The next day we drove to Rainbow beach and through The Great Sandy National park. It was really beautiful here, and also very very hot. We had breakfast over looking the beach, it was really cool. We spent the morning on the beach and then drove to Carlos lookout and sand blow. You walk through a forest to begin with and then you’re suddenly confronted with this massive sand blow! It was quite spectacular and much more amazing than we had thought it would be. From one side you can see all across town and right up the Fraser coast and Fraser Island, on the other end, you see all across the coastal line from Double Island point towards Fraser Island. It is truly stunning. We spent the evening in the national park at Inskip point
We drove to Tin- can bay early in the morning, where we were fortunate enough to see two dolphins and we got the opportunity to feed them. It was really good. After a hearty breakfast we made our way to Hervey Bay to begin our 3 day trip to Fraser Island.
We checked into Palace backpackers’ hostel and went for a walk around town, seeing as it didn’t have a great deal to offer we went back and had dinner with Anouk and Sjoerd.
The next morning after our briefing we had our quick lesson on how to drive the 4x4’s. Clearly this confused me; thankfully I wouldn’t need to be driving. We packed our cars with our camping gear, stocked up with food for the weekend, and headed for the ferry. Sjoerd doing a very good job of reversing the 4x4 onto the ferry we were eventually on our way. An hour or so later we were on the beautiful Fraser Island, and already facing the rough terrain that lay ahead for the next 72 hours, we also witnessed the girls in the other car very nearly topple over. We stopped off first at Lake Wabby, which was really beautiful. We had to walk about 30 minutes to get to the actual lake, but it was a nice walk and well worth it once we were all in the lake. After hanging out here for an hour, we drove to the beach and set up camp for the evening. After the actual putting up of the tents being a success, we had a really good BBQ, albeit quite sandy with some lovely glasses of Goon. After the rangers successfully scared us all of the Dingoes, I wouldn’t go anywhere on my own. We saw a couple that night, it was quite scary. Thankfully Rog and I had a really good nights sleep.
Breakfast was really nice, unfortunately it started to rain, but thankfully we had done the majority of packing up. Although it carried on raining for the rest of the day, our spirits weren’t dampened and we had a really fun day. We drove for quite a bit towards Indian head, this took a while as Rog was driving, plus I had to get out a few times and check the depth of the puddles/ streams that had formed due to the rain. After reaching Indian head and looking over the beautiful bay, we headed for the Champagne pools. Unfortunately we didn’t really know where they were, and stumbled around a few rock pools pretending we had found them- dur!
On the way back down the beach, we stopped off at the Maheno shipwreck which was pretty impressive and the pinnacles. We treated ourselves to Nutella sandwiches, just what we needed. We went to Eli creek which was beautiful. We walked through the creek on the way back, it was surprisingly warm. Driving down the beach we found a place to set up camp for the evening, thankfully again, just before the rain got really heavy. I unfortunately quite needed the toilet this was rather annoying as there are no toilets, and there are Dingoes about.. Rog very kindly did the gentlemanly thing and dug a hole for me to do my business in, bless him. After the terrifying ordeal, and Anouk and Sjoerd finding this hilarious we were able to enjoy the rest of our evening. The rain got worse and worse, and although due to our efforts of putting Tarpaulin up as a shelter we still got pretty wet when cooking our dinner. However a nice dinner and some wine later we all sat in the 4x4 enjoying our evening. Anouk and I managed to make ourselves petrified of the Dingoes; we slept in the 4x4. Rog being brave slept in the tent on his own, even though the Dingoes came back hunting for food.
The last day we got up early and started our journey towards Lake Jennings and Lake Birabeen, unfortunately we were informed right at the last minute by the company that the famous Lake McKenzie was closed off to self- drive vehicles- brilliant. Not letting this effect our weekend we were happy to go to the other lakes on the island. After driving for about 15 minutes, Sjoerd noticed our Temperature gauge had gone sky high, and a lot of smoke coming from the exhaust. Pulling over quickly, the boys looked under the bonnet and we realized we had a leaking radiator, we were going no where. After managing to flag down a car, and borrow some water we slowly drove along the beach towards the one of two resorts on the island to call our tour company. Luckily the rangers drove in front of us to make sure we didn’t brake down. After being told that there is only one mechanic on the island, and he charges an absolute fortune to a) come out and look at the car and b) tow it off the island if need be. We were all freaking out thinking we were going to get blamed for it and be charged an absolute fortune. Rog phoned the company, and they sent out the mechanic. He was a really good guy, and very friendly. He managed to fix the hole that was leaking with what looked like chewing gum. This wasted about 3 hours of the day, and by now it was 12.30, we had to be at they ferry for 4pm. The mechanic told us basically we had to take the most direct route back to avoid any really rough track. This was gutting, but we didn’t let it effect us. Whilst driving back to the port and asking for directions from a bus driver, Rog asked if there was a walking track to Lake McKenzie. Wahooooooooo, we managed to get the directions, which were told to us unofficially, and find the start of the walking track really easily. After 20 minutes of walking we reached the very stunning lake. Not only were we the only people there, the sun also came out. This was the best day ever. We all ran straight into the crystal clear lake and stayed there for a good hour taking all the obligatory photos and just having an amazing time. After what was a bit of a crap day, turned out to be the best day we’ve had on the Island, we were all so happy. Heading back to the port on a high we relaxed in the bar there and had a cold refreshing beer…..perfect!
Back in Hervey bay we headed for our campsite after dropping off our 4x4. We had fish and chips that night, and were so tired after a very long weekend.
The next day we went to our Tour Company at the hostel to get our deposits back etc. They were okay about the 4x4, although still saying it wasn’t there fault, which technically I guess it wasn’t, Rog and Sjoerd managed to get us each a $40 refund for the hassle- well done boys.
The next couple of days were spent driving up towards The Whitsunday’s. We stayed in a few national parks which were really nice. On our first night we went to Agnes water and the town of 1770, where we also spent a day on the beach. This was really nice. We headed towards Rockhampton, where we stayed in this rest area, and got chatting to a trucker who gave Rog some beers, he was a really nice guy. The next day we drove to Cape Hillsborough national park, where we stayed in a very secluded camping area. It was beautiful, and we managed to see yet another stunning sunset and red sky. The beach was right on our doorstep, and the view out to sea was stunning. Our drive to Airlie beach consisted of driving through acres and acres of sugar cane fields it was really good fun, and a really nice drive.