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Location: Springbrook, Queensland

Date: July, 1999

The names of our contacts will remain anonymous by request, and exact locations have been with held by request of property owners and Park Rangers (Little Nerang Dam).

We began our July expedition at a location that the Rangers and locals know as "Yowie active". I received a phone call from "Ranger #1" concerned that we may destroy some of the rare fauna while scouting the area at night. I assured him that all would be fine and we would try to stay on the tracks.

He then relayed some sightings to me of that area. I then went by myself to the area for a quick re-con of the area before the AHR team expedition, and spoke to "Ranger #2".

Upon the question to the Ranger about Yowie activity in that particular area, he's response was quite typical, "Come on mate, you have to be pulling my leg! Yowies, nah, no such thing!." I then introduced myself and informed him who we are and what we do.

We sat and chatted on a park bench for a while, and I showed him through my photo album and relayed a couple of my own experiences with the beast, and also informed him that I have spoken to "Ranger #1". His reply was "Ah, so your THOSE guys!" He immediately opened up and told me many things of great interest. It is a well known fact, and a fact that I have spoken to the authorities about, that the public is kept in the dark about the existence of the Yowie, and I guess in some ways, for a good reason.

"Ranger #2" was a good bloke, and quite helpful. He even said at one stage, "I sometimes shit myself when I come to work and its still dark, I'm constantly looking over my shoulders for these things!" Myself, Phil, Ashley and Warren met at the location, immediately finding the evidence we need, footprints! Shortly after, "Ranger #3" arrived to close the main gates of the Park. Automatically, "Ranger #3" had a good idea what we were there for.

We introduced ourselves and again, there was no use in disclaiming the Yowie, he was also quite helpful. I took "Ranger 3" to view one of the prints we had found, he confirmed that it happened over night, because he knew the area back to front. "Ranger 3" left us there, and we got to work.

We found numerous prints that night, but no Yowie. We were also informed that the main activity was over the other side of the area we were in, and we were not set up for that inaccessible terrain.

Night number 2, The Springbrook Homestead. Helen and Andre of the Springbrook Homestead in Springbrook, (Gold Coast Hinterland) contacted me with another great lead.

Apparently a group of people, while searching for glow worms, were recently harassed by a Yowie and made a hasty exit from the area on private property. This property has to be one of the best rainforest walks I have seen.

Helen and Andre have many tourists to the area in hope to see a Yowie, and the Yowie has been a great draw card for the area. The Springbrook Homestead has geared itself around the Yowie, and even does the occasional "Yowie tour". The AHR has provided a folder of our findings, photos and newspaper clips for the tourists to view while eating. They have even made there menu's look like a big foot, and serve "Yowie Burgers"! The Asians in particular can't get enough, and even ask to buy the Menu's!

The Springbrook Homestead, being one of the largest tourist destinations around the Hinterland, was the perfect place for info of the area. Andre took me to the property, and introduced me to our "Contact", the owner.

"Contact" was extremely hospitable, and new everything there is to know about his property, which he almost manicures to the state of perfection. Myself and Andre jumped into the "Contacts" 4wd and went to the location of the incident. After we got out of the 4wd, he said he had something to show me.

We walked into the location where the creature had its "rave on", he pointed to a tree with all the bark ripped off. On closer inspection of the tree, all the signs were there. The grubs had been removed, huge sheets of bark had been ripped off and there were sideway motioned "finger" marks, it was a good place to look for prints. It didn't take long to find a reasonable footprint measuring 12", and five toes.

Myself and Andre took a couple of pics of the print, but we both new that the colour definition of the soil and leaves would make it hard for a good clear photo. We moved on to another location where our Contact had another interesting find, a stone formation in an oval appearance.

These rocks were far too large for a Human to move by himself, and they looked like they had been there for ever. He made an interesting point about the rocks, he said that nothing seemed to grow in the middle! To me it looked like an ancient grave, but far larger than that of a Humans.

I asked the owner if he would ever dig it up to see exactly what it contains, but he said that he had "bad vibes" about it and thought it was best left alone. It was beginning to get dark and Andre had to go back to work at the Homestead. I wanted to stay down there, but at that stage the tracks looked like a maze and I wasn’t sure whether I could find my way out easily, so I went back to the owners house with them and walked back down from there.

By the time I was half way down it was very dark and the thick jungle like rainforest was quite creepy. I walked quietly down with the torch off and listened to every noise the forest contained. I could hardly see 10ft in front of me as I walked the tracks down to an old cabin near a creek. I thought this would be a good place to start the stake out, and found some thick under growth and sat there amongst the damp foliage. The cabin was in a clearing only 4 yards from the creek and the dull moonlight gave me very little vision of the area. After being there for 30mins, my mind recalled all the reasons why it is not a good idea to be out there alone with an "unknown" Hominid.

I remembered the time I was chased by one with the ferocity of a Lion on the attack, I also recalled all the newspaper clippings and our reports of Bigfoot and Yowie attacks, but it was just one of those thoughts that happens when your out there alone and unarmed in an unknown environment.

The forest became very quiet and very, very dark. I was still thinking of all the "What if's" when, CRAAAASH!!!!!............................. Something big was coming my way in a big hurry! From down the stream below the cabin came the big creature racing towards me, swinging around the trees and leaping over rocks and logs. I slowly lay on my back and covered myself in the under growth. The big heavy foot steps were unmistakable as it drew level with me by the creek. I thought to myself, "Just keep on going sucker, nothing to see here!" I was in no frame of mind for games, and just thought about the plan of escape if trouble leapt out of the creek. CRASH, CRASH, CRASH, he swung around more trees as he continued up the stream and leapt from rock to rock, not stopping at any stage.

I then knew he hadn’t seem me, I lay still as he went passed and up the creek to higher ground. I waited until I couldn’t hear him anymore, and got to my feet again and brushed myself off. I then made my way very quietly back to the owners house, the whole time watching and listening. After I arrived back safely, I called Phil and Ashley and made plans for the guys to meet there in a couple of days. On the way home I stopped off at the Springbrook Homestead and let Helen and Andre know that the AYR would be back soon, and confirmed the property as "active".

Night Number 3, The Boggy track. Phil and Ash met me at the owners property just on dusk, we chatted with the owner for a few minutes, then drove the cars down the muddy tracks until we found a flat area where the cars would be safe. The cars slipped and slid the whole way around the tracks, and both cars being front wheel drive didn't make things any easier. We all got out and started assembling all our gear in the dark. It was cold, very quiet, and not much moonlight to guide us without the use of the torches. I had my gear ready and thought I'd walk up the track a little for a listen, on the way I began to whistle, when suddenly.......................a huge CRASH! THUMP, CRASH, CRASH! came from about 40 metres below.

We all stopped and looked, then smiled........"looks like we're in for a good night guys!" We shone the torches down to where the noise emanated from, but there was no visual, only the sound of distant feet. From there we walked the tracks using different techniques to try and lure the creature towards us. The night became bitterly cold, but the constant moving kept us all sweating as we walked up hills, down hills, through thick scrub and long distances. At times we would branch off from one another, but kept in radio contact at all times. The only sounds we could hear was the occasional Wallaby.

We finally found ourselves at the cabin by the creek and I showed the guys where I last heard it. We went back for the cars and slowly brought them down the steep muddy tracks all the way down to the closest point we could get them to the cabin, (60-70metres and just out of sight from the cabin). On the way down we were all thinking, "Is this a good idea? Are we going to get them back up?"

The cars tyres lost grip in places and we'd slide a few metres here and there, and the sides of the cars would lift high and drop low as we slowly eased them over rocks and holes. Once there, Phil started a fire as myself and Ashley walked other tracks.

We found several worn footprints that had been washed out with rain, and from the size of them we were dealing with a big sucker, at least 8ft! We could see a lot of foliage devastation in the way of broken branches and trees that seemed to be healthy before they were snapped. Phil radioed us about noises he was having back at the cabin, so we got back there as soon as we could.

When we arrived, the noises stopped, so we sat there for a while and relaxed. I had left my drink bottle in the car and went for a walk to get it. As I approached the car, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.................the sound of feet running into the bushes about 40 metres behind my car. I heard "CRASH, CRASH, CRASH" as the trees began to shake violently, then the sound of breaking twigs and branches as it moved around in the trees. It positioned itself behind a group of trees and became silent.

I had the creepy feeling of being watched as I opened the car door to get my water bottle. I stood there with my back to it for a while listening to the odd crack of a twig from beneath its feet, then turned around with the torch quickly and startled it into more noise. I knew that if was a Roo or Wallaby it would have taken off, but this was far larger and heavier than any other animal in the bush. I played the game with it for about 10 minutes, the whole time it would change positions and get a little closer.

I called Ashley on the radio, but when he arrived I hadn’t heard it for a few minutes and when we went in for a look we found nothing. From there myself and Ash walked to the lower ground of the property along the fence line to another creek. It was very over grown and hard to navigate, it didn't take Ash long to find some huge footprints in the long weeds measuring a 4ft stride, they walked all the way to a steep drop and the bottom of the drop was well used. Ash also found what looked like a resting place of the creature, completely worn and heaps of broken twigs.

It looked like it just lay there breaking twigs for hours, there was also an odd smell about it. The whole area down there was dense swamp land, and had a really spooky feel to it. We also found stick formations near the fences that we have seen before in other active areas, and numerous large tracks leading further into the swamp. It was getting close to 1am, and time to leave, so we remembered this place for the next visit.

Back at the cabin, Phil was cleaning up and we all packed our gear back into the cars ready for the trip home and discussed how we would get the cars back up that steep muddy road. Ash seemed quite amused at Phil and myself while we picked all the leaches off ourselves, Ashley obviously didn't have worthy enough blood for them!

My car was first to go, I travelled the flat part as quick as I could over all the big bumps before the tight left turn up the steep track. As I came close to the turn, I pulled the wheel and the car slid, then I hit the brakes and stopped, there was just no way I could get a run up at it because the corner was just too tight and wet. I slowly turned the car facing the track and gave it my best shot, "I think I can, I think I can!"

As I hit some of the holes and mud the wheels started spinning and backwards I went, sliding all the way back to where I started. I tried again, but the same thing happened, I managed to get the car up enough to clear myself from Ashley’s car which was motoring towards the turn. I radioed Phil and told them to watch out for the turn, at that moment Ashley’s car became almost sideways at the turn and a quick stop, it got them as well.

Phil and Ash got out and helped push my car, after several attempts we finally got it to the top. By the time they tried to get out of there, it was just no use, the track was all torn up.

We did try many times, but just found themselves almost in the trees on each occasion. We pushed and pushed and pushed, each time we tried, the more and more exhausted we became, it was now 2am. It came to the stage where I could hardly walk I was so tired, every muscle in my body was beginning to shut down, it was cold and I was wet and muddy.

Ashley decided to use his Ab-sailing gear to get us out, he unloaded all the ropes and bits'n'pieces, then measured it out from my car to his. Up and down the steep hill we walked, up and down, up and down, I was getting to the stage of falling down. While I was at the top of the hill, Phil hit the radio with "I think we have a visitor down here!". Sure enough, Mr. Smelly bones had arrived to see what all the commotion was about, and probably having a good old laugh at our expense.

He came close enough to have a good visual of everything that was going on. Ashley tied the straps around different trees and added hooks and this and that, it looked like something straight out of "McGyver". Now I was at the bottom of the hill picking some bits and pieces up, the smell from the beast was putrid, the odour was overwhelming and he made a huge "hoo har" in the bushes to let us know we had an audience. At that stage I was just thinking, "go away, we don't need this now", but he continued stomping around in the bush and omitting his foul stench on me. I didn't even have the energy to throw rocks at him.

My legs were shaky from all the walking we had done and all I could think of was sleep. He shook the trees and broke branches, but nobody really cared, we were all too busy trying to get ourselves out of this mess. Back to the top of the hill again and Ash was almost set up, we backed my car as far as we could and hooked it. Phil was in Asheys car, Ash was in the middle, and then I got the green light to go.

The rope tightened and slowly it seemed to work, further and further I went and just as Phil almost got to the top, BANG................the knot broke and down again went the car! The second try succeeded much to our relief and we all went home for a couple of hours sleep. The next day. Helen from the Springbrook Homestead called at 8am to get the news of the night before, I relayed the nights movements and Andre went down there to look for prints. It didn't take long before I received an Email from Helen saying that the owner of the property and Andre found some fantastic footprints in the area we described and had cast one. I couldn’t wait to see the prints and it revved us all up to go again, especially after he made his final appearance that night when we were all too tuckered out to do anything about it.

Night number 4, The strange sticks. This night was an all nighter, we planned to stay in the cabin by the creek, have a BBQ and an all night watch. On the way myself and Ashley stopped off at the Springbrook Homestead to see the Plaster cast. Andre was there and showed us the cast, my eyes lit up immediately when I saw the size of the print, it was huge. As you'll see from the pictures in this report, the five toes are massive and the weight must be enormous. It really was a perfect cast just as they said, and the Asian tourists and visitors to the Homestead thought it was a real treat as they all clamoured to touch it. Ashley and myself met Phil and Warren at the property 1 hour before sun down.

We hauled all the gear down a 20 minute walk into the thick rainforest to the cabin. Phil and Warren started a fire as Ash and I went walking to the place we had "the spooks" on the previous night. As we got down to the swampy creek at the bottom of the property, we noticed the owner had been down there with the Tractor slasher and demolished all the evidence we had tracked. We walked and walked, but could not find what we did before. Just on dusk and keeping radio contact with Phil and Warren, we sat by the back fence looking into the dense swampy forest. After 10-25 minutes, we heard some cracking of branches as something came close to us, it was dark now and had very limited vision, but we could hear something heavy behind the trees about 30 metres from where we were sitting and talking. We knew it was no Wallaby because it was walking and not hopping, it wasn't on four legs and it was big, we thought "could this be our guy?"

Then................STOMP!......yep, it was him alright, giving us the warning we all know so well, this time it was a lot louder because he was much heavier than the my friend in the Blue Mountains. Then we heard it wonder off towards the cow paddocks and we were very disappointed he didn't want to play.

As he crept over the hill to the paddock, the cows started going crazy and this thing was screaming over the top of the cows. It was a scream I'd only heard about from fellow researchers but until this time, it was the first time for me to hear this particular noise, and the cows didn't like it at all.

On the walk back to camp the cows continually screamed with fear, and Phil and Warren could hear it too. As we got closer to the camp, we noticed many sticks driven into the ground and the further we walked, the more intense the sticks became.

They certainly weren’t there on they way down, there was no wind and many of the sticks were foreign to the surrounding trees. We pulled some sticks out and measured the depth in the ground, which we found between 2-3", they were all round us.

Warren and Phil came down to see what we talking about on the radios, and they too were surprised that they had "suddenly" appeared on the windless night. They were all around the outskirts of the camp and in places that we had previously walked. We sat and had some dinner before we headed out again, Phil couldn’t do much walking because he had a bad sore on his inner thigh, so he stayed back and monitored the camp.

Ash went one way and myself and Warren did a walk past where we had parked the cars on the last occasion. We came to an area where the foliage devastation was abundant, Warren found many odd things that we normally see in the Yowie areas, including markers, broken limbs and footprints.

On the way back we came across another interesting scene, more sticks driven into the ground where before there were none. It really had us scratching our heads. Ash met us at the top of the camp and we walked down the other side again only to find more of these sticks that were not there before. At that stage I phoned the owner and asked if there was anyone else down here, he said "definitely not".

One of the sticks was driven so hard into the ground that Warren had to use two hands and a ton of strength to pull it out. Phil sent a message over the radio saying that something big just went racing through the trees chasing a rabbit and killed it, so back to camp we went. We sat for a while and rested before myself and Ash headed off again to a different area. This time we found ourselves in a clearing near a stream. It was extremely dark and the bush was a thick jungle on the other side. As we got closer to the stream there was movement on the other side, then a clear odd sounding growl, then another and another. It was far too inaccessible to get over there, so we sat and listened.

There something over there, but hard to say what. Again, myself and Phil plucked the ticks leaches off ourselves and again Warren and Ash had none (must be something wrong with their blood we think!). We did many walks that night, but had no visual of the Yowie, however there were many signs of his presence.

The cows were still going crazy and the owner of that property drove his 4wd across the paddock to take a look. As I was preparing my bed in the hut, I notices five large Huntsman spiders on the wall and thought, "There’s no way I'm letting those things crawl over my face in the night, I'd rather sleep outside!" Ash took one look and decided to join me while Phil and Warren laughed at us.

We dragged a couple of sheets of roofing iron close to the fire and lay on that, while Phil and Warren slept in 5 star accommodation in comparison.

If we rolled a couple of inches left or right, we were face down in thick mud. The whole night we were freezing to death in zero degrees, while Phil was nice and warm, just in his tank top and wrapped in his sleeping bag, clutching his teddy bear.

We had a thin blanket which managed to cover our legs and became covered in dew. It was a rough night with about 2 hours sleep because of the cold, so when Phil got out of bed at 6am bright and cheery it was like he was rubbing it in! Still brain dead at the time, I could just hear Phil say, "Hey guys, you better take a look at this".

I plucked more leaches off and staggered through the mud to see, and there it was, giant footprints coming out of the creek to the cabin! They matched Andre's cast perfectly.

It looked like it had crept out of the creek and around the cabin where it could see where we were sleeping beside the fire. It was basically standing over us as we slept.

Warren, Ash and myself followed various tracks back up the creek and over the hill through some of the toughest jungle I've seen. There were footprints everywhere, and leading out to the cow paddock there were more. The whole area was devastated, completely broken down. While we were out the owner of the property came down to the camp, phil showed him the prints and he said that he didn't see them before.

In the morning, looking and feeling like train wrecks.

Night 5, The long walk. Phil wasn’t feeling too well and Warren had other commitments, so it was just Ashley and myself. Andre prepared some plaster to keep in the cabin for us, and we dropped by to pick it up. We spent 7 hours of walking through the forest finding all the most active parts of the area. We are now pretty sure that there is two Yowies in this and the surrounding properties.

The first action we had was near the cow paddock as we were tracking the prints. Along the way, Ashley found a large scat sample filled with bones, which is now bagged and tagged. As we came down towards the paddock the large crashing through the trees of a two legged creature disappeared in the bush and stopped.

We sat for a while and listened to it walk around us, then on with the torches for a chase, but it was just too quick. When we got back to the cabin several hours later and far more informed of its movements, we had crackling and an odour following us.

Ash lay in the bushes while I walked off whistling, Ash radioed me saying, "It's just taken at least 14 more steps towards you!" On with the torches and we raced into the bush, only to be out run. We played that game for 30 minutes, then moved on. As we walked past the cabin CRASH............Stomp, Stomp, CRASH! I thought it was coming at me and almost fell straight on my butt!

Myself and Ash took cover in the under growth of where I lay on the first night. We lay still and listened, CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH...............it started to circle behind us, and the sound of two feet was obvious.

The trees started moving, then it stood still again. I had a sudden pain in my neck and stood up, just as I did that there was another shuffle in the bushes. Ash said I was covered in leaches, and they were so far in that he had to burn them out, he also brushed several off my cloths.

After the leach inspection was complete, it was back to work. We ran up to the last area we heard it in and Ash put the torch up through the trees, "There’s the eyes! Big red eyes!" Ash said. We took off up through the scrub and I saw them too. We made so much noise that we couldn’t have possibly heard it move.

It was gone when we finally got there, but then there was more noise below us now, so back down we crashed back to the clearing. It was far too thick in there to see anything, and we both decided that heat sensors would be the best way to go, and eventually gave up. We also noticed during the whole time we were in the clearing near the hut, that there was NO sticks in the ground, nor on any other occasion we had been there besides the night they appeared everywhere. We knew very well that it was definitely the Yowie that was still sitting there above us, but its a very difficult job to do without the right equipment. When we arrived back at the car, guess what we found?...................

A huge stick driven 3" into the ground beside the car! When I got home I found another Tick on my leg and more Leaches in my cloths. Final notes: We have tracked and confirmed the presence of Yowies in this particular area of Springbrook, we know he is at least an 8 footer. We may continue a further expedition to the property, and we express many thanks to the owner of the property who has been very generous, and to the Springbrook Homestead for all their help and support.

I would also like to give the rest of the guys of the AYR a big pat on the back for all the work they have done and the dedication they have shown. The most important note I would like to make is that the noises we heard in Springbrook were NOT of any other Australian bush animal.

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Australian Yowie Research - Data Base

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