Quick Stats;
4 Nights on Fraser Island
990km Travelled
~440km on sand
86lt of Diesel consumed
29th
There was little chance of beating the incoming tide (which would of meant leaving Brisbane at some un-godly hour in the morning) to get around Hook Point. So we opted for a more casual time that matched with Kristina's (9mo Niece) sleeping pattern. This saw me rolling out of home at about 7:30 to pick up Vee on the way north.
Had a few people not be able to make the trip and found myself with a few spare seats. I knew it was a bit late notice (2 days warning) but decided to offer it out to anyone willing and I was surprised when a seat was taken. Knowing next to nothing about my new travel buddy I was happy that they seemed pretty proficient with this whole camping business and I wouldn't have to care for them as you often do for people new to the game. Plenty of space in the D-Max for all the gear and after a quick goodbye to the cats we were on the road just after 8.
Pretty light on traffic the whole way, made for an easy drive north. Already seeing heaps of police on the roads. Most already have someone over and writing them a ticket for something. Would make a rather poor start to any ones holidays... We met Kristie and Jez in Rainbow at the shell and quickly moved on to catch the barge. It was 1/2 full when we arrived and filled up and left soon after we boarded. Short trip across the passage and we were on Fraser! Wind was up a bit (reports were for it to stick around...) making the crossing a little lumpy, but we've seen it worse.
Tide was beginning to retreat but still far too high to make it past the trees. We followed the crowd down the inland track, not as bad as I remembered but still plenty of corrugations. Half hour later and we were on the smooth (in comparison) beach and cruising along at 80k. It was great to have a passenger so excited to be driving up the beach, Vee smiled, laughed or clapped with glee most creek crossings and roll overs. It was hard to not feel excited as well with that next to you. Even though it's pretty old hat for me now. There were a few steep sand wash outs on the long beach drive, so I made a point of crawling up some of the better ones to make things even more interesting :)
Despite the heavy police presence on the Bruce there didn't seem like there were any Police on Fraser. Normally they have Speed traps and "Random" breath Tests (testing every vehicle) at Eurong... but not today. Usually this time (and Easter etc) it's crawling with the boys in blue. Without these interruptions it wasn't long before we ploughed through Eli creek and flew past Maheno. We pulled into the Pinnacles (coloured sands) just as 3 of those big tour Busses pulled away (Good Timing!) Soon as we hopped out of the car you were hit by a wall of wind. Easy to forget about it while protected by the car. On the way up I did notice a lot of shades just had the frame up, people taking down the cover to protect it from the wind. Some Dome tents were folding in as well.
After some token happy snaps we jumped just up the beach to Red Canyon before heading to the northern side of Indian Head for a bit of protection from the wind for a late lunch. Ducked back over to the southern side for the walk to the tip. I took Kristina in her pack and got a few "Aww a baby" looks and comments on the way. Was a few tag-a-long groups there so the top was a little busy, most staying back from the edge though. I took Kristina to the best views, doing my best to instil my love of heights in her and being 'the fun' uncle :p
For the first 2 nights we were staying in 'accommodation' that a friend (we go diving with a lot) owns up at Orchid Beach. We drove past all these beautiful holiday homes with manicured lawns to arrive at a big blue shed, old school curtains over some sliding doors and longer grass. "Yep, Looks like Kens place." I joke but it's actually well setup and sure as hell beats camping with this bloody wind!
After getting settled with some drinks out on the 'balcony' (patch of grass out front) with some good views of the beach we retired inside for dinner. One of the houses not too far removed was getting in some early celebrations and letting off some fireworks. There was 3 or 4 little bouts over a few hours in the evening. Managed to see the tail end, but not quick enough to try get the camera out. I'm not sure who was first to doze off, Jez or Kristina, but the rest of us followed suit very soon after.
30th
Bacon and eggs for breakfast, love camping! After a quick clean we were on our way to ocean lake for a bit of a swing and a swim. Very short drive up the beach and only 1k inland to a pretty good fresh water lake that you can usually find a bit of rope set up for a Tarzan swing. After spending a little time relaxing in the surprisingly not cold water we headed south to the northern side of Waddy Point for some Sand Jumping.
Now that we were nice and sandy it was time to wash it all off at Champaign pools. Spring High tide meant that it was a bit rough in the pools. Both Vee and I lost our sunnies as a result of some of the bigger waves and one managed to knock Vee off her feet causing some scraping on her toe. Bit of blood and it looked a little sore, though Vee insisted it looked worse than it felt. Kristina spent some time in the shallower section but wasn't a fan when the waves came crashing over and splashed up.
Back to Kens shed for lunch before heading across the island to Wathumba. I urged Vee to drive which was... interesting... Auto-license and nil 4wd experience made for some fun times. For all intents and purposes though she did really really well. Couple of stalls, mostly when pulling off trail for oncoming vehicles, but a no point did I ever feel in danger. Still, would have been nice to have a "Jesus!" bar in the D-max :p Smooth gear changes (not one crunch!) and calm driving made for a relatively comfy ride.
Highway to the Danger Zone!
Hardly any bugs over here, must be because of the wind. Usually it's crawling with Mozzies and Midgies Last time I was being swarmed within 10 seconds of hopping out of the car. This time I think We saw/killed one lone mozzie. Took a few token tourist shots and ate some Cheeries and Grapes before heading back. We decided to head back to Champaign pools at a lower tide. Such a difference it makes. Wind is still strong though, making the ocean choppy and causing me to take a few steps back when rock hopping. Gust at the wrong time is off putting when on sharp rocks. Looked at all the rock pools to see what we could find. Came across a few little fish and some soft coral before finding a pretty colourful little crab. Found a little crab, about the size of my thumbnail crawling across the sand too.
31st
Pretty efficient pack up in the morning, easy when not dealing with tents/kitchen I guess. We wanted to beat anyone coming up when looking for a campsite. On the way out of Orchid Beach we stopped at the store, which had a bit of a rush. Everyone getting in early to buy Ice it seems (<3 having a camping fridge.) Little disappointed though as they've taken down the 'Wall Of Shame' which was a huge poster/board with photos of all the cars that had gotten into strife on Fraser.
Cruising down the beach until we found a good camp about 10min south of Eli Creek. Took a little while to set up out tents etc and then headed off for the 'Lakes District.' First stop was Wabby lookout where we had to wait about 10min for some people to leave so we could steal their parking spot. We then got ready for the 1.2km walk down to the lake.
Over the sand blow and down to the water edge for a nice little wade. Lake Wabby has these little fish here that will give you a bit of a pedicure, similar to those fish ponds in Thailand. After we were done feeling all pampered by the fish we headed to nearby shade to enjoy some cheese and crackers for an energy boost before the walk back up the hill to the carpark. On the way up we saw a skink sunning itself on a log and right near the cars was a small Goanna. Quick bite before heading to Lake Makenzie.
It was starting to get a little later in the day so the carpark actually had quite a few open spaces for once. There was still quite a few people, but we got a few spots right near the start of the walking track. The others jumped in for a dip but I decided to stay dry and laze about on the beach. As it was getting pretty late now we decided to skip the second half of the lakes drive and head back via Central station and Eurong (shortest distance to the beach.) After making it back to camp we didn't have much daylight remaining. Absolutely amazing stars, as always, so I tried to get some shots before the Moon came up or clouds came over.
It was pretty short lived because the clouds weren't too far away. Few bits of drizzle were annoying but not too difficult to deal with. A few places up and down the beach had already began letting off their fireworks and at 11pm the people just a few camps down made a big hurrah. Obviously NSW/Vic peeps up, silly daylight savings. Went for a bit of a walk on the beach and could hardly find any ghost crabs, usually there's heaps out. It wasn't until I was back 5m from my tent that we saw our first.
Despite a few touch and go moments we all made it the rest of the way to midnight. A large flash of Fireworks coming from possibly Happy Valley to the south but it seems most other campers blew their loads earlier in the night. We lit up a few sparklers to wave about, but before long were for bed ourselves.
1st
Happy New Year!
Felt surprisingly good this morning. Got some decent rain during the night but everything was dry now. Wind still blowing pretty hard... When we were all up for it we headed off again to see more sights. Stopped in at the Maheno Wreck (after driving straight past it 3-4 times now) for some shots at low tide before pushing on to Lake Allom (Turtle Lake.) I absolutely love the drive in here. Beautiful rainforest area. Really calming. Turtles put on a show like they do I think Kristie got over 24 before she lost count as they were moving around too much.
Floated down only once, was a bit fresh in the water, then set up under a shade on the waters edge for a bit of RnR. Hung out for a while and had a bit of a snooze. Headed back to camp and I had a bit more of a snooze when Vee read a book and Kristie and Jez stayed at Eli with Kristina. It was a pretty quiet night and we went to bed around 9pm.
2nd
Wasn't in a big rush this morning, but did need to beat the tide. Made a quick stop in Happy Valley for a visit to the facilities and a final sneaky ice cream (packing up camp is hot/hard work!) Then started the journey home. Made it around hook point, though waves were just starting to reach the trees (2hrs after low tide, almost on the dot.) As we pulled around the corner we found ourselves in the fairly substantial line for the barges home.
1hr 20min of waiting later and we were loaded. Jez and Kristie were last on the barge (in front of us) but the second was only 2-3min behind and we easily fitted onto that. Drove past the long queue for the vehicle wash bay... normally I would stop in but we've had enough waiting today... Aired up on the side of the road just past it under a little bit of shade. Kristie and Jez headed off for fuel and a bakery before heading home. Vee and I went into Rainbow but decided that cold sausages from my fridge seemed like the better option.
Got caught in the predictable Bruce "Bottleneck" Highway traffic on the way back. Caught up to Kristie and Jez near the Morayfield BP, as they had a driver change over. Traffic cleared eventually opening up to a smooth journey for the rest of the trip home. 990km just ticked over on my ODO as I was pulling into my driveway.
It has been a long few days so I only decided to do the essentials today, cleaned out the fridge (some meat juice had spilled) and threw the clothes in the washing but decided to leave the rest of the unpack and cleaning (oh god, sand everywhere!) until tomorrow.
Fraser is always a great trip. This one seemed even better than normal because I had a very excited passenger. It's easy to forget to appreciate the little things sometimes. It was great to be able to share the drive with someone that had such enthusiasm making me feel like I was seeing it all for the first time again. Thanks for making it an awesome one!
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