Day 47-51 Hervey Bay and Fraser Island

After 400km drive to Hervey Bay, we all crashed very weary from travel and adventure. With hindsight, the wise move would have been to take a rest day, but we'd already booked in our car ferry to Fraser island and 3 nights accommodation. Fraser has been on my bucket list for yonks.



So next morning, we packed our pristine, unused vehicle recovery gear, said good buy to our tiny home and boarded the car ferry. Fraser is the largest sand island in the world. A ranger informed us they'd seen no rain for months making the soft sandy tracks as rough and difficult as they get.


 Here's me letting down the tyres on the ferry (this gives the tyres more surface area and better grip). I'll admit I was anxious about driving in sand and salt, getting horribly stuck and/or completely trashing the car. My only experience getting a bogged car out of sand was watching about a hundred youtube videos...

Off the ferry and quickly into the sand. The plan was to keep momentum through the deeper dry sand sections. Its a strange feeling as the car churned through the sand meandering pretty much wherever the deep ruts took us. The traffic on Fraser is also a real handful as the tracks are single lane. In some parts the track has been worn 10 feet into the earth from repetitive use, you find yourself driving through what feels like narrow cuttings. Its not unusual to find your self in a stand off with a large tourist bus. Because of their sheer size, the buses barrel through the tracks faster than any of the cars can go and command right of way - they are the ocean liners of the sandy tracks. There are escape sections to allow vehicles to pass, but no one wants to stop in the deep sand, so most maneuvers are frantic and slightly stressful. I lost count of the times Em and I breathed a sigh of relief as we negotiated difficult uphill sections, blind corners or having to reverse through difficult sections to a refuge spot to let convoys of vehicles through. It certainly would have been much more fun with a companion vehicle in tow

It was almost impossible to jump out and get a video of the really tough sections as they are very narrow, deep and we didn't want to risk being caught stationary for fear of bogging or being run over by a another charging vehicle.

The actual beach driving was simple and in some sections the speedo will reach 85km/h. The island is about 120 km's long and impossible to cover in the short time we were there.

Some of the stuff we did:

A swim at Lake MacKenzie was pretty cool. Its a large freshwater lake with crystal clear water. This place was buzzing with 2 types, either people with beer cans cemented to their palms, or selfie obsessed millennials. Perhaps we were there at a busy time post schoolies, but we felt out of place most of the time on the island.

Close by the lake we saw a very large monitor lizard hanging onto the far side of the tree Josh is looking at in the pic below. I reckon it was at least 160 cms top to tail.

Josh and I grabbed some lilos and went floating down the famed Eli creek. First float down we encountered a small eel. Apparently 4 millions litres of fresh water flow from Eli creek into the ocean every hour - hard to wrap my brain around that fact, seems like a huge waste. This time lapse is us walking to the start of the creek float, then the next is... well... you'll see

Shipwreck - SS Maheno. This boat was washed ashore by a cyclone in 1935, since then she has remained here rusting away

Kingfisher Bay Resort - Although we stayed at Eurong on the popular beach highway side of the island, we very much enjoyed our final day relaxing at the quiet family friendly resort. Eurong resort was... well... terrible. The rooms had less charm than a hospital ward, average food and very dirty. Tom asked "why does my bed smell like dog"? We turned a fan on in a bedroom and thick dust dislodged all over the bed - yes we complained and were pretty relived to check out in the end. The place was packed with 20 somethings and loud tour buses.

Much to my excitement, we were flagged down to help someone out of a pickle. While doing this we swapped 4wd stories with another couple. Their stories of getting bogged reminded us to stay alert at the wheel and keep that momentum through the tricky uphill tracks.

One of our missions was to see a wild Dingo. The tip was to check out the beach at dusk. Dingos tend to lurk around the fisherman. So from our car we patrolled the beach, Josh's keen eyes spotted this one blending into the sand - stalking a nearby fisherman who looked alone, frustrated and understandably distracted. You'll notice this dingo has a tracking collar fitted... we learnt later dingos with these collars are the naughty ones, prone to aggression... in hind sight we probably should have done more for the solitary fisherman.















Oh yes, all this "momentum" and bouncing around did take its toll on our beloved bus. The bash plate took some punishment. The car was due for a service, so on our return we had the car serviced and checked. They straightened the bash-plate as much as possible and assured me the slightly bent radiator has no cracks or leaks and should be fine... I'm tipping we'll need to replace that sometime in the near future. So you may be wondering how or who was responsible - both of us drove and both hit obstacles with some force... so... naturally we'll chalk it up as Emma's doing. Perhaps we could have eased back on the "momentum".

Looking back through these photo's it looks like a pretty awesome place.. and it truly is. However, it was a taxing trip to some already weary travelers. So it was welcome relief for us all when we arrived back to our mobile abode, familiar beds and no sand!! (you should have seen me at the car wash)

Next we make our way further south to the Gold Coast, on the way we catch up with some friends and family. After that we're onto theme parks before setting a course for Ballarat. Were planning to be home by Dec 17th.