x-box
26th March 2007, 08:05 AM
Well i'm the first one back from the island, the rest are leaving today (monday).
It was a good trip as usual, and points must go to DRanged for his handling of all matters as trip leader. All cars met at designated spot on time and left on time and the convoy did great all the way to the camping site!!! :o Apparently we even got a mention on Gympie radio :p
The first hiccup was just north of our starting point in that a truck rolled on the freeway and stuffed the traffic up as you can imagine, but we stuck together and made it through in one group - albeit very slowly. Next hurdle was the gateway tollgates where Justin went in front and paid and we all piled through in one go, none of this stop - start stuff! We eventually made it to caboolture bp where Navron thought we had given up on the trip :D . After the lengthy delay with the truck accident we decided to stop and get more coffee and stretch legs etc and then it was all aboard again for Fraser. The rest was uneventful and we made Rainbow without incident, some topped up vehicles with fuel/diesel, we purchased barge tickets from the information kiosk/shop (with a nutter who can't even drive a calculator??) , got fresh bread/rolls - oh and permits, and we headed out. Stopped to fill up water drums on the way and let down tyres and onto the barge.
With high tide as we got there, beach driving was impossible - so the inland road it was. True to expectation the condition was cr@p, with corrugations for everyone! We had no choice and spread out a bit to try and avoid all the dust, just to end up behind a backpacker troopie going 20k's :mad: . Well, at least at that speed it did not shake and rattle as much, just took longer.
Got on the beach as soon as possible with a stop at Eurong for coffee or an ice-cream. Imagine the surprise on Stevo's face when we all pointed and shouted at him that something was wrong!!?? He had demolished a tyre on his trailer completely and did not even notice it :o . Oh how comfortable those D3's must be :angel: . Well, he did manage to scource another tyre but there is a story there anyway which he can tell....! All fixed up and on the way again heading for Wathumba road to take us to the western side. Just before we got to the Maheno wreck i saw Harry and Camo run out of the scrub, they obviously heard/saw our convoy go past. As i was at the tail-end then, me and Navron turned around to say g'day and then had to rush to catch up with the rest of the convoy again. Harry and Camo camped on the eastern side at our "usual" spot - see previous post by camo. The trip to the western side was uneventful but slow-ish, with good scenery and soft sand.
The western side is QUIET, the sand is soft and there are no march-flies. The spot we chose to camp was waterfront and very good with plenty space for all the trailers and on-suites!! We even had entertainment the whole time with a movie being filmed just offshore in front of our camp. It involved a lot of action with sea-planes, jet-ski's and all manner of boats. The helicopter filmcrew even entertained us by buzzing the camp a few times!
The beach there was wonderful for the kids and they had a continuous ball. We played some beach cricket but the umpire was biased so no result recorded. The creek just up the beach was also great and we could get water there for the shower and also to cool off in. We drove further south on the beach but was stopped by an estuary and then went north again, but soft sand made progress difficult. Some fishing was done with not much result but for 2 small sharks and a few smallish dart, also the smallest flathead i have ever seen!
Navron's folks were anchored offshore in their catamaran yacht and he took them for a trip to the other side and champagne pools. All the movie action was happening right next to their boat!
Sunday morning the group went to lake mackenzie and i had to pack up to come back. We took our time and did a leisurely trip across to the eastern side and then popped in to Harry/Camo's campsite to say howdy but they were not there. While stopped further south on an elevated campsite to have a roll for lunch, i saw Harry go past in his flying green disco and called him on the radio. He popped round and after a quick chat we were all on our way again - before we got devoured by the march-flies! :(
I wanted to see what dili-village looks like so we turned in there, only to be blocked by a rental suzuki jimny with a driver who had no idea and a burnt clutch. Poor bloke had trouble and i think a flatbed would have been his best go. There were other people to help him so we left. Went as far as the beach would allow on a pushing tide before hitting the corrugations again. Kept up the speed to try and get over them and also to make it go quicker, but still could not get on the beach at hook point - a Nissan with a trailer was bogged right at the entrance to the beach, really soft and deep sand there and he was'nt going anywhere. I offered assistance and managed to turn around and snatched him out. His family was from WA and they were on a 6-month trip just touring, and had 3 months to go.
Well, had to wait for the ferry, and then all the usual after that - fuel, tyres, ice-cream, traffic and home.
Did see a disturbing sight though - southbound about 2 k's before the gateway bridge a Disco2 had lost a boat off the trailer and it did not look good, especially with the amount of traffic going past!
As far as the trip went, it was good and we all enjoyed it. Justin did a super job as trip leader.
Sunday's events and the trip back will have to be covered by someone else.
Also for later reading will be the stories about batteries going flat, new leader in the dingo-avoiding technique, water tanks busting, tyres wrecked, etc etc. What fun!!!!
Now to wait for the rest of the group... :D
It was a good trip as usual, and points must go to DRanged for his handling of all matters as trip leader. All cars met at designated spot on time and left on time and the convoy did great all the way to the camping site!!! :o Apparently we even got a mention on Gympie radio :p
The first hiccup was just north of our starting point in that a truck rolled on the freeway and stuffed the traffic up as you can imagine, but we stuck together and made it through in one group - albeit very slowly. Next hurdle was the gateway tollgates where Justin went in front and paid and we all piled through in one go, none of this stop - start stuff! We eventually made it to caboolture bp where Navron thought we had given up on the trip :D . After the lengthy delay with the truck accident we decided to stop and get more coffee and stretch legs etc and then it was all aboard again for Fraser. The rest was uneventful and we made Rainbow without incident, some topped up vehicles with fuel/diesel, we purchased barge tickets from the information kiosk/shop (with a nutter who can't even drive a calculator??) , got fresh bread/rolls - oh and permits, and we headed out. Stopped to fill up water drums on the way and let down tyres and onto the barge.
With high tide as we got there, beach driving was impossible - so the inland road it was. True to expectation the condition was cr@p, with corrugations for everyone! We had no choice and spread out a bit to try and avoid all the dust, just to end up behind a backpacker troopie going 20k's :mad: . Well, at least at that speed it did not shake and rattle as much, just took longer.
Got on the beach as soon as possible with a stop at Eurong for coffee or an ice-cream. Imagine the surprise on Stevo's face when we all pointed and shouted at him that something was wrong!!?? He had demolished a tyre on his trailer completely and did not even notice it :o . Oh how comfortable those D3's must be :angel: . Well, he did manage to scource another tyre but there is a story there anyway which he can tell....! All fixed up and on the way again heading for Wathumba road to take us to the western side. Just before we got to the Maheno wreck i saw Harry and Camo run out of the scrub, they obviously heard/saw our convoy go past. As i was at the tail-end then, me and Navron turned around to say g'day and then had to rush to catch up with the rest of the convoy again. Harry and Camo camped on the eastern side at our "usual" spot - see previous post by camo. The trip to the western side was uneventful but slow-ish, with good scenery and soft sand.
The western side is QUIET, the sand is soft and there are no march-flies. The spot we chose to camp was waterfront and very good with plenty space for all the trailers and on-suites!! We even had entertainment the whole time with a movie being filmed just offshore in front of our camp. It involved a lot of action with sea-planes, jet-ski's and all manner of boats. The helicopter filmcrew even entertained us by buzzing the camp a few times!
The beach there was wonderful for the kids and they had a continuous ball. We played some beach cricket but the umpire was biased so no result recorded. The creek just up the beach was also great and we could get water there for the shower and also to cool off in. We drove further south on the beach but was stopped by an estuary and then went north again, but soft sand made progress difficult. Some fishing was done with not much result but for 2 small sharks and a few smallish dart, also the smallest flathead i have ever seen!
Navron's folks were anchored offshore in their catamaran yacht and he took them for a trip to the other side and champagne pools. All the movie action was happening right next to their boat!
Sunday morning the group went to lake mackenzie and i had to pack up to come back. We took our time and did a leisurely trip across to the eastern side and then popped in to Harry/Camo's campsite to say howdy but they were not there. While stopped further south on an elevated campsite to have a roll for lunch, i saw Harry go past in his flying green disco and called him on the radio. He popped round and after a quick chat we were all on our way again - before we got devoured by the march-flies! :(
I wanted to see what dili-village looks like so we turned in there, only to be blocked by a rental suzuki jimny with a driver who had no idea and a burnt clutch. Poor bloke had trouble and i think a flatbed would have been his best go. There were other people to help him so we left. Went as far as the beach would allow on a pushing tide before hitting the corrugations again. Kept up the speed to try and get over them and also to make it go quicker, but still could not get on the beach at hook point - a Nissan with a trailer was bogged right at the entrance to the beach, really soft and deep sand there and he was'nt going anywhere. I offered assistance and managed to turn around and snatched him out. His family was from WA and they were on a 6-month trip just touring, and had 3 months to go.
Well, had to wait for the ferry, and then all the usual after that - fuel, tyres, ice-cream, traffic and home.
Did see a disturbing sight though - southbound about 2 k's before the gateway bridge a Disco2 had lost a boat off the trailer and it did not look good, especially with the amount of traffic going past!
As far as the trip went, it was good and we all enjoyed it. Justin did a super job as trip leader.
Sunday's events and the trip back will have to be covered by someone else.
Also for later reading will be the stories about batteries going flat, new leader in the dingo-avoiding technique, water tanks busting, tyres wrecked, etc etc. What fun!!!!
Now to wait for the rest of the group... :D