Fraser Island November

2016

A nice little convoy of 6 trucks met up at a

caravan park in Dubbo, New South Wales, to

say hello to some new faces and a secret

comparison of camper trailers. The oldest

truck on the trip, infamous Landcruiser EBO, played smart and strategically booked

into cabins for the drive so will be on time and ready to go as no rush to pack,

having never unpacked. There was some concern with our two youngest passengers of the fleet, Doug and Maddie,

who were assured when there is a nice ‘10’ on the cake they can go with dad on a trip in the big car. We were

concerned if they could physically handle the long trip, turns out they were unhappy the trip wasn’t long enough and

they are all combining to try talk mum into going on an even bigger trip.

Things were looking good - right temperature, no wind, a once in a life time very special full moon

and no mozzies, as next morning the convoy started trekking to Noosa. Melbourne to Noosa is

1800km so there was one further overnight stop - and the first unhappy grumbles on the road.

Noted on the itinerary was ‘one night roughing it by the side of the road’ near Millmeran, a nice small

Queensland town. The intended spot was not quite the same as trip leader Davo remembered it.

The definite unhappy murmur as all looked around at the paddock aka footy ground eased up when

suggested follow EBO to the village park where the cabin was booked. The park owner’s eyes almost

popped out, he was waiting for one Landcruiser; what showed up snaked down the driveway, out

into the street, but he insisted no problems plenty of room for us. Turns out we had the whole park to ourselves and

nicer still 500 metres from the park lake was the local country tavern with enormous and very tasty cheap pub meals.

Next morning we typed in ‘Noosa’ to the GPS. It’s only a short 350km so a quiet leisurely drive is on the offing. Then

came second problem on trip, owner of Millmeran Park gave directions about bypassing Toowoomba’s infamous

Lockyer Valley steep road. We should have paid more attention as EBO’s brand new brakes stopped working while

crawling down the cliff they call the main highway. Managed to roll to a stop in the emergency lane and after 10

minutes found the brakes worked perfectly. Mechanics out there take note.

The Big Strawberry

Koonoomoo, Vic

Parkes - CSIRO

Observatory,NSW

The Pub,

Palmview Qld

While the group were at the bottom of the hill club president Rusty assured everyone the M1 through Brisbane is a quick simple drive and took the lead to prove so. Good thing, general consensus most of us would have got lost in 10 minutes. On the map it is one road but what lane are you meant to be in to avoid veering off to the airport, CBD, outer suburbs etc.? And it’s getting close to afternoon peak time.

One night city fume detox at Noosa and a lovely goodbye tarmac, a quick ride on the Noosa River

ferry then hello Cooloola and the Great Sandy National Park. Typed in ‘Rainbow Beach’ into the GPS

and then ignored it, as now comes a nice short 90km of famous beach driving. It had been a while

since enjoying the sexy dance of a wobbling steering wheel in the soft sand. There were numerous

warnings about impeded travel around Mudlo Rocks’s deep slippery holes but that wasn’t going to

stop us, though the stink of the rotting seaweed almost did.

A bit of a wait for the Fraser Island ferry then

onwards

Once on the island we followed Davo (who missed the campsite turn off only once), to the dingo fenced off Central

Station. Perfect for those who are more into hiking, listening to bird songs and enthralled with local flora and fauna,

and famous tropical forests but physically not a good idea for a big 4wd convoy with large camper trailers and carrying

fishing rods.

Central Station

Campsite just off the shoreline behind one of the dunes

Cathedrals on Fraser

Next day there was movement at the station as the word was passed around, we’re now going to the more suitable although private owned ‘Cathedrals on Fraser’. Definitely a lot more open but rather crowded with backpackers. At night, no loud parties as everyone were too tired or playing scrabble.

From our new base camp out came the maps and trips set. Not only can you see why

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world, along with its 72 coloured sands,

but feel it too, you had to really hang onto the steering

wheel, more difficult when taking in the hills of exotic

sand colours to the left to the waves creeping in on the

right to the sneaky little gutters in front, where the creeks drained out into the sea.

Hit one of these gutters hard, goodbye to your suspension, engine mounts and teeth (not the false

ones either).

Fraser has got over 100 lakes so time to go inland and have a look.

Curious as to how the ones who jumped in managed to drive back in wet shorts and jeans.

Couple of our failures.

Sandy Cape. The three who took on the badly gouged out water filled track almost had to use their winches to get out of the powder soft sand other end. As to getting back, forget about that track, they had to take on the tyre shredding rocks while getting swamped by the incoming tide. The heavy salt sea spray from the surf didn’t help either.

Champagne Pools. Named for the way the foam fizzes as the ocean crashes in a number of small pools; unique for a dip on a beach that’s otherwise off limits for swimmers because of the lethal box jelly. Low tide only

It was high tide when we showed up and all the pools were fully submerged.

Of course, the books say Fraser Island is a fisherman’s dream.

Our beloved trip leader Davo giving inland fishing a go. I can’t repeat the comments he muttered, particularly about that super-duper invincible 100% insect repellent breathable heat proof shirt he bought for the trip! Current temperature was 38.

*.

This lake is really fascinating. It’s actually Wathumba Creek, a fresh water estuary, the tide is a whopper and the other

side of this ‘creek’ is a good 500 metres away. One minute deep, next minute dry as! You can see the water level

behind Davo tackling his tackle and about an hour later how far the tide went out. Lying on the beach some people

were enjoying the sunlight when there was a loud ‘BANG’. In a whole horizon of nothing, out in the middle one jet ski

and one small outboard boat had a head-on collision. Concern eased when you could see someone wading after the jet

ski that started floating downstream towards the ocean. After a while the jet ski’s motor started up and it pulled the

knackered boat into shore. You can see how fast those skis can go as it got whisked away on its trailer by the sunglassed

owners.

Enough for some inland fishing, that night Rusty brought out his surf rods. After a few hours and a couple of small fish

rods got packed for another time and a nice little drive was placed on the agenda.

Inland motorways – luckily no one coming towards us, as more than tight

Knifeblade Sandblow – it’s a mountain of shifting sand and no one wanted to climb it for a photo

Lake McKenzie - Pure silica beach and its biggest pollutant sunscreen oil

Eli Creek –with so many floaties and tubes, they must have been there before

Power of the sand

SS Moheno wreck - . Built 1905 the turbine steamer was being towed to Japan in 1935 for scrap when a cyclone snapped the chain & along with SS Oonah were beached. Oonah has now

disintegrated and they say Moheno will go soon.

The scenery was lovely and you started getting the feel of being on a sandy island when driving through one of the

forests there was a bit of a hold up. Being a passenger with Davo who was Tail End Charlie this time, only reply we

could get from those up front was the same one

you get on the freeways back home - ‘bit of a

problem’.

Bit of a problem

Dingo walking down the middle of the track.

It took over 45 minutes before the dingo let us pass one at a time and you could

tell he wasn’t too happy with so many trespassers on his road. As he finally

climbed a metre high embankment on the right hand side to enable the last truck to go past he angrily lunged in. Luckily

Davo had just closed his window as the dingo definitely would have had a taste of his arm. Well, they say dingoes are

from the wolf family and I now can guarantee their teeth are huge. Couldn’t get a good photo of those fangs as a

terrified pedal to the metal to get out of there had a higher priority.

Suddenly the week has gone and you have to start packing to catch the low tide 6am ferry next morning to Inskip Point

on the mainland and search for a good car wash. A definite thankyou goes to Trip Leader Dave, club president Rusty

and the other club members for helping some newbies on their first 4WD club trip.

Bye, bye. Until next time

Barbara Tabaka