Robin that Jimna to (points north) road is still unsealed, and I would suspect that is very unlikely to change within the next couple of decades. It is reasonably flat, but that can change depending on heavy rains - it's more a gravel road than dirt in most places, in many places it's quite wide but it does narrow down a fair bit once or twice, for short distances.
I actually don't mind driving that road too much at all, but then I quite enjoy touring around on backwater country roads and tracks in my fourbie. I'll be taking that road again myself this time (SOMEONE has to put up the guide signs for the rest of you, after all
) and in the past I've usually managed to average a speed of 80 km/h or so across that entire gravel stretch.
I'm dragging my brother along this time around so we'll have a couple of dobs on board, possibly a smaller scope, 2-3 pairs of bino's, and LOADS of other gear of all sorts piled up in both the car and the trailer. I'm not expecting any trouble during transit, or anticipating broken mirrors or bent tubes.
I would say though that if that kind of road does make you nervous then either take the Nanango option, if that's nearer to you, or keep to the bitumen all the way and go via Gympie. I've driven them all, and enjoyed them all too.
Alex I do have somewhere some notes I took on my first trip to Barambah about what height the view is in various directions, etc - I don't have that with me, but from memory you won't get near M31 from the chessboard area if it's only reaching 20 degress altitude.
Orion may be possible once it gets much higher, but there is a wall of VERY tall trees east of the chessboard, you'll be waiting to see if Orion clears them to the north east to see if you can get a shot there.
What we have to remember is that Barambah IS an Environmental Centre, and as such it has lots of trees, some quite large. Unfortunately this is in direct contrast with what we would otherwise desire - it is less of an issue for sure on the observing field, which is why we have alwats tried to promote battery power here for imagers (for instance as Mike & Chris have done at previous camps), but for those of you who need mains power and are therefore staying near the buildings it is an issue.
I'll be trialling a deep cycle battery / solar panel combo there this year, but as I don't really use or need heavy power to run my dob
I'd be more than willing for someone to try running their imaging setup off it for a night and see what happens - the battery that is, NOT the solar power (before any bright spark butts in about sunshine at night!)
Anyone who has pure 12v power needs let me know, I don't have a suitable invertor to run cameras, tracking mounts, laptops, etc off it so 240 v it won't be.