are just primarily for yourselves as the community and your guests to take advantage of.

For those of you with guests staying at your accommodations/camping grounds can you please ensure you share this message with them.

Once again, please, if you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reply email or give anyone of us in the Customer and Stakeholder Management team a call on 1800 625 648 and we’d be happy to help.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Kind Regards,

Jane Illin

Customer and Stakeholder Management
Northern District | Department of Transport and Main Roads

Range Road Update – TMR Request Urgent Community Feedback

Good afternoon,

The Mt Spec Road reconstruction works are progressing well, however due to the nature of the work and with varying ground conditions, the volume of work required is substantial. The continuous supply of materials during night shifts is also proving a challenge. On top of this, we are aware of the current predictions for the commencement of the 2020/21 wet season from mid-December 2020. The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) and the contractor are working hard to get these works completed as quickly as possible to avoid the works being prolonged into the new year and wet season.

Considering all of this, and our commitment to work hard to get these works completed before the wet season commences, the contractor will require a full weekend road closure of Mt Spec Road next weekend.

The proposed closure will be:

From 7pm Friday 27 November to 6am Monday 30 November 2020

We understand that any closure has impacts on the community and we are working with the contractor to minimise any impacts. Drawing on your feedback previously provided, the contractor is able to arrange the weekend works to include a one hour road opening each day. There will be a one hour window of opportunity on Saturday morning and again on Sunday afternoon for the community or guests of accommodation services and camping grounds at Paluma to travel through the works.

We are seeking your feedback on the most preferred time slot for the one hour road opening on the Saturday and Sunday. The available options are:

Saturday

8am to 9am

9am to 10am

10am to 11am

11am to 12noon

Sunday

1pm to 2pm

2pm to 3pm

3pm to 4pm

4pm to 5pm

As we are running under tight timeframes we will need your response by 10am this Friday 20 November 2020 at the latest via email to engagement.northern@tmr.qld.gov.au (please note, there is no guarantee it will be the hour you have chosen as we will need to go with the majority preference).

As soon as the timeframes for the one hour opening on the Saturday and Sunday are known, we will communicate this with you this Friday afternoon (one week prior to the closure) so you can make any suitable arrangements you may need for yourself or your guests. TMR has already started speaking to some Paluma businesses on this matter and this email is to ensure we can seek a broad range of feedback before setting the road opening times.

The reason we can only allow a one hour closure each day is primarily due to the concrete pump that is required for the works. To allow for the road opening, the concrete pump must be shut down. An hour is the maximum amount of time the concrete pump can be shut down before the concrete hardens. If this happens it takes hours to get it ready for use again, essentially defeating the purpose to make some really good progress on the works over the weekend.

Whilst we understand some of you may be have to make some alternative arrangements for the weekend, we hope you can see the benefit the weekend closure will provide the community to get these works completed prior to Christmas.

Please, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact Meghan or Kelly in the Customer and Stakeholder Management team on 1800 625 648 or by email at engagement.northern@tmr.qld.gov.au.

We thank you for your ongoing patience during these works.

Kind regards,

Meghan Peters

Customer and Stakeholder Management
Northern District | Department of Transport and Main Roads

The Hall of Horror !

The inaugural Monsters and Mayhem on the Mountain Social was held on Saturday night (7/11/20) and the event certainly lived up to its name. The Paluma Community Hall was transformed into a Hall of Horror as mummies, zombies, witches and other freaks and extremely creepy people came out of the woodwork to join the pandemonium.

Medusa made an appearance. So did the Grim Reaper, Herman Munster and a duo of Hannibal Lecters. A Pastor arrived, but was way too late to save the ‘souls of the damned’ at Paluma! A couple of Aliens joined the fray, so perhaps those UFO’s did land at Paluma after all?

The best/worst costume was won by ‘Kreepy Klumppy’ (Peter). The runner-up was Peter ‘The Mummy’ Cooke.

Jodie was the winner of the “Whose Sitting on a Big Black Spider Competition”. She was somewhat alarmed to find a large (plastic) arachnid fastened to the underside of her chair. Ironically, Jodie has a morbid fear of spiders (oops!). Her initial alarm and a few palpitations were consoled with her winning prize of a free drink from the bar.

The gathering of weirdos and whackos dined very well on a feast of dishes (none containing human flesh – that we know of!!). The bar did a lively trade with lots of thirsty patrons. Barman Les (Hannibal No. 1) reported good takings for the PDCA.

Sincere thanks to all those who attended the night in support of the PDCA and for embracing the theme of the night with gusto. Community spirit, good humour and good fun were the order of the evening. Special thanks to the band of volunteers who decorated the Hall of Horror on Saturday afternoon and then cleaned up on Sunday. What a great team!

Let the photographs of the night tell the rest of this (freaky) story……!!!!

Text & Photos by Michele (Witchie-Poo) Bird

Report on Paluma Push 2020

The 19^th edition of the Paluma Push was a great success. We had 420 mountain bike riders saddle up for the challenge to ride from Paluma Village to Hidden Valley across 3 distances: 42km, 53km and 70km.

This also included 30 E-bike riders for the 53km course. The E-bike category has doubled in size compared to last year. We are still in the early days when it comes to E-bikes, but it is a rapidly growing option for people to get out and about riding the trails.

This was the first year Outer Limits hosted the Paluma Push after taking the event over from the Rockwheelers. Townsville’s Mountain Bike Club and Outer Limits collaborated and came to an agreement which intends to keep the Push alive, continue the tradition of the event and have it professionally run and organised. We have goals to grow the event and make it, not the biggest, but the best (and most efficiently run) mountain bike race in NQ.

The Rockwheelers have received $4000 from the event, which will go toward the mountain biking community in Townsville and aid the trail maintenance on our local trails.

This year Outer Limits introduced the “Pre Push Dinner”, which was held at the Community Hall in Paluma (The event HQ and start of the race). We had 60 people attend and we hope to grow this dinner for 2021, which will be the 20^th anniversary of the event.

We also added a perpetual trophy “The Hayden Tiley and Peter McLean Trophy”. This is to celebrate the history of the event as the years go by. This year the winners of the 70km competition course were Michael England in the Mens and Anita Narula in the Womens.

This year we learnt a lot about the event, and we have taken many notes for next year. Thank you to the team from Hidden Valley Cabins, Charlie Allen, Len Cook and Jamie Oliver for your assistance in the lead up and during the event and sharing your knowledge with us.

Thank you to Peter Mclean for all the guidance for the event and I hope we can continue the tradition you started 19 years ago.

Thank you to all the RFS and SES volunteers that helped make the event possible. The event has donated over $5000 for their services.

As part of a big thank you to all the volunteers, the Paluma Fire service put on a BBQ with funds from Outer limits for the checkpoint workers and other volunteers along the track and at headquarters. A great eveing was had by all!

*A motley crew indeed – the community volunteers for the Paluma Push*

Thank you to the Furber family to allow us to clear the trails and continue to ride the trails that lead through Hidden Valley Station.

Thank you to the event naming sponsors, Mike Carney Toyota, who has been sponsoring the event for many years. Outer Limits will continue the partnership to help bring professional events into our community. They also sponsored the new “Home of the Paluma Push”- sign, which is installed in Paluma Village.

Thank you to Ausfield Services who assisted us to clear the entire Push course. I am sure those who rode the course would agree that they did a mighty fine job.

Thank you also to Top Brand Cycles, GNM, Markwell Demolition for your support of the event.

2021 will see the 20^th year of the Paluma Push. We have big plans to celebrate this special occasion, one of the ways might see the addition of a 100km course!

Article by Sam Stedman

Photos by Juanita Poletto and Michele Bird

Nesting Time at the Klumpps……

Dorothy and Peter Klumpp have kindly shared some photographs from their back verandah. Just recently the Bower’s Shrikethrush (Colluricincla boweri) has moved in and is nesting, literally on the backdoor step. The chosen nesting place is a hanging basket that once held a pot-plant. Peter says that his ineptitude at gardening has finally paid off. The plant died and the birds took the opportunity to make good use of the macrame plant hanger. Of course, we all know that the Klumpps are great gardeners, but in this case they have graduated from green-thumbs to feathered fingers!

One nesting season I had the Bower’s Shrikethrush build a nest in the plastic peg basket hanging from the (undercover) washing line. Colwyn has had the birds return several seasons to also nest in her peg basket on the back verandah.

The Bower’s Shrikethrush is endemic to upland rainforests in the Wet Tropics region. It has been described as “one of the more common plainer birds in the tropical rainforest”. No one who has heard the call of this bird would describe it as plain. Female and male birds are distinguishable in that the female has an eye ring and eyebrow of pale feathers that is lacking in the male. The Bower’s Shrikethrush feeds on insects and their larvae from the mid-canopy and often on the ground.

We look forward to an update on the nesting at the Klumpps and some photos of the new (feathered) grandchildren??!!

The Bower’s Shrikethrush sitting on eggs. Note the very dead pot plant!

Text by Michele Bird and Photos by Peter & Dorothy Klumpp.

Reminder: Paluma Social Event – Monsters & Mayhem on the Mountain

There is no doubt that Paluma has been a hive of frenetic activity over the past month with the rescheduling of the Paluma Push and the Paluma Dam Good Trail Run into October and early November. With the weather warming up, there has been a lot of sweating in the village of late. Len Cook also fired up the anagama kiln in late October, so things got pretty hot and heavy over on Lennox Crescent. Well, now it’s time to put out the fire, wash the lycra and put the jock-strap back in the drawer.

With the advent of Covid-19 restrictions in March 2020 the only PDCA Paluma Social Event this year has been the St. Patrick’s day celebrations. But, that is about to change……..!

This coming Saturday the 7th November, the PDCA will host its second social event for the year – It’s Monsters and Mayhem on the Mountain!

You are all invited to join your friends and neighbours for a post-Covid catchup and at the same time you can support our PDCA. Come as you are (some of you are already monsters!?!?), or come dressed as your favourite monster, ghoul, witch, demon or wizard. There will be a free drink for the best/worst costume.

As always, please bring a plate of food to share – savoury or sweet. Barman Les (Lurch) will have the bar open to serve you beverages at great prices.

The Monsters will congregate at 6.30 PM at the Community Hall.

Be there or else we will come to get you!!!!!!

Call for Volunteers – Paluma Dam Good Trail Run

Sam Stedman and the team from Outer Limits are calling for Volunteers from the Paluma Community to assist with the organisation of this year’s Paluma Dam Good Trail Run. This event will take place on Sunday 1 November 2020.

If you can assist and you are keen to be a volunteer, please contact Sam on mobile: 0421 484 211 or send an email to info@outerlimitsadventure.com.au

Jill Went Up the Hill…..

Paluma’s own Jill Meads joined the hordes of mountain bike riders last Sunday (11/10/20) to undertake the annual Paluma Push from Paluma Village to Hidden Valley.

Jill was joined by good friends Ruth and Cheryl and they tackled the 42 km recreational track. It was Jill’s third time in participating in the Push, with her last race about six years ago.

Jill was happy to report that all three riders finished their race in good spirits and in good health. They plan to do it all again next year in 2021 when the Paluma Push will celebrate its 20th year. Jill would encourage everyone to get out there and give it a go. It’s a lot of fun and the surrounding country is something to see.

Well done Jill, Cheryl and Ruth. Paluma is proud of you!!!!

Jill and friends Ruth and Cheryl at Checkpoint 3 during the Paluma Push.

Time to relax and enjoy a cold drink at the Volunteers BBQ after the Paluma Push.

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

Caution – Python Crossing!

With the weather warming up, this is a timely reminder that reptiles are on the move and may be encountered in and around the village of Paluma. Earlier today, Jennie Robinson spotted this large and well-fed python crossing Mt Spec Road near Nick and Glenda’s place. Note the large bulge in the mid-section of this snake from a recent meal. Jennie made sure the python was well off the road before any vehicles came along.

Please be alert for these amazing reptiles when driving through the village as they often like to bask on the warm bitumen along Mt Spec Road. No doubt this particular python was seeking a good place for a bit of R&R whilst digesting its dinner!