Our Travels

Today we headed off to explore the northern section of the island. First stop was Champagne Pools, this is the most northern point that all the tours come to. We walked down the boardwalk and watched some of the brave tourists venture into the water. It could be that they were European and thought it was a warm day or it could have been young men trying to impress the ladies but neither Jacky nor I felt inclined to join them. It was quite a nice day but there was stiff breeze blowing.

Champagne Pools, Fraser Island

From there we went back to Orchid Beach, a small settlement just north of Waddy Point, where we had a pie at the general store for lunch. There were some pretty amazing houses in Orchid beach, many of which are available to rent.

From Orchid beach we headed inland and across to the western side of the island to Wathumba Creek, quite a nice secluded camping area but there is little beach available to drive on. The fishing is supposed to be good but the guys I spoke to hadn’t caught anything.

Wathumba Creek, Fraser Island

Today is the next big challenge, can the 100 series pull the camper trailer through the soft sand around the Indian Head bypass. This prospect has had Jacky concerned for some weeks now, mostly due to the fact that she watched a 4WD Action DVD that showed the drama Graham & Shaun had towing a large boat and a camper trailer around the bypass earlier this year. The reason for her concern was that if those guys with all their experience had trouble how would we manage it by ourselves. It took nearly an hour and a half to do the 60 kms to Indian Head from our Cornwells campsite and what do we see when we arrive? One vehicle attached to another vehicle pulling a large boat by a snatch strap and about 8 strong guys pushing the boat & trailer. Just what Jacky was concerned about. It took nearly 30 mins for them to get the boat and trailer around and I spent that time reducing the air pressure in my tyres some more just be certain. I had some advice previously from a local person and that was to let your tyre pressures down and drive like you stole it. With that in mind it was into 2^nd gear low and put the foot down, with the revs near 4000 we powered through without any issues. From there it was up past Champagne Pools and onto the Waddy Point track. I had booked the beachfront site not aware that there were sites in a sheltered, enclosed area near the ranger’s house. We initially thought about moving in on one of these sites even though booking system showed them all booked but it turned out the beachfront site was quite sheltered by the point and even though it was quite windy in other places on the island it didn’t get stronger than a slight breeze on the beachfront site. All Jacky was looking forward to was 5 nights in the one place.

Waddy Point Campsite

The plan for today was to explore the lakes and rainforest in the southern half of the island. We headed up the Cornwells Break Rd, near our campsite to Stone Tool sand blow (blowout), there are quite a few of these large open areas of shifting sand. From here we continued to the Lake Waddy lookout. Lake Waddy is the deepest lake at 11.5m and is characterised by the large sand dune that is slowly filling the lake in one metre per year, its popular for sand boarding into the lake but with the cool weather and 1.4 km hike down to the lake we decided to move on.

Lake Waddy

From here through dense forest and over many bumps and dips in the sandy tracks we headed for Central Station. Central Station was once called Forest Station and was the central operations area for the timber industry that was the main industry on the island from 1863 to 1991. There were up to 30 houses, a school, stores and a mill with a tram line to the coast. Most of this has been removed and the rainforest has regrown. It is the only place in the world were rainforest grows on sand and with the amount of water that continually flows down the creeks it’s no surprise that it can support rainforest. The Wangoolba Creek that flows through Central Station also supports the King Fern which is the largest fern in the world with fronds up to 7 m in length.

Central Station Boardwalk

King Fern

From here we drove on to Lake McKenzie where we had lunch. Lake McKenzie is the most popular spot on the island, all the tour buses and tour operators stop here and despite the cool temperatures the tourists still go in for a swim. The water is crystal clear with a white sandy bottom, it’s pretty hard to resist going for a swim but not being able to persuade Jacky to go in, I would have felt somewhat out of place surrounded by bikini clad backpackers so I decided not to go in as well.

Lake McKenzie

It was now mid-afternoon and we were planning to travel further south to some more lakes but with over 20kms back to our camp from Lake McKenzie and with the tracks allowing for 20km/hr at best we had over an hour to get back to camp so we decided to call it a day. Jacky was pretty anxious that we wouldn’t be late for our dinner date.

We set off for Happy Valley just as the sun was going down and with the tide out we made better time than I expected. The speed limit along the main beach is 80km/hr but I found 70 was pretty comfortable even then you had to be pretty careful with the many creek crossings, some you could drive through without really slowing down but others dug trenches in the sand up to 30 cms deep so you always had to be ready to slow right down.

Dinner was excellent, they did chicken with bacon, cheese and a mushroom sauce, the drive back to camp was interesting, with just sand and water the spotlights had little effect, we also had some rock areas to negotiate plus the numerous creeks. We arrived safely back at camp and even pulled in to the correct track off the beach with the help of a way point in the GPS. It was certainly the first time we had ever driven 30kms on a beach to go to a restaurant for dinner.

On to Fraser Island

The pack up was slower than expected due to a very heavy overnight dew making everything damp. We arrived at the ferry around 10:30 rather than the planned 9:00 ferry ride. The Manta Ray ferry just goes back and forth to the island as vehicles turn up so there is no set time to be there. We let the tyres down to around 20 psi and headed out to the ferry, no dramas getting the trailer through the soft sand to the ferry, the ride to the island took around 20 mins. Off the ferry onto the beach, there is an inland track/road rather than driving around Hook Point and as high tide was at 12 noon I decided the inland road was the better option. 20 kms later we arrived at beach exit about 5 mins before the vehicles that were on the ferry with us.

On Fraser Island

From here the only option is along the beach and another 21 kms we arrived at Cornwells beach camping. We were able to find a very nice spot several dunes back from the beach with only one entrance and exit all to ourselves.

After setting up camp we drove further along the beach to Happy Valley resort where we had a coffee and once I assured Jacky that I could find my way back to camp in the dark she agreed to pay for dinner at their restaurant for tomorrow night.

Eli Creek

From Happy Valley we went up to Eli Creek, the water level was much lower than when we were here in April 2012, then I was able to swim / float down the creek, today it was just a paddle / walk. Some places were close to waist deep, it never fails to fascinate you the amount of absolute crystal clear fresh water that flows down this creek and out to the ocean.

The dingos were also more noticeable this time, we stopped on the beach and they walk up and sniff around your car looking for any handouts. They have had to close 4 camping areas because the dingos were becoming too much of a nuisance.

Dingos on Fraser Island

Pack up again and head off for Rainbow Beach, we drove through Maryborough again to pick a few supplies and arrived at Rainbow beach around lunch time.

The distinctive Queenslanders houses in a row, Maryborough

We were looking to stay at a caravan park to do some washing before going onto Fraser Island, the first one on the GPS was on the beach front but it was cramped and full of caravans with little space for camping, the next one was a few kilometres out of town near Carlo Point on the inlet and it was owned and operated by the Humphreys with plenty of grassed areas and good amenities. No discounts for their very distance cousins from the west though. The afternoon was spent in the laundry waiting for the washing machine and dryer to complete our washing. I left Jacky in charge of the washing and went into town to buy the ferry tickets and give the car a wash and prep for Fraser

Today was the Maryborough historical tour. The town made famous P.L. Travers. First we stopped at Lake Lenthall (another dam), the day area was quite picturesque but the camping area was open with little shade and quite a walk to the toilets, it was on my list of possible sites but I think Wongi Waterholes is a better site as it is set in actual bushland. From there we drove into Maryborough, I was looking for somewhere to print my permits for Fraser Island, first stop was the information center in the old historical town hall and they directed us to a place 3 blocks down which we couldn’t find however I was able to persuade a computer store manager to print them for me.

P.L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins and recently the subject of the film “Saving Mr Banks” had the distinction of being born and raised in the old bank building on the corner of Kent and Richmond St in Maryborough. Just outside the building is a statue of Mary Poppins herself, at the rear of the building was a café that served an excellent shepherd’s pie that went down very well on a fairly cool day.

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the historical part of Maryborough. It was a very important port situated on the Mary River in the late 19^th Century. About 12,000 pacific islanders were brought through this port for work on the sugar cane field and over 22,000 immigrants landed in this port for their first look at Australia. With the regular flooding of the Mary River you would wonder why the town still exists. There are flood markers outside the courthouse that measure the 12 mtr mark for the river. In 1893 it reached the 12.27 mtr mark, 1957 11.24 mtrs, 1992 9.48 mtrs, 2011 8.2 mtrs, 2013 10.7 mtrs.

Maryborough also lays claim to one of Australia’s first botanical gardens in their Queens Park complete with big guns, a fountain, a train and a Rotunda that could have come straight from Mary Poppins book.

We left Boynedale and headed down towards Maryborough, we went back towards Many Peaks and took a gravel road down to the highway. It was pretty steep in places, lots of bends and cattle on the road to keep us alert. I had booked a national parks site at Wongi Waterholes in the Wongi state forest which was about 15kms of the Bruce Hwy and 30kms out of Maryborough. It was deserted when we arrived but there were flushing toilets and cold showers. Jacky wasn’t too keen on the cold shower so we just heated up the pressure shower and used the shower cubicle rather than set up our own shower tent. Just on dark a couple of young ladies rocked up in a camper van however there wasn’t any opportunity to get introduced.

At 4⁰C it was a little hard to get out of bed this morning, but again there was no timetable to keep. We had breakfast and went for a walk along the lake, one of the signs had an ad for an old historical pub at Many Peaks that did lunches. After checking out the lookout we headed for the pub about 40km along the Boyne valley. The drive took us a number of small towns that did not appear on the maps we had. The Grand Hotel in Many Peaks was originally built in Gladstone in 1896 as the Railway hotel and when Many Peaks was established as a copper mining town the hotel was dismantled, transported by horse and dray 95 kms to Many Peaks, rebuilt and opened as the Grand Hotel in 1909.

Grand Hotel, Many Peaks

The lunch was good, quite a few weekend road warriors showed up lunch as it was a beautiful day for a ride.

Back at camp we relaxed, sorted out some of our winter clothing and put summer stuff up on the roof, I suspect there will be little opportunity for shorts & t-shirts from now on.

That night, all rugged up with beanies and gloves, we enjoyed a Skype session with our family back home. Jacky is starting to feel to pull of home and family and I suspect I will struggle to get her enthusiastic about sightseeing in the final home stretch.

Another slow start, the nights are getting colder and it nice to stay in bed a little longer, we only had 200kms to our next campsite. After packing up we went into Yeppoon, did a little shopping, had lunch and headed off to Boynedale campground. This a free site about 50 kms inland from Gladstone on the banks of Lake Awoonga, an irrigation dam for the area. There were about 40 caravans, RVs, trailers & tents, many of whom were locals from Gladstone. We met a couple there who were from Gladstone, shared their fire and swapped stories about four wheel driving, travelling and fishing. Apparently there had been frost on the ground the night before and it was getting pretty cold tonight, it was definitely time for the coats, beanies, scarves and gloves. It didn’t get quite as cold that night just 4⁰C

Awoonga Dam, Boyne Valley

After a leisurely breakfast we went into the town of Byfield (1 shop, sml school and 2 house) to see what they had for morning tea but nothing there provided any inspiration so we moved on. I was planning to put the vehicle in 4WD after all this bitumen and head out to Stockyard Point and Nine mile beach but on the way there Jacky spotted a pottery & art gallery sign and put the hard word on me about the lack of such places in out itinerary up to this point. There were some very nice pieces, in particular their “Byfield Fern” collections. The coffee mugs were $29 ea, tea pot $125 and a small vase for $69, just a little more that we were prepared to spend on a dinner set.

By the time we left the gallery it was near lunch time and there was a perfect place for a picnic lunch on the way to Stockyard point called Water Park Creek so we enjoyed some jaffles and a leisurely walk along the creek through the rain forest and saw the Byfield fern that only grows in this particular area.

The unique Byfield Fern

Finally we were off to Stockyard Point, about 5kms up the road there was a warning to drop tyre pressures, so we obliged as the sand was starting to look a little soft. From here the track does indeed get quite soft and it climbs for about 2km up a large sand hill. We had only travelled about 200m when we came across a Prado blocking the track, he was having multiple attempts to get up the very first part of the hill and just spinning his wheels and digging the track up more. Finally I went up and spoke to him and asked what his tyre pressure was and he admitted he hadn’t let them down yet. Some people!!Fortunately I was able to reverse down an select another bypass track and go around him.

Nine Mile Beach, Byfield NP

The views from Stockyard Point were pretty spectacular, the campsite was not and considering the large sand hill I would of had to get over pulling the trailer, I was glad I had decided to stay with the 2WD campsite.

The Mighty 100 Series, on Stockyard Point