Hervey Bay & Fraser Island, Australia

  Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

When we got to Hervey Bay we checked into a campsite where we turned out to be the only travellers. It was full of OAP's who lived there in their caravans. Some of the caravans had brick walls around them with gardens, flowers, trees and concrete extensions onto their vans, ridiculous!!! In the evening one of the "streets" in the van park was even having their annual street party and asked us to join them, we had to decline! Hervey Bay itself was a bit disappointing. There was no town centre as such and the whole place was really spread out. We were looking to have a bit of a good night out on the night we got there as we had nothing planned for the next day but the one nightclub that we heard about was closed for renovations and the other two bars in the town seemed to be just catering for Christmas parties (well it was the third last Friday night before Christmas so maybe we were just unlucky with the Christmas Party thing). So we ended up having an early night and the next day we changed campsites to one with other backpackers in it, it was still 90% full-time residents though. We spent most of the morning and afternoon strolling around shopping centres on the outskirts of the town. Later in the afternoon we lazed by the pool for an hour or so then in the evening we cooked in the camp kitchen while watching Back to the Future on TV (haven't seen that film since I was a kid - how cheesy can you get?)

At Lake Wabby

Lake Wabby

The next morning we were up at 6am to depart on the trip we had come to Hervey Bay for - a 3 day, 2 night self drive 4x4 safari around Fraser Island. We checked into the tour company and the first thing that surprised us was the amount of other people that were going on the trip. There were fifty of us in the room and we were put into groups. We had arranged to be put into the same groups the three Irish girls we met on Mission Beach but looking around the room, we knew a good few faces. Everyone seems to be travelling to Sydney for Christmas and everyone is making the same stops on the way so some faces become familiar. So we were all in this big room and we had to watch a couple of DVD's, one about Fraser Island and one about rules of the road in Australia and how to drive a 4x4. Something I couldn't believe was the safety warning on drink driving, it went something like this: "when driving in Australia you may only drink two beers in the first hour your are driving and one per hour after that, any more and you will be over the legal limit". It was the subject of a lot of jokes over the weekend but its true, you often see truck drivers and just people in general stopping off for petrol and sculling a can of beer in the process!!!

Lydia & Clair

Mahena Shipwreck

So after we were put into our groups (ours was myself, Lydia, the 3 Irish girls - Clair, Marie & Edel, 3 English lads who were just finished college - Andy, Ollie & Martin and an English couple - James & Tracey) we set off in the jeep to Woolworths to buy beer, wine and food for the 3 days. It was a good group, 5 Irish, 5 English, 5 Blokes and 5 girls and everyone was up for a laugh. The 5 jeeps, with ten people in each one were all due to board the ferry to Fraser Island at 11am but only four of us turned up so we all had a good laugh on the ferry when we saw jeep number 5 pulling up to the terminal when we were about 10 metres out to sea!!! When we got to Fraser Island the weather was pretty crap, gloomy and grey. When we got to our first sight to see, a creek a Central Station, nobody was too impressed. Then when we finally made it to our second sight, Lake Wabby we could hear rumbles of thunder in the distance. The lake itself was absolutely beautiful and would have been even more beautiful if there were blue skies above. A few people got into the lake for a swim but most just dipped their feet in then we drove to our campsite for the night in the rain. The "roads" are really terrible on Fraser and thats why only 4x4's are allowed on the island. None of the roads are paved and they are all sand tracks, some with tree roots to contend with and others just with really soft sand. Riding in the back of the jeeps wasn't very comfortable. When we got to the campsite, spirits were down due to the rain. We put up our tents as quickly as we could and the girls got the dinner going. Jeep number 5 pulled up then and got a good slagging for missing the ferry (and all the days sights!). We were given three four man tents between the 10 of us but one was badly damaged and we could put it up so we were not happy with that. We had nice bar-be-qued burgers and corn on the cob for dinner and a few drinks, but with the rain pouring down nobody was really up for a big session and I think all fifty of us were tucked up in our sleeping bags by midnight.

Playing Drinking Games

The next morning we were allowed to drive on the beach between 7am and 1pm so we drove up to the north of the islands as far as Indian Heads. It was still quite gloomy though and although it wasn't raining we were all eager to get back and set up camp again before it started raining. So we drove from Indian Heads to Mehena Camp Grounds stopping along the way to look at a sandstone rock formation called the Pinnacles and a really impressive looking shipwreck called the Mahena. It was probably the only thing on the island that looked impressive in the clouds and mist as it gave it a really eerie look. We met Mandy who we had met in Bali at Mahena shipwreck, she works in Fraser Island and it was great to see her again. We had planned to meet up with her and Alex in Hervey Bay but couldn't due to their work schedules so that was a pity. We had our campsite for the night set up before 2pm and we set up beside a jeep with a good crowd of Irish and English in it. We formed one big circle and started drinking early. Most of the lads had a game of ball on the beach later on which was good craic (English trying to play GAA!). The girls made dinner of pasta and sauce and we started playing drinking games early on. It was one of those nights where someone asked me what time it was and when I said 7:30 back they said no way, I thought it was about 11. Everyone just got really drunk really early and it was really good craic. Maybe it was a blessing from the heavens but at about 9:30 it started to bucket down and that called a halt to the drinking session as everyone had to but clothes and valueables etc into the jeep and make sure the sleeping bags and ground mats weren't getting wet.

Us on Fraser

75 Mile Beach

Next morning we packed up the tents and equipment again and went to Eli Creek a freezing cold crystal clear freshwater creek. It was really refreshing to get in to cool off. Oh, forgot to mention, the weather has resumed as normal, clear blue skies and mid 30's temperatures so we were delighted with a cold wash in the creek! After that we started on the long journey towards Lake McKenzie. Lydia was driving and when we were about half-way there we had a bit of a freak accident. When we went over a big bump, James, one of the English lads somehow managed to get his middle toe stuck under the seat across from him. It looked really nasty when he got it out so we had to scrap Lake McKenzie and saw a nurse at one of the big resorts. He told him to get straight back to the mainland and go straight to hospital. Lydia felt really bad as it happened when she was driving but nobody blamed her at all, it was just a freak accident. Anyway we managed to get an earlier ferry back to the mainland and James when straight to hospital where he was told he had a broken toe, which I think we all knew as soon as we saw it.
It was a great trip anyway and I'd highly recommend it but don't think I'd recommend Palace Adventure Travels too quickly.