Fraser Island

Just returned from our 3 days away on Fraser Island. We went for a self-drive 4x4 hire package which basically meant that we had a bit more freedom, and didn't have to squeeze in the back of a van with 9 other randoms, nor take the big tourist buses with all the geriatrics. So we pitched up at the hire place the day before leaving and got shown a half hour instructional video on how to drive a 4x4, which was actually 5 mins instruction and 25 mins lecture on all the various things not covered by the insurance eg. Driving the vehicle into the Pacific Ocean. We also got shown a video about camping, as we were going to camp the two nights we were there. This video centred mostly on Dingos and what to do if you come across them. They've had a bit of bad press in the past having killed a 9 year old boy on the island in 2001. So they now have signs all over the island warning about them and to keep your eye on your kids, and eat in the designated cages that they've erected round some of the picnic sights.

They also warn of $3000 fines for encouraging them or feeding them. Jenny was very restrained, despite initially suggesting that we take some dog food over for them. We had a couple of encounters with them whilst we were out there.

They are pretty shifty looking animals. We had one come right up within feet of us. In fact it was circling within feet of her and our bags whilst I was swimming in one of the fresh water lakes. It was scoping out what was worth taking, which gave Jenny a bit of a fright.

They're quite small, and seem pretty solitary. We did however have a pack of them come up to our campsite, but they moved off pretty quickly, only to return and sit directly outside our tent howling at 3.30am, which was annoying. We found them pretty timid though, and if you stood up they normally buggered off. The advice on the signs was to "Defend yourself aggressively" luckily it never got as far as that.

The 4x4 that we hired was the cheapest one available, a Suzuki Jimny, which we named Jimmy.

It was effectively like my micra at home with massive wheels on it. It wasn't long before we realised that nearly everyone else on the island had 4x4's twice the size of our little Jimmy, twice as high off the deck, and with 100 times more power. We came off the ferry and began off down a sand track to the south of the island.

Everything was going ok and we were bumping along quite nicely......until we went over a big jaggy stick that fired up through the base of the car and up through the gear stick narrowly missing my arm on the way. Scary stuff. We slowly began to realise that it was going to be tougher going than we thought as Jimmy was so low to the ground, and there was so much sand piled high in between the tyre tracks we were following that he was dragging his arse along the ground effectively. Despite plenty of encouraging shouts of "Come on Jimmy" from both of us we did end up stuck at one point, and the lack of tuition in driving a Jimmy, or my attention to it, became apparent pretty quickly.

I managed to dig us in twice as deep as we were initially by giving it plenty of wheel spins. So we had to get out in the blazing heat and dig the wheels out. Having dug them out and the undercarriage of the car I again managed to get us bogged down by spinning the wheels faster this time completely grounding the vehicle. To make matters worse (initially) a huge bus load of tourists came up behind us wanting past. We were blocking the road and I had to dig whilst all the tourists got out to have a good look. None of them offering to help. Simply to look.....and take pictures!!!! of me scrabbling about digging the sand out from under the wheels in the 30 degree heat, bright red and sweating. Eventually the driver, who was obviously on a tight schedule, put me out of my misery and encouraged the tourists to help push whilst he took the wheel and drove us back to slightly less soft sand. He clearly had us sized up as a couple of clowns who didn't have a clue and was being a bit arsie, but he did get us to safety so can't complain too much. Certainly was a crash course in how to get unstuck, and we survived the next 2 1/2 days without any other driving difficutlies. You're only allowed on the island with a 4x4, as there are no road. Despite having a kind of hybrid car/4x4 the driving was amazing fun. Hammering about the soft sand tracks in the bush was proper offroad driving, quite hard going and deafening as all the camping gear smashed about in the back. So so so much fun though.

75 mile beach runs right up the eastern edge of the island and is very spectacular, as it is so long, and has the Pacific crashing onto it. It is also amazing in that at low tide is a big wide sand motorway.

Driving up and down this was superb as well. We had to time it for the low tides to use the beach, and cut it quite fine on our second day with the tide fast coming up and running out of beach to drive on we only just made it to a safe spot to stop whilst the tide came up and went away so we could continue. One of the things the hire company hammered into us was NEVER drive in salt water, as that totally destroys all the electrics, so we were very careful about this. There were lots of little freshwater creeks running from the island interior onto the beach and out into the ocean. These were great fun to cross as well.

Eli Creek is the biggest, fastest flowing of these at about a couple of feet deep and about 3 metres wide, and crossing it was quite exciting as they warn that if you get stuck then the vehicle just gets buried which is not good news as a tow costs about a million dollars. We managed to get wee Jimmy across it a couple of times safely. It was quite funny watching the other folk who had the same model - their were a couple which made us feel not quite so stupid - sitting weighing up whether or not it was worth it to attempt certain creeks or deeper sands, then revving it up and hurtling at whatever obstacle was in the way.

The camping went reasonably well, although you forget how uncomfortable lying on the ground all night is. We weren't allowed to use the campsites provided because we're cheapskates but were able to camp anywhere along the beach just behind the dune, which I thought was better, because it meant we could choose anywhere we wanted and get a feeling of being in the wilderness.

Jenny initially liked this idea then spent most of the first night under the stars listening for unusual noises thinking someone was creeping about outside the tent coming to kill us. She was out with the torch a couple of times. We survived. On our second day we travelled right the way 50km up the beach to Indian Heads, the northern most point to which you can take the vehicles. On the way we stopped at the shipwreck of the Maheno, which was a luxury cruise liner, built in Scotland! that washed up on the shore of Fraser Island just before the 1st World war, during a typhoon.

Was pretty cool. We also drove past the Pinnacles which are coloured sand cliffs. When we got to Indian Heads we climbed up the rocks from where you get a good view of the beach and out to the South Pacific. At this time of year Humpback Whales migrate South down the coast to warmer waters with their young, and this viewpoint was supposed to be a spot where you could spy them. We didn't see anything. It started raining and we just got wet, which is unbelievable, as I think they only get about 2 days rain a year there! Typical. We got a mixed bag of weather which was a shame, because when the sun is out the place is incredible. Jenny wasn't terribly impressed with all of this, as we had only seen one scabby dingo that looked a bit mental up til that point and it was quite cold. However she had her close encounter with the dingo later that day, at a freshwater lake we climbed up to and swam in, Lake Wabby.

The sun came out all that afternoon and we did a bit of sunbathing and watching the giant catfish in the lake. Things got even better when I spied some bursts of spray and humps breaching the water just off the coast where we had just decided to camp. So we did get to see humpbacks, literally 500m off the coast. Was really spectacular. Even I was quite engrossed watching them.

We camped for our last night and I got up early the next morning - 4.30am - to try to catch the sunrise.

Unfortunately the sun was hiding behind the clouds, and it was freezing, but still reasonably spectacular. We were pretty sleep deprived the whole time we were on the island, having to get up at 5am to pack up and get moving so that we could use the beach as a road. We were in bed by 8pm each night as well which is not something I've done since I was about 8. On our way back across the island to the ferry we stopped at Mackenzie lake which is the most famous and picturesque of the lakes.

Unfortunatley the weather wasn't great so we lay on the beach freezing and getting sandblasted from the wind for 1/2 an hor before leaving.

All in all, despite the mixed weather, Fraser Island was really beautiful. It's an amazing place given that it is entirely made of sand, and yet you drive a lot of the time through rainforest that has managed to grow in the sand.

It was great to get away from it all as well. Despite their being quite a few others hacking about the place in 4x4's, for a lot of the time because the island is so big, you can be totally alone and be on miles of completely empty beach or seemingly untouched rainforest. All pretty smart. We both really enjoyed it. Back in Hervey Bay taking it easy for a day or so. Had our first showers in three days yesterday which was a godsend. Sand all over the shop. Booked a coach back to Brisvegas tomorrow then heading on to Surfers Paradise for some beach action, surfing and some bloody sun hopefully.

Just a quick aside - Now not only can I wear lots of gold, but drink it as well. Happy days.