Lake Cressbrook - a Little Gem
Wayne Kampe. HOLIDAY DESTINATIONS IN THE SUN.

SNUGGLED nicely into the Great Dividing Range, a short drive east of the town of Crows Nest, is a small gem of a lake by the name of Cressbrook. Formed where Cressbrook Creek has been dammed in a deep gorge, the lake is surrounded by rugged spurs of the main range. Cattle, deer and kangaroos roam the hills surrounding the lake. Signs indicating the area is a sanctuary are quite noticeable, as are the ‘no pets’ signs.

Situated as it is, just a short three-quarter-hour's drive from the city of Toowoomba, the lake is an aquatic playground for the city's residents, plus those folk in the surrounding district. That said, it's never a crowded sort of place and travellers looking for a VERY quiet little hidey hole, to just set a spell, could do a lot worse than setting up the caravan or pitching a tent at the small, but well-run, camping grounds on the shore of the lake. Lake Cressbrook, by the way, has a speed limit of eight knots - no water-skiers with high-revving engines!

For travellers on the New England Highway (the main highway between the town of Blackbutt and points well south into New South Wales, via Wallangarra), the turn-off to Lake Cressbrook and its neighbour, Lake Perseverance, is on the southern outskirts of the town of Crows Nest - which, by the way, has one of the best bakeries around. The sign is well displayed and the excellent bitumen road to the dam will soon have travellers surveying the lake below, from the overlooking turn-off.

Coming from Brisbane, or perhaps from the direction of Kilcoy and Toogoolawah, the town of Esk is the jump-off point for Cressbrook. The main road running from Esk to Toowoomba and Crows Nest, via Hampton, is well marked at the southern end of Esk and, about 50 kilometres west, one will see the signs denoting the twin dams I've mentioned. Watch out for the sharp turn-offs just after leaving the main Esk/Toowoomba road; they come up without warning and, although the signs are clear enough, there is enough loose blue metal and gravel on the road to promote a four-wheel drift if a boat is being towed and one is not paying enough attention.

You will travel around eleven kilometres (five of it gravel road) before turning into the lake, and it's literally all down hill from there - steeply downhill, that is. At the lake, one is faced with choices: straight to the boat ramp for some fishing, or over to the camping grounds just across the bay, and to the west, to set up camp first? Travellers can set up camp here well after dark, too, for reasons to be explained next.

Camping at Cressbrook Dam is a laid-back affair. The camping area is quite compact and, while there is no on-site office, the ranger is there. The modest camping fees range from five dollars per person per night to twelve dollars for a family of two adults plus any number of children. As noted, Cressbrook is a cheap place to camp but, remember, sites are not powered.

I've mentioned that the lake is situated quite deeply in a valley system, so it should come as no surprise that the sites consist of level areas, scalloped out of a fairly gentle slope leading down to the lake.

The levelled areas are large enough for several tents to be set up side by side (which is really no different to a lot of other campground arrangements), but there is a small drawback in that cars and trailers are hard-pressed to find room close to the campsites in some situations. The sites for caravans and campers are open (and one may drive in), but other sites are blocked-off, so the car must remain nearby, or as near as possible. The service road, you see, is narrow, and places to get a car and trailer off to the side just don't exist in some cases.

This is no major drawback, but it can mean that the kitchen sink may have to be left home when packing all of the camping gear that simply MUST come along. There is a chance that it will be necessary to carry all camping requirements from car to site, which could involve a walk of between twenty to fifty metres, depending on the site.

You cannot leave your car and trailer over near the boat ramp, at the ramp's parking area, and take the boat across to the neat little bay at the campground because the access gate to the boat ramp (but NOT the one leading to the campground) is locked each night. Beside the fact that your car is locked in overnight, it will also give the ranger the impression that someone is still out on the water. What's wrong with that? Well, boating and other water-based activities are restricted to the hours of 7am to 8pm during summer, and 7am to 6pm during winter. The best option for the boat and trailer is to park them somewhere relatively close to the campsite, if possible.

It may be timely to mention the permit system for all water-based boating activities. It's very simple and comes down to a user-pays fee of five dollars per week, with annual permits costing a modest fifty dollars. This system may change later next year and, in that case, readers will be advised accordingly. Boating anglers should take note of the boating exclusion area near the intake tower. It is well marked on the literature accompanying a boating recreation permit and means simply that, while a boat may pass through the zone, no fishing is allowed at that time.

Campers at Cressbrook will appreciate the clean toilets and showers and the undercover communal wash-up and dining area. It has several good-sized tables and sports two large (free) gas barbecue plates for general use. A fish cleaning table, with hoses to keep it spic and span, is next to the communal dining area.

There is no kiosk or any shop on site. Crows Nest is the nearest town and, as it's around twenty minutes away, shoppers travel to the town if stores or tackle needs must be addressed. Medical facilities are available in town as well.

That's the low-down on the camping and general locality, how about the fishing? The lake was stocked with bass and other native fish for several years before fishing was allowed. Consequently, the bass (still the majority of captures) and golden perch taken from the outset were big thumpers, and the trend continues today. Cressbrook remains a big fish water and boaties reap the benefits of the stocking programs, with trolling and lure and fly casting to the features in the bays and along weedy edges. The dam is currently filled, and a lot of the low-lying growth is covered, so fish showing as they work the edges, in the small hours and towards dusk, are a feature of the dam.

Flies such as big Wooly Buggers, Dahlberg Divers and Clousers are the ones to try, with either a floating or sink tip line set up for the early fishing. Later, and with the benefit of a sounder to locate the fish, a Uniform Sink Mastery line will get the flies down to the strike zone. For lure casters, spinnerbaits still seem to reap the largest share of bass caught. Bait fishing is popular here and these anglers take all species with comparative ease. Shrimps, hard to come by in this lake but available in Lake Perseverance nearby, are the premier bait.

Bank-based anglers can still take fish off the shore, and the sloping bank just around the corner from the camping area (to the north) is a favourite area. By far, the most common captures are eel-tailed catfish and spangled perch, which provide many a feed on the barbie.

Feel like a daily walk? Cressbrook has a well-set-out walking track which will allow an easy view of the lakeside scenery and wildlife. In all, it's a neat, tidy little campground, with some real tackle-testers swimming around in the lake.