Fraser Island on our own

[goofyr]

Hi all,

I just wanted to find out if Fraser Island was easy to do with a lone vehicle?

I've done Stockton a couple of times and general beach driving so I have some experience. But I've always had another vehcile, just in case. But I have a trip to QLD with the gf planned in November and we are going on our own and I'd really love to do Fraser as we are heading to Harvey bay.

Thanks,

[FenianEel]

Fraser is piece of P***, if you have common sense, and experience in sand driving.
Depending on where you're going, and for how long of course, but it shouldn't be an issue - if you're experienced and comfortable with sand driving and tides, you'll be right.
Not that I ever encourage reliance on other people, (or people that you don't know), but the good thing and bad thing with Fraser, there are generally a lot of other vehicles/people around, and you're never too far from help.
Plenty of people do Fraser in one vehicle too.
Send a message to other AULROians if you're not comfortable - I'm sure there's a few in the area, and a few would go over for a drive/day etc.

[Captain_Rightfoot]

No worries at all. you'll be fine.

There are so many people around that you won't be on your own for long. Carry a snatch strap and a shovel though.

The only advice I would give is deflate your tyres, and if you have to go around rocks on the beach be carefull. Use the bypass track if in doubt or don't go there. Do a search on Hilux surf and see the pictures I took up there. :eek: :eek:

[Redback]

Yep i've done it alone, easy as i reckon we camped at Central camping grounds as a base camp then drove all over the island, never had a problem and only time i locked the centre in was getting on and off the barge, we towed a 8x5 tandum trailer as well.

We had a Ford Explorer then:lol:

Baz.

[Greylandy]

Stockton is more challenging than Fraser Island so I reckon you'll be ok on your lonesome.

[goofyr]

Great!
Thanks guys, can't wait to go!
:D

[Pedro_The_Swift]

HEMA make a very good map,,
show all the forest drives, towns, fuel, etc.
fuel at kingfisher is around $1.60pl,
no reason to think its cheaper anywhere else on the island.


talked to a D2 owner the other day while we both waited for the barge,, he thought traction control was wonderfull on the sand.
its interesting talking to D2 owners who dont "live" on landrover websites,, they dont all subscribe to the great gods of difflocks,,

had he just spent a week driving on fraser?
yep.
did he get bogged?
nope.

[crump]

Hi all,

I just wanted to find out if Fraser Island was easy to do with a lone vehicle?

I've done Stockton a couple of times and general beach driving so I have some experience. But I've always had another vehcile, just in case. But I have a trip to QLD with the gf planned in November and we are going on our own and I'd really love to do Fraser as we are heading to Harvey bay.

Thanks,

Yep ,be a damn sight easier then trying to drive two at once.:D

Check out the old site under Queensland Reports and have a read of Vlads articles, should tell you everything you need to know.Enjoy.:D

[Captain_Rightfoot]

HEMA make a very good map,,
show all the forest drives, towns, fuel, etc.
fuel at kingfisher is around $1.60pl,
no reason to think its cheaper anywhere else on the island.


talked to a D2 owner the other day while we both waited for the barge,, he thought traction control was wonderfull on the sand.
its interesting talking to D2 owners who dont "live" on landrover websites,, they dont all subscribe to the great gods of difflocks,,

had he just spent a week driving on fraser?
yep.
did he get bogged?
nope.
Hey! I too subscribe to the "traction control is good" school. How good? Not as good as diff locks, but much much better than nothing at all :) The other advantage is it's on all the time which is a good thing.

I tend to lock the centre diff on the really soft stuff as it helps vehicle stability, costs nothing, is probably mechanically more sympathetic, and well... why wait until you're getting bogged? It might be too late then.

[Pavo]

I did Fraser with only my car and I'd never done sand driving before. And I haven't done any since. Didn't get bogged. Only tricky stuff I found was when you had to drive through the soft sand from the hard pack beach to go inland - or the bypass routes. The main problem was my 300Tdi has nothing below 1800rpm so I found low range 3rd was best - but I have no idea what others used...this was just comfortable for. And I could sit in 3rd, build up momentum and go through. As I wasn't experienced, I'd only had my tyres down to 22psi, but having them down at 18 would have made things even easier.

So if I could do it with only the knowledge I had researched, you'll be fine.

Only other thing I learnt the hard way - on the main beach on the Eastern side, there are a lot of little creeks that flow into the ocean. Most of them I could drive through quickly, but then I thought they were all the same and hit one which had a step on each side. Sent a big thud through the car as suspension bottomed out and lesson learnt!

[DiscoTDI]

Fraser is easy to do alone, just watch out for the toyomotors with a few screws missing behind the wheel:D

[VladTepes]

Be prepared to offer advice to others in bogged troopies, pajeros etc. Otherwise you'll be fine.

Have a look at my articles hopefully they'll be of some use to you.

Vlad's Fraser Island Odyssey

http://www.our4wd.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=3013

and

Fraser Odyssey II: The Return of the Vlad

http://www.our4wd.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=8370

Enjoy your trip !!!!:)

[FenianEel]

talked to a D2 owner the other day while we both waited for the barge,, he thought traction control was wonderfull on the sand.
its interesting talking to D2 owners who dont "live" on landrover websites,, they dont all subscribe to the great gods of difflocks,had he just spent a week driving on fraser?
yep.
did he get bogged?
nope.

Right on. Have been sand driving since I was 15, and have never engaged a difflock, (even in vehicles that had them:lol:), even in powdery soft high tide runs. Sand driving can be potentially dangerous, but is also probably the easiest 4WDing.
(Yes, the caption comp photo of Moreton was the only time I've been bogged, unable/unwilling to extract myself, due to p*ss poor vehicle lights at 10pm, crossing a soft hole on what was a construction track:mad:)

By the way look out for all the Eurotrash backpackers in Troopies and hire 4WD's. I wouldn't stop and help them unless
1. They're in bikinis (the girls)
2. They're wearing green jerseys
:lol::lol::lol:
Just kidding

[boggo]

As everyone has already said,Fraser is no dramas.Just watch out for backpackers in rentals(usually full to overflowing),and dont camp on any tracks!!I was there around october last year,and saw a few crv's,rav's and the like.Now talk about idiots.Whilst cruising through the more remote:rolleyes: tracks on the western side of the island,we came across some footprints in the middle of a track(this was fairly early in the day).After some diversions and several hours later we re-encountered these footsteps and they eventually led to a well and truly stuck rav4.We followed the footprints for lots more k's b4 turning off to check out another section.On our way back to the eastern side,much later that day,we picked up the footprints where we left off,and after several k's,and now dark,we came across 2 canadian idiots,i mean tourists,barefoot,no water,and just slightly relieved to see us(they hadnt seen anyone all day,had been bogged and got themselves going over 20 times before giving up<once they hit the flat,less used bits>and said they had hoped to be in cairns by this time:eek: ).My defender can only seat 2,and as the mrs was 20 weeks pregnant,there was no turning back the 3+ hours to their car,so,after some water,it was onto the bullbar for a good hour until we dropped them at one of the resorts.Mate,talk about morons.Anyway,you'll be right,your in a land rover!!!!!:D