Frazer Island

Up at 5am!! Packed, loaded car and at the 4WD hire place for a briefing at 06:30. The briefing was quite terrifying in pointing out the hazards of

Lovely people in an exquisite location

speeding on the beach and the dangers of excessive speed on the inland tracks as well as pointing out the need for self-reliance. There were graphic images of overturned vehicles and bent bits. There was also much helpful info on how to deal with the differing terrain and what to do if you got stuck. Off to catch the barge at 08:15, the Toyota hilux was a different drive - for one thing, the brakes were unimpressive, although they worked well enough once you got used to them. Later we discovered that the handbrake had a mind of its own about whether to release or not and the gear ratio selector could be a bit awkward about co-operating with requests. Suitably concerned, we disembarked on Frazer Island. I suppose I had begun to suspect that this would not be the mildly testing dirt track encounter I had been expecting. I was not let down! The 12km drive across the island to our accommodation took just over 1 hour and was full of drama with soft sand, high clearance drops over roots and ruts. It was at times very bumpy and I was concerned for Sue's back. The whole trip would not have been so bad if we could just do it at our own speed but it was like the M1 on a Friday afternoon and 4WD tour coaches were haring across from the ferries and with tour parties and if you didn't pull over quickly, they were driving on your tail pipe. If you did pull over, you risked getting bogged, so you waited for an easier looking candidate. At one point, I saw oncoming traffic and an obviously difficult passage just after I passed a passing place, so I dutifully reversed in and let half a dozen vehicles past in the opposite direction. Once I got going again, I didn't get the momentum I needed and so got stuck. After a couple of attempts at unsticking we decided to dig out. Shifting sand from the front of the wheels was enough to give us the momentum we needed to extract and we managed to reach the resort without too much more drama. After booking into our very nice apartment, freshening up and having lunch, we were off again, this time with Ollie driving. He had blown up the cushion that Zoe gave him for his travels and Sue found it gave her back additional support. As we drove onto the beach, someone decided to use the same route off the beach as we were using to get on, despite us choosing the left hand side and being on before they started their exit. Ollie had to stop; the guy then decided to reverse out but we couldn't get going again. We started to dig out then some French students who were also digging out their bus came over and gave us a push so that we were away and onto firm sand. We went back to help the French contingent and a pilot got himself stranded; we started to dig him out and he tried to get going. It seemed strange that all the action was taking place at the rear wheels. I thought that as a pilot, he would have the technical knowledge to have the car in 4WD and suggested so to Ollie. But it took a French student to actually point it out to him! He got free soon after. Then the student bus managed to get free and we started our journey up the beach. The briefing had warned us of washouts and so we were looking for any evidence of these as we approached creeks running across the beach. Poor Olly who was driving got much additional warning from the back seat. But when we approached the wreck of the Maheno, we discovered that the real problem is really not expecting them. Ollie approached a creek with care thinking there would be a small drop into it but found it to be bigger than expected, though thankfully it wasn't too bad. The Maheno is an interesting wreck, decomposing at the tide line, you can see she was once a mighty ship and some of her timber planking is still in place.

After playng Pooh sticks with Ollie's flip flops, Eli Creek, (note the tour buses)

We drove back down to Eli Creek and parked up. Ollie and Ang decided to wade down the creek and played pooh sticks with Ollie's flip flops under a bridge. Apart from the odd noisy tourist, it was a pleasantly quiet and peaceful spot. The creek was beautifully clear. Getting back from here was a bit hairy with many people travelling very rapidly along the beach and with the rising tide leaving very little room on the left for me! We had one little and fairly uncomfortable detour when we turned off the beach too early for a rock detour but we were lucky enough to find a place to turn round and make it back out. Back at the apartment Sue had to have 5 pieces of chocolate before her nerves were quietened. We were all quite bushed by the day and by the time we had made supper and tidied away we were ready for bed. We made an early night of it.
Next morning we had a family conference and decided that we wouldn't attempt the Champagne pools at the northern end of the island but concentrate on the lakes. Sue was feeling much more positive and although the trip across the island through the lakes was extremely bumpy at times it was marked by maniacal laughter as she hung on to the strop above the door and bounced around on her seat. The great thing about this trip was the lack of tour buses along the way until we reached central station. The lakes were crystal clear with white sandy beaches.

Ollie enjoys the clear cool waters of Lake Birrabeen

Lake Birramin was absolutely delightful and Ollie and Angela had a nice swim there. Afterwards we had lunch at a picnic table in the forest. After lunch we went on to Lake Mackenzie and from central station on were competing with tour buses once more.

Lake McKenzie

The trip across had been quite testing with some very difficult passages but Ollie managed to cope very well (he later said that he had been told that the best way to cope was to drive fairly fast over bumps and thereby miss out on a few) and I found when I was driving that I had a better insight into reading the terrain and how to deal with it as well as having more confidence that both the vehicle and I could deal with it. Lake Mackenzie was spectacularly lovely if a little crowded. We were under a little bit of time pressure as we arrived at 2:30 and had to leave at 3:00 to be sure of being at the dock by 3:45 for the 4:00 sailing. We actually left at 3:10 and I was concerned not to misread the trail and get bogged while at the same time not being too cautious and slow.

Reversing on to the 'barge' at Wanggoolba creek

In the event, we made it to the dock with about 5 mins to spare and the barge nowhere in sight! There were some huge pelicans on the sand of the estuary. The barge arrived late and then had to wait for one of the tour buses to arrive and discharge its human cargo. We finally left about 3/4 hr late.

Pelicans enjoying the receding tide at Wanggoolba Creek

We filled up with fuel before returning the Toyota and were pleased when they did their check of the vehicle and found no need to charge us. Loaded up the car and went to our accommodation only to find Mrs Crazy had double-booked us despite our pre-payment – got this refunded. We made enquiries and found another studio apartment not far away; we made our way there and were delighted to find it was a delightful place, unfortunately only one room with a double and 2 singles that dropped down from apparent wardrobes Ollie found his feet wet in the middle of the night and we found that the air conditioning unit was the culprit. We went back to the Wheelhouse restaurant for dinner and had fish (Barramundi) and chips which was excellent but the service certainly wasn't.

Breakfast at our apartment (not Crazy Woman's)

The next day we made a reasonably early start and set out for the glass house mountains. As time went on it became clear that this was going to be a bigger ask than we had thought. We had to limit our excursion to the main route and while this was a lovely drive through the mountains, it was not as spectacular as we had been led to believe and there was no sign of the waterfalls and only a small amount of viewing of the mountains themselves. This route left us a bit short of time to visit the Koala sanctuary outside Brisbane and the town traffic didn't help. We decided to go for it and had a lightening tour of the sanctuary lasting 15 mins.

Koala Mum & Baby - Lonely Pine Sanctuary

Then off at a brisk pace to the airport; it must be said that if we had taken as long to reach the airport as it did the sanctuary, we would have missed our flight but fortunately Ollie navigated us through the town centre bypass which worked very well and we actually arrived with 5 mins to spare but only by not re-fuelling and had to pay a penalty for this. After checking in, a hurried re-distribution of load left an airport bin the beneficiary of some interesting food items. The Virgin Blue flight left on time and actually arrived early; the flight was most notable for the fact that the cabin crew were led by a bright spark who clearly really enjoyed her job hugely and made it enjoyable for everyone else too. We picked up the new hire car - I was lucky enough to get another Toyota Aurion – though not the Sportivo this time which then transported us to our apartment in Yorkey's Knob. Just as I was approaching the village, a Kangaroo hopped into the road necessitating an emergency stop to avoid a collision., Due to the lateness of the hour we went down to the Boat Club for supper of Pizza and arrived with 2 minutes to spare before they closed for meals. Fortunately, they agreed to serve us. The pizzas were first class.

The View from our apartment @ Villa Marine

The next day was a Sunday and Ollie and I were up fairly early to pop out to the supermarket for breakfast, not having had the time to do any shopping after we arrived. We were a bit concerned that it wouldn't be open. Not to fear – it opens at 6:15 7 days a week! I noticed a key scratch along the side of the car that I hadn't seen before and rang Hertz to say that I hadn't noticed it last night when picking it up. They seemed OK with this and said that it had now been noted on their records, so not to worry. After a nice breakfast which we ate in the apartment it being a little fresh to eat outside, despite being in the tropics, we spent a most relaxing day in Cairns. I was prepared for a rather seedy, touristy place but although undeniably set out for tourists, had a charm about it. We parked up on the seafront a little way out of the town and walked in to the centre. We had a nice lunch overlooking the bay and spent a bit of time in an internet cafe before heading back, doing some shopping and booking our tours to the Great Barrier Reef and Kuranda. Ollie was going to give some instructions on how to snorkel with a borrowed kit from the manager, in the pool outside the apartment but when we tried the water it was freezing and we decided not to bother. We then thought that it may be better on the beach, seeing as it was late afternoon and trotted down to the sea some 50m away. As we got to the beach, it was quite windy and chilly and at least for me made it a no-no. Ollie braved the cool and managed a paddle but even he didn't go for a swim.

Brisbane, Australia