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Published: January 29th 2009
Day 206: Wednesday 21st January - Meeting the self-drive group in Hervey Bay
Leaving Noosa behind, it’s a 5 hour bus drive north to Hervey Bay. Even for seemingly small distances on the map it’s always a long journey between them in practice in Australia. Thankfully, the time passes quickly as I get talking to a teacher from West Yorkshire, Natalie. When Natalie gets off in Rainbow Beach I can’t believe we’re 3 hours into the bus journey.....I don’t think we stopped talking for more than ten seconds. There is a mini-bus waiting to collect me and take me to the hostel when I arrive in Hervey Bay. By the time I get to the hostel which is on the outskirts of the sprawling Hervey Bay, 7km from the centre I’m short of time to get to my briefing for my Fraser Island tour which starts at 3pm. Luckily, my booking includes a free transfer to the travel agency back in the centre of Hervey Bay, so I’m back out of the door the minute I arrive.
At the briefing I meet my group for the self-drive. There are two 4x4’s going out tomorrow from the agency. We have
the same itinerary, so we’re sure to see the other group a lot of the time. There are nine in my group and ten in the other. In my group there are two English girls, Isla and Jay; four Swedish girls, Sophie, Laura, Marlin and Maria and a French couple. No complaints from me! It seems like a good group, everyone is chilled out and I’m looking forward to it. Four of us can drive (you have to be over 21 and in possession of a driving licence) so that’s a good number so you’ll get a fair go yet not be driving all the time. One of the guys from the tour agency, Kris entertains us in the briefing on Fraser Island with lots of funny stories about what can happen in a typically Aussie blokey way. Once that’s over we go shopping as a group for our three day trip. The girls take over once we’re in the supermarket which is fine by me, but virtually everyone is getting involved which is a good sign. No disagreements over what to buy and all decisions are made by a consensus.....this is going to be a really good group. Once
we have the food we individually go and get our alcohol.
All the rest of my group are staying at the hostel where the tour agency is located whilst I’m way out in the suburbs and I can’t get back to my hostel until 8pm unless I’m willing to pay for a taxi. I’m starving now as all I’ve had since breakfast is a piece of cake. One of the girls kindly offers me a slice of her pizza and we all sit around chatting and getting to know each other for a couple of hours until I have to get a lift to the transit centre to then catch a lift from the YHA from there back to my hostel. When I climb into the mini-bus at the transit centre, who else is there but Louise from Noosa who’s also staying at the YHA! Once back there I finally get some food after I get offered a free pint to celebrate Obama’s inauguration as US president! I’m right behind him, especially if there’s beer involved!! All that’s left to do now is pack my daypack for the next 3 days.
Day 207: Thursday 22nd January - Day
1 of the self-drive on Fraser Island
I have to be at the agency by 8am for my self-drive. With the only courtesy transfer which will get me there in time being at 6:10am I opt for an extra hour in bed and I’ll get a taxi instead. When I come to put my luggage in storage I see a face which is vaguely familiar yet I can’t place it. When I go back through to reception to wait for the taxi I’ve booked the same guy is stood there. He asks me if I’m Andrew doing a self-drive tour to Fraser Island today with Unique Fraser. That’s me....he introduces himself as Ricky, he’s just booked on to the trip at the last minute. We work out that we’ve met somewhere in New Zealand on the Kiwi Experience but I don’t remember him being on my bus for any great time otherwise I would definitely recognise him. Anyway, he’s being picked up by the agency so I can cancel my taxi and save some money in the process. On the way to the agency we work out that we met in a hostel in Queenstown, where we shared a
dorm together for a couple of days. I remember him being a really friendly guy and with their only being nine in our group he’s likely to be in our 4x4 which will be good. What a small world it is, meeting someone a month and a few thousand miles away from where you last bumped into them.
At the agency, we get a last briefing on how to drive safely. There are shock tactics being employed to drain confidence to a level where you’ve just about got the confidence to drive but you dare not do anything too stupid. We go to the butchers next door to get some decent meat for tonight’s BBQ with the money left over from yesterday’s shopping trip and the extra $20 Ricky has put in. The final task is to load up the vehicle with the food, tents, sleeping bags and rucksacks and then we’re off. Kris from the agency asks our group who wants to drive - we’ve now got an extra driver in Ricky, making five - nobody steps forward so I pipe up and say I’ll do it. Having not driven for 7 months I’m not exactly flowing with
confidence of driving a 3 tonne 4x4 to the ferry terminal and then reversing it on. Behind the wheel again it isn’t too bad, cornering isn’t as stable in the 4x4 as it was in my Audi TT, that’s noted for the next corner. Second gear keeps popping out of gear and the breaks are so unresponsive that you have to double the breaking distances....otherwise it’s all good. Speaking of the breaks, for a split second I think I’m going to run into the vehicle in front when it comes to parking up waiting for the ferry - I stop just in time. Now for the bit I’m dreading; reversing on to the ferry with about 100 onlookers from every self-drive. It doesn’t prove to be as bad as I thought it would be with someone guiding you in. It is now a half an hour ferry ride across to Fraser Island before our off-road adventure starts!
Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand bar measuring 130km by 20km wide, and one of the few places in the world where rainforest grows on sand. The local Aboriginal people call Fraser Island K’Gari, which translates into paradise. Fraser Island is also
one of the two places I hear everyone talk about when asked what their highlight was on the east coast of Australia, the other being sailing in the Whitsunday’s. As well as sand and rainforests, 100 lakes dot the landscape and it’s also home to a dingo population and has been the site of numerous shipwrecks down the years. I’m excited and looking forward to our Fraser adventure as I drive off the ferry and into the rainforest.
Our first stop at Lake Mackenzie takes about an hour to reach through the rainforest. The driving is fun, not too challenging but you do need 100% concentration all the time. It starts raining whilst we’re driving through the rainforest, a pattern of bad weather which continues over the next 3 days. At Lake Mackenzie we have lunch in the rain before we go down to the lakeside. It starts to rain heavier and I think about putting my waterproof on before opting instead to strip down to just my swimming shorts. It’s so muggy and hot it is pointless putting a waterproof on - I’d just sweat and get wet from the inside. Lake Mackenzie is spectacular, fringed by a
fine white sandy beach and rainforest. The first section of the water where you can stand up in is a beautiful aquamarine blue a contrast to the much darker blue out in the depths. I’ve heard this mentioned as the highlight of Fraser Island and whilst it’s too early to say that I can see myself agreeing in two days time. We have about an hour swimming and playing in the water and despite the rain it’s actually refreshing. I manage to hit Sophie full on in the face with the ball when she’s not looking by accident...oops!.... I was always a crap thrower. Thankfully she’s okay though.
Ricky takes over the driving after lunch, the two of us pretty much share the driving over the three days apart from two brief occasions when Isla and Julian, the French guy have a go. Ricky drives us east through the rainforest to Eurong and then it’s out on to 75 mile beach. The beach is the island’s main highway and at first it’s surreal seeing vehicles pass each other driving in opposite directions along the beach. The driving appears easier though in the hard sand near the sea. You do
have to be careful of washouts which can create sudden drops in the beach’s level and soft sand, otherwise it’s possible to drive at 70-80 kms/h. This makes progress more rapid than in the rainforest in the inland sections where you’re driving at around 20km/h. Ricky drives about 30km north along the beach to the Maheno shipwreck. The Maheno was a passenger liner that was blown ashore in a cyclone in 1935, and has sat on the beach ever since. After a quick look and some photos it’s a 5 minute drive up to our campground. I feel safe with Ricky’s driving and the rest of the group are happy and feel safe with us both which is good. There are no idiot drivers in our 4x4, as for the other group that’s another question! There are four Canadian boys in there and when I was driving off the ferry the driver challenged me to a drag race - what a loser!
We don’t have to set up tents when we arrive at the K’Gari Aboriginal campground at 4pm. There is a large rotunda which will house all 20 of us undercover. There are also mattresses - this is
luxury camping. I set up my bed, pulling out my silk sleep sheet, probably the last item in my rucksack which I haven’t used. It will be far too hot and humid to sleep in my sleeping bag despite the fact I’ve brought it along. Now to have a few beers to relax. I’ve brought so much alcohol, 6 beers and some goon (4 litres of box wine) for 2 nights, myself and Ricky agree to share what we’ve got. Bringing my esky along was a good idea - all the beers are nice and cold. A couple of dingo’s come into the camp, they look quite healthy and semi-domesticated but I’m not about to put that to the test! We sit around talking for a couple of hours as a group before the Swedish girls start the BBQ. It’s not a bad feed, the meat tastes infinitely better than it looked in the shop, and there’s plenty to go round. After the meal is finished I start on the washing up, which ends up being a bit pointless as I leave it out overnight and in the morning the dishes are all covered in rainwater and leaves.
There
is a campfire - this campsite is about the only place on the island where you’re allowed campfires - and we all sit around it having a drink, talking and playing the didgeridoo. When I say playing the didgeridoo it’s more like a plastic tube which is supposed to imitate playing the real thing. Daniel, our host, does a dance to scare away the spirits, chanting in some Aboriginal language. This is my first real taste of the Aboriginal culture, and I enjoy it. The groups mix well during the evening. Apart from the Canadian’s who I can’t be bothered with as they’re not my kind of people, the rest of group 2 are nice. There are a couple of Swedish girls; an English girl, Stacey and a German girl, Tina. I like everyone in my group, everyone is getting involved with the exception of the French girl who may have a problem with the language? I have a bad night’s sleep, I keep waking up and having to peel myself from the mattress which I keep sticking to due to the humidity. I also keep getting bitten by insects and the flies on Fraser Island are as big as
I’ve ever seen - some of them must be at least 4cm long.
Day 208: Friday 23rd January - Day 2 of the self-drive on Fraser Island
I’m first up out of our group and after having a rather pointless shower (half an hour later you’re damp with sweat in this humidity) I set up breakfast, re-rinsing the dishes from last night and getting the food and gas hob off the roof of the 4x4. We’re almost an hour late of our itinerary by the time we leave the campsite at 10am. I drive up 75 mile beach to Indian Head about 30km north of our campsite. Driving on the beach is for me trickier than in the rainforest. This is because you speed along at up to 50 miles an hour and have to be careful of soft sand and washouts. On the way to Indian Head we drive past a dingo on the beach. Once at Indian Head we climb the headland up to the lookout. You’re supposed to be able to see sharks, dolphins, rays and turtles but we’re not so lucky today. While we are stood on the headland a jet fighter flies past.
It must only be about 30 metres away and the sound is deafening, I take a step back when I’m only about 3-4 steps from the edge of the cliff!
We climb back down the headland to the 4x4 on the beach. Our next stop on the itinerary provided tells us to walk up to the Champagne Pools. We’ve been told not to drive up there as its possible we will get stuck in the soft sand. Not all of the group seem to be keen on the 2km walk along the beach but in the end everyone comes along. As we walk along the driving track which goes around the headland everyone agrees that we could have driven through the soft sand but also that it wasn’t worth the risk if we were to get stuck. We do see a number of 4x4 vehicles pass us as we walk along the beach though. The Champagne Pools are the only safe place to swim in saltwater on the island. Swimming in the sea is a definite no go as the rip currents are extremely dangerous and if these don’t get you the Tiger Sharks swimming off the coast sure
will. The Champagne Pools were worth the walk and are a nice spot but we don’t spend too long in them as it starts to rain. We get a lift back along the beach from a Kiwi who Maria knows which is good as it saves us half an hour and our legs.
Ricky drives us back down the beach to the Dundabara campsite for lunch. We have some meat left from last night which we barbeque and have alongside the sandwiches and fruit we still have left. After washing the dishes and repacking the roof, Julian drives us the short distance south along the beach to Eli Creek. The water is crystal clear and we all walk down the creek. The water is icy cold so nobody gets in the shallow waters for a swim. From Eli Creek, Isla drives us down to Happy Valley, one of the few settlements on the island. Here we buy ice to keep the food and drink cold and stop for an ice cream. It’s not much further from here to our campsite for the night at One Tree Rocks beach. It takes me a bit longer to drive there as its
approaching high tide and in a couple of places we have to drive slightly inland as the beach is impassable.
Group Two have been waiting for us on the beach for an hour which is a nice gesture. We drive up behind the sand dunes and set up camp together. We had expected there to be more people camping here but it’s just us two groups. It takes me and Ricky an age to set up our tent for some reason. After the tents are set up we all go down to the beach and have a few drinks until dusk. With the light fading we decide we had better cook but when we get the gas cooker down the connection to the gas has snapped off meaning we can’t use it and will have to wait until the other group has finished cooking. It’s a good job they’re with us as I wouldn’t have fancied driving down the beach looking for a gas cooker to borrow in the near darkness at high tide! The Spaghetti Bolognese we do eventually cook is good, I didn’t realise camp food could be this good.
After dinner is over we sit
around talking and drinking until there is an almighty downpour. Myself and Julian get up on to the roof to pack everything away under the dry cover. It only takes 10 minutes but by the time we’re finished I’m soaking wet. The rain is however very refreshing and I decide to do a ‘rain dance’ on top of the 4x4!! With it raining hard everyone clambers into the 4x4 until it stops. We plug the I-pod in and play some tunes to keep us entertained. When it does stop raining a few of us walk down to the beach and venture a few feet into the sea. With all the rain a few tents have leaked and are now in pools of water so about half the group ends up sleeping in the 4x4’s. Our tent has held up and with the help of the goon I have a good night’s sleep! Tonight I also encounter the most durable insect I’ve ever seen. A huge beetle withstands being stamped on at least 10 times, hit with a spade on a few occasions and fed some goon twice! It’s still alive after all this and although I swear it eventually died
if that thing did manage to see the sunrise I would not be in the least surprised!!
Day 209: Saturday 24th January - Day 3 of the self-drive on Fraser Island
I wake up feeling rough this morning. It’s no real surprise after drinking the majority of the Goon as well as a few bottles. One of these days I’ll learn! The girls are on the beach having breakfast and by the time I get down there’s nothing left to eat apart from an apple and a dry slice of bread. This won’t soak up the alcohol, I need some greasy food. I may go a little hungry and be hung over but I look in better shape than the Dingo who is clearly undernourished and hanging around hoping for some food as we eat breakfast. You’re advised not to feed them and stand up to them to scare them away, so we can’t help matey as much as we’d like. With everyone pitching in we leave camp much earlier than I’d anticipated and pretty much on schedule at 9am.
The consensus of the group, well the girls who are the majority is to go straight to
Lake Mackenzie and chill out. It is only an hour’s drive away so that would give us three and a half hours at the lake which for me is too much. I’d also like to see more of the island but it’s clear I’m not going to win a vote or persuade the girls so a little cunning is needed. The quickest way to Lake Mackenzie would have us heading south along the beach to Eurong and then cutting west across to Lake Mackenzie. However, as navigator (I don’t fancy driving for a couple of hours yet!) I can see an alternative route on the map which will take us north along the beach and then cuts inland, past Lake Wabby (which we haven’t seen yet) and then loops down to Lake Mackenzie. This will allow us to see another of Fraser Island’s highlights and still should get us to Lake Mackenzie in plenty of time for the girls to chill out. I’m being a little underhand but sometimes you have to be a bit devious to get what you want!
Ricky drives the short distance up the beach and then along probably the most tricky track we’ve driven
on the island through the rainforest. Sure enough it passes within a kilometre of a lookout to Lake Wabby and when it does I say we may as well take a look! Laura I think cottons on to my ploy and asks to see the map and see where we’ve driven. She doesn’t kick up a fuss though. Once we reach the lookout after a short walk through the rainforest we’re rewarded with a great view down to the murky green Lake Wabby below surrounded on three sides by eucalypt forest, while on the fourth side is a massive sandblow, which will at some point in the near future engulf the lake. Nobody seems to have the energy to walk down to the lake and maybe spot some turtles which is fine by me as I think we’ve seen the best view. We arrive at Lake Mackenzie at quarter past eleven meaning we still have two hours to chill out once we’ve washed all the cutlery and plates from dinner last night and breakfast this morning.
Diving into the waters of Lake Mackenzie seems to improve my hangover. It’s a beautiful lake to swim around in and is for
me the top attraction of Fraser Island. I haven’t got much energy to throw the ball around and spend a lot of my time their chilling out and talking to Sophie and Ricky. I’ve got on with everyone in the group and they’re all nice people but I definitely get on best with Ricky and Sophie. When it starts raining (again!) we decide to leave Lake Mackenzie early. We’ve still had an hour and a half here and everyone seems content with that. Because Ricky’s had a long stint this morning driving I really feel that I should drive. It’s not a long drive to the Wangoolba Road where the ferry departs from. This is going to be my last off road driving so I make the most of it. We have an hour to wait for the ferry but we’re far from the first group waiting at the jetty. When 2:30pm comes (the departure time) and there’s still no sign of loading the ferry up, someone shouts up to the crew and wakes them up!! Goodness knows how long we’d have been waiting otherwise. My only objective on the ferry is to get a pie as I’m starving. There’s
only one left and Isla who knows how badly I’m craving one kindly allows me to buy it.
We’re met off the Ferry by the father of one of the tour agency guys. He was the guy who used petrol to light the fire at the campsite on our first night on Fraser Island and was really drunk on rum in the company of his grandson! He doesn’t seem in much better shape today as he leads the two 4x4’s back in to Hervey Bay - he’s veering all over the road. If I was a police officer following him I’d pull him right over and I‘m pretty certain he’d fail the breathalyser! I make it back safely to Hervey Bay, no incidents or accidents in 3 days of driving to report. All else is in order apart from the snapped connection on the gas cooker which the agency want to charge us $20 (10 pounds) for. Despite our claims that it was old and worn, they’re not having any of it. Maria in particular doesn’t take this too well and starts arguing with one of the guys for ages outside. I can’t see what all the fuss is
about, we broke it albeit accidentally and without anyone’s knowledge and it’s only a pound each! Everyone is tired and all those staying at the Next hostel troop up to their rooms to shower. Myself and Ricky have to wait a while longer for a lift back to the YHA - the tour operator wants a beer first! No worries we just sit around talking to Sophie and Stacey until he’s ready.
Fraser Island one of the highlights of Australia’s east coast? Maybe, we’ll wait and see in a few weeks when I’ve got up to Cairns. I don’t think the island’s scenery is as spectacular as I had imagined. Lake Mackenzie is beautiful but for me the best thing about my trip to Fraser Island was the experience of doing a self-drive with in unforgiving terrain. It feels like a real adventure and sharing that with 9 new found friends is what makes it special. I was lucky to have a good group, everyone with the exception of the French girl got involved and it was a true team effort.
When we do get back to the hostel I walk through into the lounge area and Matt
who I met in Noosa is sitting there. I agree to get dinner with him and Ricky in the hostel at 6:30pm once I’ve showered and got rid of the sand which seems to be everywhere. Louise has also got back off her tour and joins us for dinner with some people off her tour and we talk about our experiences on Fraser Island. Later on in the evening, myself and Ricky have a few games of pool. By 10pm I’m well and truly ready for bed and a proper night’s sleep.
Day 210: Sunday 25th January - A bus journey to Gladstone
I get disturbed by the rest of the people my dorm waking up early to go to Fraser Island. Never mind, at least I’m up to get the complimentary breakfast. Matt is also up for breakfast as he leaves for Fraser Island this morning. We discuss when we’ll be in various places up the east coast and our paths should cross again in Airlie Beach and in Cairns so we agree to meet up. After breakfast I call Ben back home. I’d said I’d call all my close friends over the festive period but I’ve
been so busy I’ve reneged on that promise. I get a lovely surprise when there are a few of my other close friends around at Ben’s when I call. By the time I’ve finished on the phone the hostel is almost deserted with everyone off on buses or to Fraser Island most likely. There’s not much to keep you in Hervey Bay, however the hostel is nice and I wouldn’t be averse to chilling out by the pool here for a day or so. As it is I’ve just got until 1pm when I’m catching a bus north to Gladstone. Ricky is also on the same bus, so the two of us spend the morning playing pool, chatting and generally just taking it easy.
The bus turns up an hour late. This is no big deal as I’ve got nothing planned at the other end. There’s virtually no-one on the bus so you can spread out. I get off at Gladstone at 7pm, leaving Ricky on the bus up to Rockhampton another hour away. It’s been good hanging out with Ricky the past few days, we have a lot of shared interests and although he’s travelling up the east
coast faster than me, he should still be in Cairns when I get there so we agree to meet up.
I get picked up from the bus station and get a tour around Gladstone’s main street. It’s classed as a small city but is little more than a town of around 25,000 people. It’s very industrial and isn’t a usual stop off for backpackers going up the east coast as there’s little to offer. For me it’s only a stop off for a night as the boat transfers depart my next destination Heron Island from Gladstone’s marina. I could only find one hostel when I was looking for a place to stay in Gladstone so this confirms that most backpacker’s bypass it on the way up the coast. The hostel is nice enough, but it seems to be full of people, particularly foreigners, on long stays who are working here rather than backpackers. I’m shattered after a long journey and if I’m honest still feeling the effects of a heavy last night on Fraser Island. I say it takes two days to recover from a heavy session once you hit 30!
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