Sleepy Hervey Bay and Fantastic Frazer Island

---

Russell - We set off early from Brisbane in order to get to Hervey Bay by mid-afternoon. I think we might be getting the hang of this long distance travelling lark. As usual first job was to set up camp, so we headed for the excellent council run Torquay site. To save a bit of cash we decided to go without power as we were only going to be there a couple of nights. Second job was to arrange a trip to Fraser Island - the real reason for us being here. We selected the one we wanted, and it left the following morning - plus as it was an overnight stay, booking it through the caravan park would mean that they would look after the van for us. What could go wrong?

“Sorry, they are booked for tomorrow but they have a a trip going the day after?” Oh that’s what could go wrong! Well, we are just going to have to spend a day in Hervey Bay - I’m sure there is plenty to do. The guy from the caravan park was very apologetic even though it wasn’t his fault and offered us a free nights accommodation to make up for it. Well, never look a gift horse in the mouth. We paid for our trip and tried to pay for the third night too, but he said to catch him another time. They are really laid back here. So we spent the evening walking along the beach before heading for the only bar that seemed to have any life. Well it definitely had life with a live band playing - just about anything that took their fancy and a really rowdy crowd. An woman came and joined us on our table and kept interjecting to our conversation and pointing things out she thought was hilarious. She was quite drunk. At one point I nipped to the loo only to be told by the woman that while I was gone someone had tried to get Lins to dance. She politely declined. After a couple of drinks we were worried we might end up like them and decided to find a quieter spot to enjoy the evening. There wasn’t one. Everywhere else seemed pretty much shut. I guess it is winter season.

The next day we were up to find out what Hervey Bay really had to offer but first I needed to pay for that outstanding night and it had become fairly obvious that our fridge wasn’t going to last the extra night we were now staying. “Ah if you need power just hook her up - I’m not going worry about a couple of bucks. Do you need power whilst you’re on the island?” That would be good. This guy is just really nice. Now normally people come for Hervey Bay for two reasons. One is to catch the ferry to Fraser Island, and the other is to watch whales as they rest in the bay on their migration pattern. Unfortunately we were about two months too early for whales, so what else is there to do? Well looking for Hervey Bay is one pastime! The town itself is quite elusive and despite us giving it a good try we never did find anything that you could describe as the centre. Basically Hervey Bay is the place where retirees come to kick back, sit on the beach and watch the pelicans play as the sun sets. Which we did.

The next morning we were up early to move the van to the powered storage site and await the bus to take us to Fraser. A few minutes later we were being approached by a huge green truck with a bus on the back. It stopped and a door opened slowly from the back like the ramp on a spaceship. “G’Day!” said a the chirpy driver “I’m Chris and I’ll looking afters yers for the next couple a days.” Chris introduced us to the Bandicoot - the green monster machine we would be driving in and we were off.

After picking up a few other passengers we headed for the ferry and drove straight on. It would seem ours was the only vehicle travelling, though there were a few other passengers. As we left the harbour the usual safety demo was going on. Well I say usual - actually it seemed that this was the comedy version as the person demonstrating the life jacket attempted to put on the jacket in numerous impossible ways before the captain explained the correct procedure. “If you are told to abandon ship hold down on the life jacket chest so that when you hit the water it doesn’t jump up and knock yer sunnies off.” And so it went on. The sea was calm however and the journey uneventful except for the sighting of a pod of dolphins. Just before we arrived at the landing site of Moon Point we were asked to get back in the Bandicoot. As we approached the beach (there was no jetty) the bow door of the ferry lowered and the Bandicoot just drove straight off the front as if we were attacking the beach head! Straight up the beach and into the dunes. We were now dune buggying in a truck!

At 128km (80 miles) long Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world, a fact that helped it achieve World Heritage status. It has been formed by long shore drift along the whole east coast of Australia. It is said that there is more sand in the island than in the Sahara Desert. How do they know that? Anyway there is a lot of sand here and we were in a truck driving along soft sand being thrown from one side to another. After one particularly big bump a cry came out to stop the truck. A 5 litre bottle of orange cordial had become airborne and smashed all over the back seats, including the passengers! Now that’s sticky! (‘Ah’, says Chris, ‘shit happens’). As we drove on Chris pointed out the flora and fauna (well actually for the flora, the fauna is quite shy) and explained the unique nature of the island. Despite being a sand island it actually has rainforests on it and our first stop took us into that forest. Chris pulled over and let us out to walk (and give himself a chance to clean up that cordial). The forest was amazing with strangler fig trees amongst the best. When we found Chris again he was pointing to a small hole at the base of a tree. It was he explained the lair of one of Australia’s most poisonous spiders, the Fraser Island Funnelweb. “And if I give the hole a quick poke he might even come out to investigate.” Chris said. Yeah, real clever, lets antagonise a deadly spider. Has he not seen Lord of the Rings? The spider declined to come out, and Chris admitted that he had been disturbing it quite a lot, and perhaps it had got fed-up and moved. At this point Chris suggested we all get to know each other by having a bit of a tell-us about-yourself session. We mentioned we were getting married in Palm Cove - “Ah yeah? I used to work in Palm Cove - where abouts are yer staying?” “The Sea Temple” we said “Ah man that’s the shits - you’ll love it.” We decided that meant it was good.

Next stop was lunch at Happy Valley café. After filling up on our buffet we were back in the Bandicoot and heading up to Eli Creek. Here we walked up the creek in the beautiful clear water. Apparently the island is like a massive sponge that absorbs water and filters it out slowly. It is estimated that it take a drop of water 70 years to filter back out down Eli Creek, where 4 million litres an hour pumps back out to sea. You can’t get water purer.

Back on the road, well actually I should explain when I say road I do in fact mean beach. Highway One as the locals call it here is also know as 70 Mile Beach and is also the local airstrip. Aircraft actually land on the road/beach picking their spot amongst the traffic! Chris was eager to show us something at the far end of the beach and we had the tide to think about (not usually an issue on the M1 back home). We went to the far end of the island and came to the Champagne Pools. It is a small beach at the northern tip that has a number of rock pools. As the tide comes in the waves smash against the rocks and create little bubbles in the water. We spent a lovely hour playing in the waves and enjoying the bubbles.

On again we headed for Indian Head. This was named by Captain Cook as he sailed past as the native peoples lined up on the head to watch him go by. Word had spread of the Whitefellas and they were nervous. We climbed to the end of the headland and looked out to sea. Although it was early for whales Chris was optimistic. We didn’t see any but we did see turtles and rays swimming close to the shore.

When we got back in the Bandicoot it really was a race against the tide as Highway One got smaller and smaller. There was a few times we thought Chris had lost it but he didn’t. About half way home Chris slowed down. He had spotted a pair of dingoes walking in the dunes and we followed them slowly. They watched us watching them. Got bored and moved on. They are wonderful animals but are now feared by humans. Although they can get aggressive generally they keep away but humans feeding them have made them bold and therefore a risk. We left them be.

We eventually arrived at our home for the night - Cathedral Beach. It was tent accommodation so we were ready to rough it. We were shown to our tents. From the outside they looked like normal frame tents. A bit big for just two but hey we’re not complaining. Inside there was a wooden floor and a proper double bed. So much for roughing it. We headed back for our BBQ dinner and afterwards took a bottle of bubbly down to the beach to sit romantically and look at the stars. Well that was the plan. By the time we got to the beach Lindsay was so convinced she was going to eaten by a dingo that we headed straight back again. The stars were amazing though. You forget living in a city just how special they can be. You could see the haze of the Milky Way and every star seemed so much brighter than you remembered. There just isn’t any light pollution on Fraser.

Next morning we were up and breakfasted early so we could make the most of the day. Our first stop was the wreck of the Maheno. We had seen the wreck as we shot past the day before but it is always worth a closer look. The Maheno was one of the world’s most glamorous cruise liners in her day. She was one of the fastest ships around and people cruised in style. This was the end of the 19th Century and the upper classes still liked to travel 1st class. With the arrival of the First World War she was pressed into service as a hospital ship. Being the fastest ship around she was not able to have an escort, but was responsible for saving many lives. After the war she returned to the southern hemisphere to plod the Auckland to Sydney route. She eventually became old and slow in comparison to newer ships and was eventually sold to the Japanese for scrap. However whilst being towed from Australia a storm caused the ship to break free from her tug and was beached on Fraser Island, where she lies today. The Japanese decided it was too expensive to salvage and stripped her where she lay and left the rest (had the ship made it to Japan it would have become part of the Japanese war effort for WWII) She has laid here ever since, gradually decaying. We were shown photos of what she looked like just after she wrecked and was still quite lovely. It was even used as a wedding reception venue!

Next we walked across the dunes towards Lake Wabby. As we walked through the dunes Chris pointed out a place where Aboriginal men used to make tools and spears. You can still find pieces of rock sharpened for spear heads etc lying around - just don’t take them away. We walked for about half an hour until we came to Lake Wabby. It is a small lake that lies below the water table (a window lake) so is always full. We sat next to it and enjoyed the sun and watched the perch swim gracefully by. We also watched the idiots forward rolling down the hill to the waters edge. Every year someone is airlifted to hospital with injuries caused this way but hey what can you do to stop them? Chris watched anxiously for a while with his hands on the satellite phone, but eventually left them to it. After we had enjoyed enough sun we took a walk through a small forest and back to the beach where Chris and the Bandicoot were waiting for us.

We drove back to Eli Creek for lunch and after some delicious wraps headed for Lake Allom. Throughout the two days Chris had let people sit up front with him to enjoy the view and I decided it was about time I did. It was excellent timing as the journey not only raced up the beach but then headed into the dunes for some real off-roading. We climbed up a mountain, taking sharp turns and into the rainforest. We climbed up to a lookout point that looked across the dunes. We then headed for our actual destination, Lake Allom. Lake Allom is a perch lake. Being at the top of a mountain it is above the water table but the water is trapped by a dip filled with impermeable layer created by the vegetation. In the lake there were little terrapins. It had just started to rain for the first time (well, we were in a rain forest) but we all decided to walk around the lake anyway.

Back at the Bandicoot we headed for Moon Point and our rendezvous with the ferry. The crossing was pleasant and we were soon back in sleepy Hervey Bay. Next stop - Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands.

---

Photos

Fraser Island 2
The Bandicoot

Fraser Island 3
Strangler Fig

Eli Creek
Lindsay paddling again!

Champagne Pools
Very cold - but we went in anyway!

Dingos
Fraser has the purest breed dingoes in Australia

Our Tent
Roughing it outdoors

Dunes
They have a lot of sand here

Tools
Stone age tools - at least 200 years old anyway!

Lake
A Perch Lake

Moon Point
The harbour at Fraser

Us
Time to go back to the mainland