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Left Noosa today and drove to Hervey Bay to catch a ferry over to Fraser Island. We dont have anything actually booked yet, either Ferry ride or permits for Fraser Island so this will be a bit of an adventure. I have my first drive of the Tank on a deserted road, while Shenton rides cowboy style out of the window.
After stopping for lunch at a place called Torquay we try to stock up a littel but as it is Anzac day no big shops are open so we have to shop at a little convenince store, tinned food for our stay on the Island it is then. We manage to get some beer and wine so all is ok. We also manage to get a pump for the tyres as once we get on the Island apparently we have to let some pressure out of the tyres as the Island is completely formed by sand. The largest sand island in the world or sand dune even.
So it is now around 2.30 and we head off in the direction of the ferry, we get to the marina and there is a ferry (barge) already there, this could
be easier than we thought. He sends us off to buy tickets round the corner and tells us he is leaving in about 40 minutes. We go off in search of tickets and after finding the place the girl behind the counter says she knows nothing of a ferry around the corner and we have to drive 30minutes away to catch the ferry! Anyway after a while her boss comes in and she locates the ferry we are talking about, we get the ticket and ask her for a permit too, but no you have to buy that somewhere else but she doesnt know where! So she gives us a number, which I call and the person on the other end is then trying to tell me that I have to know where we are going to camp. Of course I havent a clue! Anyway confusion reigns, I tell her to just give us a permit for the car as Shenton has read you dont even need a permit for camping if you stay in one of the campsites. I go thorugh all my deatils and then she says I need a camping pack. I ask her where can I
get one and she doesnt know. So I go to where the information desk in and they say try the place we bought the tickets or the barge. the barge is now about ready to go so I dont have time to go back to the ticket office. We ask the barge person and she doesnt have any. This is the last ferry over today so we take a chance and just get on anyway. As we start the jorney the woman on the phone who still hasnt even taken my credit card deatils yet puts me on hold then the phone goes dead. So now we have no camping pack, no permit and we are on the way to the Island. Oh well!
The woman on the barge is more helpful and explains that this is always happening and as long as we get a reference number we dont actually need this camping pack. So I go online and try to get the permit. Just as I am about to get to the page for paying the fee the website says there is a fault.....I call back the woman and explain I was cut off now the website
has gone down and she says that it must be because it is a bank holiday weekend and it is really busy. Well we are the only people on this barge so I cant see that it is that busy! She says just keep trying and if we see a ranger explain what has happened.
So we relax into the journey across to the Island expecting to land at central beach, we seem to be going further north than expected so ask the woman on the barge where are we going to land and she tells us moon point! great the person selling us the ticket didnt even know where we were headed! The journey takes about 55 minutes and as we appoach the Island we can see about 5 other vehicles waiting to catch the barge back again. They are just on a really sandy beach with no sign of even a ramp! Well this is the first time Shenton has really driven on this much sand so it should be a good test.
As we pull up the woman tells us that the drive across the other side of the Island (where all the campsites are)
will take us at least an hour so maybe we should just camp on this beach (even though the signs say no camping) for tonight as it will be dark by the time we get across and there is a creek which we will need to cross which is not advisable so close to high tide, and as long as we are gone before 9.30 am when the first barge arrives no one will care. She tells Shenton to get ready as the drive up this sandy beach will be quite difficult, she advises him to put it into 2nd gear, give it loads of revs and dont stop or change gear until he has cleared the beach. He shifts the gearstick ino 4wd gets a run up form the barge into 2nd gear and we are off, the thing is as we hit the beach the wheels seem to be spinning and we dont seem to be able to get up the hill. Then we hear one of the people on the beach shouting and we realise that although we have put the gear stick into 4wd we forgot to press the 4wd button so we are still in
2wd and going nowhere ooops! now we have to reverse back on the barge and start again. This time Tank has no problem getting up the hill :-)
We wait for everyone to leave and then set up our camp, Shenton and I are on the beach in the tent and Michael is going to sleep in the Tank up the hill a little way. The mosquitos are out in force so I put on every piece of clothing I can find. Shenton seems a bit distracted and keeps talking about a sign he has read on the other side about camping a minimum of 50 meters away from water as crocadiles have been seen around either the east or the west side of the Island but he cant remember which side. We are totally on our own there is no one else camping here and we are a max of 20 meters from the water, there isn't really any other place to set up the tent ?? Anyway we enjoy a pot noodle and bit of guitar then its off to sleep for everyone' Michael takes a large stick with him to sleep with and Shenton and him
move the tank where Michael is able to see us on the beach, Shenton has also moved the chairs around the side of the tent and blocked up the entrance with the table and another big stick, I am a little concerned.
We try to get off to sleep but we really dont have anything for the tent which makes it a bit uncomfortable, that coupled with the fact that Shenton keeps getting up everytime he hears a noise to see if a croc is coming up the beach to get us. I also keep hearing noises, I am convinced the flip flop man has followed us as I keep hearing a noise like someone walking around the tent! Just as I am dropping off the rain starts and it is really raining hard. Thankfully we put the fly sheet over the tent as we were going to just sleep with the mosquito cover over us which would have been funny. Now we are awake again and Shenton moves me around so that if a croc does find us he will get eaten first! This is really not a restful nights sleep and a bit later I am sure
that I can see a dingos head through the tent, best not to think about it too much.
FINALLY it is morning and we have survived crocadile beach. None of us got much sleep last night but we pack up early and head off on the drive across the Island.
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