Hinze Dam – Hinterland Adventure Playground

The township of Advancetown was a small country town on the banks of the Nerang River before it was flooded to become the Hinze Dam. The settlement began in 1881 when a saw mill was built to serve the thriving timber industry in the mountains. Much of the timber that was felled in the area was then transported via the Nerang River up to Brisbane for the booming building industry that was supporting the growth of the region.

As the timber ran out and other modern building methods such as bricks replaced timber houses, the industry dried out and people left. By the time that the town was flooded in the 1970's there was little remaining from that timber getting heyday. Those that were left relocated to higher ground along the new road that was built around the dam site. There is no "town" to be found though these days to be found when one drives through Advancetown.

In the above photo the spit of land covered in red soil that you can see just inside the dam wall in the lower left corner is where our old picnic grounds were. There were wood fired barbecues, a children's playground and lots of grass to picnic or play on. There was also a small boat ramp and shelter which was ideal for launching sailing vessels from. This will all be under water soon and they have not replaced this picnic area with another one looking over the lake. A lot of the public are upset at this as the spot was hugely popular back in the day.

This video has some great aerial footage of the dam wall and the surrounding Gold Coast Hinterland area. In the video they state that the works are expected to be completed by late 2010, but as I write this it is late 2011 and the works are not yet complete. They experienced more than 200 rain delay days where they could not work due to the rain. They are now saying that it will be open to the public once more in December 2011.

Click Here To View The Video

Hinze Dam will be the site of the mountain biking at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. A brand new course will be built to meet the international competition requirements as well as temporary spectator seating for up to 2,000 spectators. Mountain Biking is something that I regularly enjoy doing so I will be checking out this event for sure.

Not far from my house there is a horse riding trail that follows the upper reaches of the lake. I often follow this trail on my mountain bike as it is a great spot to get out into the serenity of the Australian bush where you feel like you are miles from anywhere, yet still close to home.