Fraser Island
Our latest adventure... Fraser Island...
An extremely early start and a quick flight from Sydney to Hervey Bay had us almost to our destination before Katie's normal morning coffee time. Before we could pick up our 4WD, we had to watch a few videos about the island. In short, this is what I took away from the viewing... 1) There are loads of dingos (basically Australian wolves that look like dogs) on the island that are hungry and happy to add you to their diet if you don't sleep with one eye open 2) Don't go in the ocean because the rip currents will carry you out to sea where you will be eaten by sharks 3) It rains almost every day because it is the only sand island rainforest in the world... Hmmm... Why did I sign up for this trip again? Oh right... the 4 wheeling across the dunes and the beautiful scenery. Just like the large majority of the rest of Australia, there's no other place like it in the world. It is the largest sand island in the world... It is the only sand island in the world that is also a rainforest... It has over 100 dune lakes which is the 2nd highest concentration of lakes in Australia... The lakes are some of cleanest and purest lakes in the world... and most importantly Lake McKenzie was voted 1 of the 10 best beaches in the world (quite interesting considering the beach is actually on a fresh water lake).
However, the bumps in the road started shortly after departing Hervey Bay.
Bump 1 - After loading up our 4WD with all 8 of us, our gear, food, and beverages (so packed in that we we had to throw out the owners manual and maps of Queensland/Fraser Island to make room in the glove box for a box of wine); we soon realized that we might be a bit too heavy to for the trip to Fraser Island.
Bump 2 - Shortly after disembarking the ferry, our joy ride through the sand hit a snag. We got stuck... I vaguely remember them addressing this in one of the videos we had to watch, but given that there were a few more important items to remember at the time (see shark and dingo attacks noted above) you can understand how to get unstuck could easily slip our minds. Therefore we resorted to good old fashioned pushing (well everyone except Katie as you can see in the picture below - I guess every good road crew needs a good supervisor). After a bit of pushing and engine revving, we decided that an alternative route was in order. At this point, things started to look up as the car started to get its mojo back and we were back to ripping through the dunes.
First destination...Lake Wabby. Its a small lake at the end of a huge sand dune which is slowly filling in the lake. Soon there won't be a lake left, which is a shame because it makes for a beautiful view and lots of fun.
Bump 3 - Ahhh... too good to be true. As soon as we stepped out of the car it began to pour (it honestly felt like we were standing under Niagara Falls and I'm only slightly exaggerating). After a quick look around, we piled back in to the car like wet dogs. Since you camp along behind the dunes by the beach, we had to race back to beat the tides rolling in so we could find a good camping spot.
The rest of the day was great. We spent the morning driving along the beach, visiting a shipwreck, and floating down Eli Creek, which is a natural lazy river with a sand bottom and sand banks and is wonderfully clear and clean. Since it was starting to appear that we were back in favor with the island powers that be, we decided that our best bet was to race the sun back to the camp site at Lake Wobby, so we'd be in an ideal position to make the most out of our last day.
A few short hours later, we were back in Sydney... safe and sound, with one hell of an adventure notched into our belt.
An extremely early start and a quick flight from Sydney to Hervey Bay had us almost to our destination before Katie's normal morning coffee time. Before we could pick up our 4WD, we had to watch a few videos about the island. In short, this is what I took away from the viewing... 1) There are loads of dingos (basically Australian wolves that look like dogs) on the island that are hungry and happy to add you to their diet if you don't sleep with one eye open 2) Don't go in the ocean because the rip currents will carry you out to sea where you will be eaten by sharks 3) It rains almost every day because it is the only sand island rainforest in the world... Hmmm... Why did I sign up for this trip again? Oh right... the 4 wheeling across the dunes and the beautiful scenery. Just like the large majority of the rest of Australia, there's no other place like it in the world. It is the largest sand island in the world... It is the only sand island in the world that is also a rainforest... It has over 100 dune lakes which is the 2nd highest concentration of lakes in Australia... The lakes are some of cleanest and purest lakes in the world... and most importantly Lake McKenzie was voted 1 of the 10 best beaches in the world (quite interesting considering the beach is actually on a fresh water lake).
However, the bumps in the road started shortly after departing Hervey Bay.
Bump 1 - After loading up our 4WD with all 8 of us, our gear, food, and beverages (so packed in that we we had to throw out the owners manual and maps of Queensland/Fraser Island to make room in the glove box for a box of wine); we soon realized that we might be a bit too heavy to for the trip to Fraser Island.
Bump 2 - Shortly after disembarking the ferry, our joy ride through the sand hit a snag. We got stuck... I vaguely remember them addressing this in one of the videos we had to watch, but given that there were a few more important items to remember at the time (see shark and dingo attacks noted above) you can understand how to get unstuck could easily slip our minds. Therefore we resorted to good old fashioned pushing (well everyone except Katie as you can see in the picture below - I guess every good road crew needs a good supervisor). After a bit of pushing and engine revving, we decided that an alternative route was in order. At this point, things started to look up as the car started to get its mojo back and we were back to ripping through the dunes.
First destination...Lake Wabby. Its a small lake at the end of a huge sand dune which is slowly filling in the lake. Soon there won't be a lake left, which is a shame because it makes for a beautiful view and lots of fun.
Bump 3 - Ahhh... too good to be true. As soon as we stepped out of the car it began to pour (it honestly felt like we were standing under Niagara Falls and I'm only slightly exaggerating). After a quick look around, we piled back in to the car like wet dogs. Since you camp along behind the dunes by the beach, we had to race back to beat the tides rolling in so we could find a good camping spot.
The rest of the evening was spent putting up our tents and cooking dinner with on and off rain and the only lights being 2 crappy flash lights and the car headlights. Which leads to...
Bump 4 - We got up and put everything away early, so we could make the most of the daylight on Saturday only to be greeted with a dead battery. Lesson learned with manual transmissions that it actually drains the battery more when you start the car and don't keep the revs up. At this point, it might be worth mentioning that there are only a few hundred people that live on the island year round and that most of them are heavily involved in the tourism trade, which leaves precious few resources to take up the not so profitable mechanic trade. Thankfully, our neighbors had a set of jumper cables to get us on our way again. And the tides had turned in our favor again...
The rest of the day was great. We spent the morning driving along the beach, visiting a shipwreck, and floating down Eli Creek, which is a natural lazy river with a sand bottom and sand banks and is wonderfully clear and clean. Since it was starting to appear that we were back in favor with the island powers that be, we decided that our best bet was to race the sun back to the camp site at Lake Wobby, so we'd be in an ideal position to make the most out of our last day.
Bump 5 - Great plan except that we soon found out that the camp site, which was supposedly right near Lake Wobby didn't really exist. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to toss out the maps for the boxed wine. Since it was too late to head back down to the beach, we decided that the best place to set up camp was in the Lake Wobby parking lot with a pact that we would be completely packed up by 7am to avoid any awkward morning discussions with rangers regarding the location of our camp site. Thankfully everyone held up their end of the bargain as the ranger rolled into the lot about 15 minutes passed the hour.
The rest of the day on Fraser was fabulous... the sun was out and the rain was gone. We went for a quick swim at Lake Wobby before making our way to the crown jewel - Lake McKenzie... stunning... It has every characteristic of a tropical ocean beach with the pristine sand, swaying palm trees, and aqua blue water except the water is fresh water. It was a great way to wrap up our Fraser adventures.
But the trip wasnt over yet...we still had to make it to the airport.
When we all planned the trip, we agreed that we'd be better off maximizing our Fraser Island time even if it meant returning home from a different airport as our destination left us with few flight options. Thus, we had to get a rental car to take us to the next airport in the Sunshine Coast from Hervey Bay (distance 250k).
Bump 6 - We hadn't fully loaded up the rental car when we realized that it had a flat tire. Only problem is that Hervey Bay has about the same population as Fraser Island and a mechanic isn't the easiest thing to come by on a Sunday afternoon. After waiting for close to an hour and eroding away nearly all of our travel time buffer, we decided that we needed to put the spare tire on ourselves and hope for the best. A quick calculation of time vs. distance meant that we essentially needed to average 100k an hour the full 250k or we were going to be spending the night on the Sunshine Coast (not a bad place to get stuck if you don't have work commitments). Slight problem... the spare tire was a donut, which isn't supposed to be traveled on at speeds greater than 80k per hour and calling the roads here highways is grossly misleading. We were literally counting down the minutes to get there before check in closed at 830pm... thankfully we made it... although we had to illegally park the car in front of the check in counter as the security guard yelled at us and run distractions at the counter to allow time for everyone to get their luggage out of the car... I reckon we might have even had 30 seconds to spare... on second thought... 5... maybe...
A few short hours later, we were back in Sydney... safe and sound, with one hell of an adventure notched into our belt.
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