Fraser Island 2013

[GuyG]

Thanks to everyone who came along and made this trip great fun and thanks to Grimace for arranging the group site again. There were lots of photos taken so that everyone can see what a beautiful place Fraser Island is.

A couple got bogged and some caught fish - we have photos of both, so they did happen.

I'll be back to complete the report later - I have a car to clean.

[tonic]

Yes ditto to Grimace for the site organising and thanks again to Guy for his expert knowledge of the Island making travelling a breeze. Except maybe for those with complicated 4x4 systems

Here is just a snippet of how great the place can be, this is the only photo I have ready so far from I think 1,000 to cull.

In front of Sandy Cape Lighthouse, more to follow

[tonic]

Just waiting for the under side of the car to dry before I spray the lanolin everywhere and have just found a couple of photos Nicole has sent me.

The trip was, great, we spent an extra 2 days a Eurong Beach Resort. Good clean accommodation with full cooking facilities or you can restaurant or bakery. There is also a well stocked general store and fuel.

We then moved up to Dundaburra and set up camp just before the much welcomed company arrived. The camp site is ideal for a group with great amenities not too far away by foot.

Our first trip was up to Sandy Cape which for us is a highlight of the trip and if you look at my last post you can see why. On the trip back Nicole took a number of shots, this first one is of the group heading back


This next shot is a bit unclear, I cant quite remember what was going on, I think Grimace was checking the tyre pressure for Tim. He certainly did a lot of digging to find those valves, and then he put these nice mats down. I know it's a D3, but I thought rolling out the carpet for it to drive on was a bit much. Guy mentioned later that he thought Tim had put it in snow instead of sand, suggesting it would be an easy mistake, both have four letters and start with s. But really, I think he just got bogged



The next day was Eli Creek, for my son Jack, there is no other place on earth, he just loves it. There may have been a water fight go on there that day, photos to follow. Anyway, Jack and his dad.



The next day we headed up to Champaign Pools and Indian head. Then we all sort of split up and did our own thing for the day, us with kids did family stuff and the rest did some serious fishing. On the way to Indian Head, Fluffy and Boomer decided to play up, nothing Grimace or I could do to stop it, naughty Fluffy, naughty Boomer.




The last day the tide was late so it meant we could have an extra day and go home late. Tim and Co with Guy headed off to do some inland exploring while the remaining, less the Georges who went home the day before, went back to laze at Eli Creek. The weather was great with only a small shower on Saturday night, great company, great spot, great trip.

More photos to follow.

[Outlaw]

Another brilliant Fraser trip... cheers to everyone for the company and to Guy for leading

We took it easy this time... after doing so many K's exploring the island a couple years back, this time we wanted to relax and we did just that. And you just have to love a late low forcing a day at Eli just taking in the views

Here a some pics till i get the camera back off Tom in a few days time. Unfortunately my phone was playing up so didn't get many myself though am proud of the last one

[tonic]

This will not save me from Guy, but I did capture some fish in Eli Creek

Fish in Eli Creek Fraser Island - YouTube

[WhiteD3]

Statement: I hate you all. First Fraser trip I've missed in 6 years (?)

Question: How was the weather? We were at Kings Beach and it blew a gale the whole weekend.

[GuyG]

The weather was fantastic.

We had a small amount of rain on the first night, but that just made the tracks that bit easier, for some. There was wind about but not enough to be unpleasant. Apart from that it was clear blue skies as can be seen in the photos. Eli Creek was full with lots of people enjoying the refreshing water and sights.

[Timj]

Ok, finally got some photos up on the internet. See here - GCLRO Fraser 2013 album | TimJ | Fotki.com, photo and video sharing made easy.

Had a great time, neither Dad or Gus had been to Fraser before so it was really good to be able to show them around. The roads in the middle were pretty rough and soft, enough to stop the D3 and trailer twice (though the first one I am sure was deliberate as Guy slowed down right in the middle of the soft patch to look for a map). Once I dropped the pressures a little more and decided that speed was my ally we didn't stop again though . The swim in Lake Birrabeen was well worth the roads too, no one else there at all.

Thanks to all for organising, to those of you who didn't make it, you really should make the extra effort to get on this trip. Fraser is a fantastic place and it doesn't get any better than going there with a great bunch of people.

Cheers,

TimJ.

[Grimace]

Man what an orsum Fraser adventure!

It was a mission for myself to even get away for the trip this year. I spent many nights working on the car replacing items and then re-tuning it on the Thursday afternoon after discovery it was running extremely lean (completely my own fault)!

After getting to bed at some ridiculous hour on Friday morning. I then had to awake after only 4 hours of sleep. I then proceeded to change the oils in the differentials before doing a final check and getting under way.

Running over half an hour late to the meet point I must apologise to those whom patiently waited for my arrival.

The convoy from here on was great, easy paced and well mannered. I finally felt as if all the lack of sleep was worth it. It finally dawned on me that I was once again going to enjoy a wonderful handful of days (and nights) on Fraser Island.

After a final top up in Rainbow beach we headed to the barge where we aired down before crossing the soft sand.
Everything going so well, seems I had made a sequence of rookie mistakes that lead to me almost requiring a snatch before even getting on the island

There will be photos of this I am sure

The first mistake was the tyre pressure setting of 'she'll be right mate'. Not really sure what I aired down to but it was clearly not enough.
The second was crawling onto the soft sand... at about 10km/h... in high range with the CDL not locked
The third mistake was stopping suddenly in the soft sand to put it into low range after realising the above....
Needless to say the car went down as fast as it went forward. By this time I had a mound of sand built up in front of all the tyres and the camper trailer was a darn anchor!!!

I was going no where fast... actually I was going no where full stop!!!
Even after engaging both lockers I was barely moving.

It was now that I jumped out to chuck on the Staun tyre deflators that were set at around 8psi and let them reduce the psi in the tyres while I just spun them inching forward ever so slowly until finally I got to some harder sand and away it went

Thank gosh for that, as I almost conceded defeat and opted for a snatch but could not bring myself to it

Thanks to everyone for watching and pointing and laughing at me

After this it was all good, I was on the ball
But as per usual I lacked the camera motivation so most photos are of the children enjoying the island.

We didn't do all that much this year but it was what we had planned from the get go. Spent most of the time just relaxing. Soaking up the sunshine, drinking beer and enjoying the view at Eli Creek.

Here is a couple of shots that are thread worthy!

The convoy, the crew, the elite....


The main focus of the weekend... To relax (even if I look like I am trying to bust out a poop)!!!


The Goanna (seen plenty at camp)


The TimJ in front of Fluffy (with tyre pressure of 7psi as I discovered on the following day)


The Fry!


So to wrap up, thank you to all whom attended this years Fraser Island adventure. Mainly for the good company, secondly for the food

Thanks again to Guy for his role as weirdo trip leader, his knowledge of the island helps immensely. Thanks to Josh (did I just say that) for being the only one to provide a decent fish for eating... honestly how did that happen???
Actually scrap that last one... Thanks to Tom for having a working rover to bring Josh to catch the fish. Thanks again to Tom for handling the prep of the fish.
Thanks to George, for the beers, twiggys, and the late night booty talk

I hope Tom (Tim's father) and Gus were satisfied with what they got to explore. Look forward to seeing them and others out on more adventures.


Cheers
Grimace

[Outlaw]

How's that report coming along Guy or are you still cleaning the rangy?