Well the day we hoped wouldn’t arrive did bloody come along. So we packed all of our stuff up and got ready to leave.
As we weren’t booked to leave on the ferry until 1400 it was the perfect chance to have a look across the middle of the island with the parts we had missed.
Once thing noticed was how different the old girl handled when loaded up. I’d been spoilt these last couple of days due to having everything set up whilst we toured around.
One thing it did teach us though, was how nice it was to set-up and forget about it for a couple of days – compared to being on the move every day. The decision has definately been made to go down the camper trailer route as soon as finances allow it. Johnny Trackabout is certainly getting our business – and hopefully soon!
Anyway – back to the fun part. We had organised the day before with Steve and Adrian that they were going to join us up until lunch time. So we made our way down the beach to Poyungan Rocks where they were staying.
Having caught up with them, we continued on down to the Lake Wabby turn off. Working our way through this track was initially slow and tedious, especially with oncoming traffic and a loaded vehicle.
However we got a bit of a surprise – as there is a bit more than just a track to the Lake:
Stonetool Sandblow Lookout
Having taken in turns to have a look (kids asleep) we continued on to Lake Wabby. EPA were there at the time re-oiling the floor boards on the toilets – which made it interesting trying to use one toilet between everyone. However we all lived! 😆
We made the walk to the lookout only. Due to time constraints – and little kids that were still tired from the lighthouse walk – we decided against going the whole way down there.
Lake Wabby
After a few photos we worked our way back to the vehicles. From here we headed towards Lake McKenzie. The inital part of the track was very slow and bumpy. But after we took the turn-off at the cross-roads it was like a highway. We made some real good time after that.
Steve showed us another parking area near the lake that got us away from the majority of the backpackers – as well as quick, easy access to the lake.
The lake itself is brilliant. Personally if I had to rate it though – I wouldn’t say that it was as good as Lake Birrabeen – but that’s personal opinion. Decide yourself! 😉
Lake McKenzie
The kids and I had a quick swim – the last swim on Fraser 🙁
After the dip we went and said goodbye to Steve, Adrian and their families. I’d like to say that there company was excellent and thankyou for joining us in our time at Fraser.
The run to Central Station was painful. The track itself was Ok, but there was 4 Landcruisers (tour guides) in front of us, and about 7 camper vans in front of them. It took forever – and made me wish for a rum or 6 – seriously I reckon I could’ve dropped a 6 pack in how long it took.
Anyway it was good to finally reach Central Station, knowing that I only had a few km’s to travel and heaps of time. The road to Wanggoolba Creek was sh(t – there is no other way of putting it. The corregations were out of control, and people were driving on my side of the road trying to get out of them. It’s always a good feeling to have a Troopy full of backpackers hurtling towards you on your side of the road! 🙄
Either way – we got there alive. And an hour early 😯
But soon enough everyone started to show up!
Wanggoolba Creek
I watched quite a lot of the backpackers trying to pump up their tyres with the air compressor supplied to them. They did get a little upset when I put all four tyres (100psi) back to road going pressures quicker than they did one! 😈
We also had a little dine on some cheese that was left over from the night before, and played a few games of dodge-em with the soccer ball.
Eventually it was time to board the ferry. I was quite surprised how nicely we were treated after observing how shit the backpackers were treated. Sometimes makes me wonder! Guess they don’t know me very well! 😆
Ferry getting loaded up
So we are sitting on the ferry getting a couple of pics and about to head off – when old matey in a Defender rocks up. Talk about running it close!
Nearly missed it!
The crowd decided to relax
Whilst the rest of my family looked like they were enjoying themselves
Unfortunately whoever it was that rocked up in the Prado definetely missed his ride! Must be a lonely feeling when that happens! 😯
The run across was quite nice and smooth. A meat pie and a couple of rums helped the time go quick enough.
But unfortunately soon enough – the mainland and then civilisation started to show it’s ugly head. The feeling was very much like the one I get when I leave the great state of Tasmania and see Melbourne for the first time – RUN! But you can’t because you know you have to face it! 😆
Once we departed the ferry we went and got some hot chips to munch on. Due to the weather (bloody started to rain again) we decided to go the caravan park option and call it a night in Bundaberg.
After spending a heap of money in the car wash, the old girl thought it was her birthday. Never before has she been washed so good! 😆
Pretty much from there our plans went right out the window. EPA decided that their computers had shut down, and because of this you cannot stay in their parks as they don’t know who and how many had booked. So basically without computers working, EPA are a bunch of glorified wankers! To be honest it really did piss me off a lot.
Then to make things even better the rain started again, and really heavy. So we ended up driving from Bundaberg straight through to Townsville – one long trip in my old girl – but she did it well.
So far this trip (13 days on the road) – Fraser absolutely brilliant, rest of trip = rain and stuffed around.
Rain = 9 days out of 13! 😯
Well the 14th and 15th day on the road was spent at Townsville. It rained both days. At one stage we had over 180mm in less than two hours. It started to flood in the centre of town and down around the service stations on the southern end of town.
Two train crashes in a matter of hours has sent a bit of a dampner on the area unfortunately. Another dampner was what I had to say during the christening to be a Godfather. Seriously Padre – do you really think I repent all of my sins! 😈
Anyway, I did have a good time catching up with my mate – and my (now) little God-daughter. She has grown so quick and it’s only been 6 months or so since I last saw her.
But as per normal, the days come and go and Monday morning (Day 16) came along real quick. So we packed everything up again, said our farewells and hit the road.
We had decided to modify the trip back due to what we had missed out on with the trip up here. So first port of call was Seaforth. However along the way there is some good scenery!
Arriving at Seaforth not long after lunch we grabbed our camping permit ($17) and set up camp.
There were some really great ideas about this area, as follows:
Play area for the kids
Toilet, shower (hot = 20c for 3 mins), and laundry facilities, including an old wringer! 😆
But it worked a treat!
Free BBQ facilities
And the beach
The island that you can see in the last photo is of interest. You can actually walk across there at low tide. There are some rocks that you follow to get across.
The tide there is huge for the east coast. I got told that the one I was watching was nothing compared to some of them! 😯
This is the new swimming enclosure. It’s great at this time of the year when the jellyfish are around. Note – you can see the size of the tides easy enough in this picture.
Dinner time! One real spaghetti bolognaise coming up – Tassie style
And it tasted bloody nice as well. While we were there a couple of the planets and the moon decided to be nice and give us a bit of a show. I did my best to take a few pics, but they aren’t that good sorry!
1 x smiley face – and it isn’t McDonalds! 😉
A couple of possums liked the smell of my dinner
So I sent them back up the tree.
That night was really nice and relaxing, especially after all of the rain. It was real nice to get a dry day at this stage.
The next day we packed up and headed down the road. It started bloody raining again, and by this stage we had had enough of camping in the rain. So we decided to make a few tracks down towards Brisbane and get a cabin along the way.
Only problem was some idiot decided to knock of all the kids from school – and call it schoolies. I found out the hard way that they don’t ALL go down to Surfers – some head north. And booked all of the accommodation out whilst they were at it.
So after some screwing around, we decided to just head all the way to the SIL’s on the Gold Coast. Another 1200km day! 😯
Anyway, cutting a long story short – we copped the second lot of Brisbane storms and then headed to Sydney. Stopped the night at my Dad’s and then made our way home. To rub insult into the wound we copped a fierce headwind all the way home! 😆
So that was the trip in a nutshell! 😉
TBH – it was a great trip and everyone did need the rain. The storms were a bugger though – and I’m sure that especially Brisbane and Townsville residents will agree with that.
Fraser is still brilliant – and regardless of the crap in the magazines and the tourists – just pick a time OTHER than school holidays would be my suggestion. I pulled the kids out of school for 3 weeks for this trip – and they did school work on the road nearly every day. And it worked a treat.
Last and not least – coming out of Ballina on the way home I had to pull over because of smoke pouring out of the bonnet. After finally working out what it was – the bearing in the power assist steering had seized – I cut off the belt and continued on. 1 valve destroyed on a tyre in Townsville, and 2 tarps. Not bad for nearly a 7k trip.
Cheers
Chris
Some facts and figures for the trip:
Tyre Pressures:
On-road = 250kPa (36psi) front, 350kPa (50psi) rear
Off-road = 18psi front, 20psi rear
Fuel consumption:
Overall – 6,849km’s, 699.5L of diesel = 10.21L per 100km’s
Fraser – 705km’s, 89L of diesel = 12.62L per 100km’s
Experiment time:
Now I did a bit of an experiment with my fuel usage this trip. On the way TO Townsville, I sat on around 90km/h. On the way BACK from Townsville I sat on the speed limit as much as the old girl would let me.
To Townsville = 9.46L per 100km’s
From Townsville = 10.41L per 100km’s.
Vehicle is a 93 Landrover 110, 200tDi wearing muddies for those that don’t know. It is also lifted and had a roof rack loaded a fair bit.
Cheers
Chris