Fraser Island 6-11 October 2010
The 2010 Fraser Island Trip.
I met Pete and Sam at 6am on Wednesday at the Caboolture BP so that we could hit the Island early and explore the bottom end of the Island before heading up to Waddy Point Beach campground. This would mean that we were going to land close to high tide and take the horrid inland road to just short of Dilli Village. All was going well (only 3-4 hrs into the trip) until we stopped for the permits at Rainbow Beach. As Pete has already mentioned in another thread the 90 had clutch issues just as we arrived at Rainbow Beach. You never want to have car issues on a trip, but where this happened was probably the best spot: in phone coverage, RACQ in town, far enough from home to have vehicle recovery (depending on your level of cover), not yet on the beach or Island as vehicle recovery is around $220 per hour as RACQ does not cover you even though it’s a designated road.
It was decided that the best option was to get the vehicle and Pete back to Gregs for some TLC and as Sam had not been to Fraser Island before that we would still go and explore that Island. Plus it was a beautiful sunny day which would be silly to waste, even more so when you are on annual leave. Then the fun began trying to fit Pete and Sam’s required gear into my car, for those who’ve seen how much stuff I carry – but it was all squashed in. As it was now after midday and the rangie was very full, I decided that we would head straight up the beach to Waddy Point and setup camp. If Pete didn’t have car issues, we had the option of camping further south on the Island as we were a couple of days ahead of the main group. We stopped off at the wreck of the Maheno on the way up the Island.
Waddy Beach campground was even better than I expected as there was drinking water taps nearby and there was one fire ring between each two campsites. The facilities were close with the option of either $1 hot/cold showers up at the main campground or a free cold shower on the beach. I don’t think anyone opted for the cold shower. We had a pre arranged supply of timber on the Island and the people camping next to us also gave us a bag of wood as they were leaving the next morning and going to friends for Dinner. We actually had wood left over.
We didn’t bother about a tarp as it had been sunny during the day and clear skies at night, although some cover in the morning would have been nice as it was quite hot. There seemed to be a few cars parked out near the beach. We walked along to the sand dune to find about 100 cars parked along between the sand dune and Waddy Point. There was a nice gutter in which people were fishing for Tailor, actually it seemed most were drinking with a few fishing in between. Apparently the bigger tailor were being caught at night, this was confirmed by our new neighbor who caught several.
Thursday morning we headed south to explore Central Station (via the bakery at Eurong), then Lake Mackenzie for a swim, continuing on to the lookout over Lake Wabby, then Hammerstone and Stonetool Sandblows. Then back up to camp via Eli Creek.
Friday started with watching the whales from Waddy Point, then to Champayne Pools and climbing up Indian Head. It was then time for an ice block from the shop, before heading back to camp for the arrival of the main group. Luckily Grimace brought a tarp with him as they also brought the wind and some rain, but it would have been miserable without the tarp. Grimace, Pete and I attempted to catch some fish but it wasn’t to be.
Saturday morning was a very early start for Tim and Phil who had to beat the high tide to head to Kingfisher Resort to meet their respective partners before they explored the bottom of the island for the day. JohnR caught the first barge from Inskip having slept in the car and were at the campsite around 9am. I attempted to catch some fish. The rest had a more leisurely start. The group headed down to Waddy Point while John setup camp, then across to South Waddy which is where you can catch worms. The beach south from here is closed to vehicles but you can see down to Middle Rocks and Indian Head.
We collected John and headed north attempting to get to the Cape, having checked with the shop we were advised that no one had made it to the Cape this week due to Browns Rocks, but we thought we’d go and see how far we could get. There were apparently some people camped at the Cape that couldn’t get back. Grimace had to have a second attempt at the access track off the beach up to Orchid Beach mind you he was in a friends’ car so was being nice to it. We walked most of South Ngkala Rocks bypass track so that the drivers knew what they were in for and also to check that no one was bogged. There was a Patrol bogged in the very first section. Grimace on his first attempt made it further than the Patrol, luckily he had a couple of girls to push him out. This first part is fairly long, soft sand and is slightly inclined. Everyone made it through and down onto the beach for the next bit which was quite easy. However the next Coffee Rock section was not the most friendly looking so it was decided that we’d head back for lunch. John did make it through and back – refer the photos below from Mark. A couple of cars (not in our group) did however go round the front of the rocks but that meant going through some of the surf. It was mentioned later that if Tim was there in the Pinhauzer that we could have all piled into it to see how much further we could have made. Ah well maybe next year.
We stopped off at Ocean Lake for lunch before completing the circuit walk and another lookout. As it was still reasonably early in the afternoon we went over to Platypus Bay. Sometimes the gate to this road is locked, but it was open this time. The beach however is closed to all vehicles between the Lighthouse and Wathumba Creek. Access down to the beach is by foot only – only about 50m. At low tide it is a lovely wide white beach but the wind was way too strong so it was only a brief stop. On the way back to Camp we went through Orchid Beach to show the group some of the houses etc that are up there. Some of them have fantastic views.
Sunday morning saw 10 of us pile into the Pinhauzer and head to the shop for an ice cream and to watch the beginning of Bathurst and the great stack in the first couple of laps. It might actually have been the Tim needed fuel and Marks boys were wanted a ride, so the rest of us jumped in too. Actually it was a joy ride and I think we would have been happy going anywhere. On the way back it paused in one of the water crossings, but it just re-started and kept going. JohnR and DJHampson (with Pete and Sam) had to pack up and head home. The rest of us stayed until Monday. Most of us went fishing for the afternoon but only a few actually caught anything – I wasn’t one of them. Grimace and Jess might have stayed longer if the weather was semi decent.
Sunday night Ben who was camped next to us cooked some of the fish that he had caught, so we had fresh crumbed Dart and Tailor for dinner along with some salads that Grimace and Jess had supplied. It doesn’t get much better than that.
At some point during the night the Tarp decided that it no longer wanted to be a tarp and ripped so we had to start packing up. Grimace wanted to see if it would lift us off the ground.
Monday morning had patches of rain with lots of wind which made packing up quite interesting. Then we had to wait for the tides as high wasn’t until late morning. Grimace, Jess and I went to Champayne Pools then onto the Northern side of Indian Head thinking that it’d be out of the wind while we waited for the tide to drop enough to head down the beach. Once a couple of cars had come out of the bypass track we decided to start heading south. The beach was still quite soft and the strong wind made for some interesting handling. The run down the beach and round hook point was good. The barge ride back to Inskip point was a little rough. I’m kind of glad that it wasn’t too much longer and I believe I’m not the only one. From here Mark decided that he was going home via Gympie while the rest of us headed through the Freshwater Track and down Noosa North Shore and through Tewantin while it’s still free to use. We stopped in at the Lake on the Freshwater track as a last bit of sightseeing. Thinking back we probably should have checked whether the beach was passable from Rainbow Beach down to Double Island Point as the permits start next week. The beach was covered with lots of large Blue Bottles, popping them sounded like standing on bubble wrap. Grimace made the comment that we hope we don’t get stung while cleaning our cars. The beach also was covered with a layer of brown weed and lots of froth/foam which was interesting trying to avoid as you don’t know what could be hiding in it.
From here we headed towards Cooroy where the patches of heavy rain kicked in, then down the highway. The highway had patches of really heavy rain then not so heavy. We stopped off at the Mobil at Glasshouse Mountains for food and so Grimace could remove a leaf that nicely landed right in the line of sight and got caught under the wiper blade.
Thanks everyone for a great trip. I think we had better weather on the Island that the rest of SE Qld.
98 Harvey the tractor - 300 tdi Defender Wagon
84 Alfetta GTV
Reply With Quote) which I won't bore you with here but here's a few....
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, thanks 
. No one required fuel at this stage so we headed to the ferry, stopping by the National Parks office to collect our passes and permits, and of course a quick toilet stop. We then made our way up to Rainbow along the beach (after a quick air down of course), through freshwater track and into rainbow for a final fill up prior to heading to the manta ray barge.
Originally Posted by JohnR
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