More sand, more sunsets & Dingos
Trip Start
Nov 05, 2002
1
32
69
Trip End
Aug 13, 2003
Fraser Island,
Australia
Friday, April 18, 2003
We left the Pioneer Valley and spent most of the day on the road, eventually spending the night in Marlborough. The next morning, having been ran out of the van park by the crazy owner(!), we continued on our way south and after a short stop-off in Rockhampton, the beef capital of Australia, we arrived in a small town called Gin Gin. With a real laid back feel to it we decided to spend the night here and had a lovely meal with a few beers in the local hotel. The next morning after a quick phone call home we hit the road again before and arrived in Hervey Bay. What a beautiful van park that was. Took the opportunity of the space in the park to give Syd a tidy and then after a quiet night in Hervey Bay it was on the road again the next day to Rainbow Beach. This was where we were due to begin our adventure to the off-shore Fraser Island. Another must-do trip, the 4x4 safari on the biggest sand island in the world is not to be missed. Like the previous Whitsunday Island trip we teamed up with fellow travellers, again most of them Irish, and spent 3 days driving around the sand dunes in a Toyota Land Cruiser and 4x4'ing over some serious off-road tracks. The usual copious amounts of alcohol were consumed and two nights were spent in tents trying to keep on the good side of the island Rangers and the local Dingo's. Fraser Island highlights included splashing around in the the fresh water of Eli Creek, the Maheno Ship Wreck, managing to avoid getting stuck in the sand while enjoying the stupidity of others who did, shark watching from, and sunset on, Indian Head and dodging the waves as they pounded over the Champagne pools (others were as silly but not as lucky!). Unfortunately for the later part of the trip the weather turned and we had to enjoy sights such as Lake McKenzie and Lake Wabby in conditions somewhere between a constant drizzle and heavy downpour. It also wasn't the ideal conditions for exploring the narrow off-road paths in the centre of the island, especially when we left it so late in the evening to find somewhere to spend the night and ended up having to pitch our tents in the rain and the dark! But hey, still great fun. One would be hard pushed to find something to moan about in all that. Or if they do they should be back home working! Not even the flat tire that greeted us first thing in the morning, not to mention the continuing rain, could dampen our spirits!
After getting off Fraser in one piece we returned to Rainbow beach to recharge the batteries, stick on a load of laundry and have a night out with the gang we meet on the trip. Following a few games of table tennis, an air guitar competition, a good nights sleep, various goodbyes and a walk to see the coloured cliffs of Rainbow beach (hence the name) we were ready to hit the road again, this time for Tin Can Bay and the Sunshine Coast..... yes please!
