Fraser Island

Yes, that's right...I'm blogging about yet another island trip that we took in November.  Three islands, one month = worn out family!  But not so fast...we had a great time with the Mitchells (our 4x4 buddies) on Fraser before we threw in the towel on traveling for a month.

We left Brisbane early Saturday morning to head north, past the Sunshine Coast, to the largest sand island in the world, Fraser Island.  We went by way of Rainbow Beach to get a full dose of off-roading, and boy did we get what we bargained for.

If you take the Cooroy-Noosa exit off the Bruce Highway, you end up at Tewantin where you can take a 5 minute ferry ride across the Noosa River.  You then have a brief drive to the "trail head" of the 4x4 path, which essentially is the beach.

waiting on the Noosa River ferry.

Adjusting tire pressure before hitting the beach.

 Sawyer, Caden & Marin.

Even though it was rainy, we enjoyed our drive on the thin strip of sand that sits between the Cooloola National Park and The Coral Sea, stopping only once to climb the Red Canyon.

Our highway.

Ready. Steady. Go!

 

The colorful sands along the way.

Red Canyon

Caden climbing in Red Canyon.

The Mitchells

Hallie didn't enjoy getting dirty for a change.

 

Marin had absolutely no problem with it. 

 

This is a framer!

Dirty-footed boys.

 Washing the red feets.

Later we veered off the beach to take the "Freshwater Track" over to Rainbow Beach in order to avoid the treacherous Mudlo Rocks. This "easy" track proved to be a bit hairy on a rainy day with a car loaded down with kids and luggage.  We were "slingin' chili", as Cory says, through the mud, and even got slung into a huge root that put a nice two-inch tall scrape from the front bumper to the back.  I guess it's not 4x4 if you don't have body work afterwards!  I'd love to share photos of the Freshwater Track with you, but I was too busy white-knuckling it to break out the camera.

Damaged goods.

Once we arrived on solid ground again in the town of Rainbow Beach, we stopped to get our Fraser Beach Permits and Manta Ray ferry passes that would allow us access from Inskip Point. You could feel the isolation already as we headed off the mainland and over to Fraser Island, home of the wild dingos.

The Manta Ray Ferry.

Heitzmann 4x4 vehicle, next to real Aussie 4x4 vehicle.

Hallie had the honor of driving us off the ferry.

By the time we arrived on Fraser, it was getting late, and low tide was behind us, so we hightailed it to get around Hook Point before tide got too high and then on to our holiday rental.  Driving on the island was great, but I honestly had not understood how truly remote this island is.  The "town" of Eurong, isn't much more than a hotel, store, etc. It felt like we had left civilization.  And cell phone service...not a chance...at least not with Optus. 

After we arrived at our holiday rental, one of the few beachfront houses on the island, we only had time for a brief walk on the beach and dinner before it was time to hit the sack.

On our beach walk.

In front of our holiday house.

Awesome rocks look like they are flowing through the sand.

The view down the beach from our walk.

The sun sets on day one.

The next morning we were up bright and early, thanks to some kiddos excited about vacation.  Can't somebody to them that they are supposed to sleep past 5:15am when you're on holiday??  After a good brekkie, we headed out for some more 4x4-ing toward the world-famous freshwater Lake Mackenzie. It was another rainy day, so we didn't mind spending the time in the car.  And, with the lack of weight in the car, we didn't have nearly the adventure we had the day before going to Rainbow Beach. I'll spare you the narration of the day of 4x4-ing, and let the pictures do the talking.

 

Sweet Daisy & Marin waking up.

 

In the rain forest. These cool trees - maybe Eucalyptus? -  peel like crazy and make for truly unique textures.

Another view from the car.

Quick stop for a photo opp.

One of our first stops was the lookout to Lake Wabby.  It was raining, so we took a quick peak and kept on going.  Those little ant-like things on the sand are people walking down to the lake.

The breathtaking Lake Mackenzie.  It rivaled Caribbean waters.  I can only imagine what it would look like on a blue sky day!

Another view of Lake Mackenzie.

Sweet sibling hug. Luckily you can't see bribery in photos.

Somewhere in the middle of the island, deep in the rain forest.  It was so green!

See what I mean about green?

We had heard so many things about the purest of all dingos in Australia being on Fraser - all over the place - that we just had to see one.  They have postings every where on the island about not feeding the dingos, not leaving food unattended, watching out for "aggressive" dingos, and even have fences around the BBQ and picnic areas to keep the dingos away from visitors. So after feeling like we were going to run into one at any moment for over 24 hours, we were wondering where they were. We decided that the rain was the reason they weren't out in abundance, and it took us until the end of our second day when the rain stopped to finally spot one.

We ended the day by heading down to the S.S. Maheno Wreck on the beach. I don't know why, but I am drawn to these rusty metal mountains and their contrast to the silky blue waters of Australia.  This wreck didn't disappoint.  The ship was originally a luxury passenger ship, built in Scotland, and was  used during WWI as a hospital ship in the English Channel. It was carried by cyclone to it's final resting spot in 1935 as it was being towed from Melbourne to Japan and left to the ways of mother nature.  We found an article in our holiday house that talked about and showed pictures of a couple that chose to get married on the beached wreck soon after its arrival on the island.  Something like three stories of the boat are buried beneath the sand.

Monday we woke up and headed north after checking out of the holiday rental.  Luckily the tides were in our favor and allowed us to head up the beach for another look at the Maheno on our way to find Indian Head and the Champagne Pools.

There were still some pretty big wash outs along the beach though, and the boys had fun driving back and forth for a splash.

 

We stopped at a little "town" for some coffee and petrol and were rewarded with spotting these two creatures...

 Not sure what kind of lizard this is, but it was big and fast.

 Our second dingo spotting of the weekend.

Indian Head

 One of the 4x4 trials on the north side of the island.

We finally made it to the Champagne Pools with about two hours left before high tide required us to head back to the ferry. It wasn't nearly long enough on our only sunny day in the one spot you can actually swim at the beach on Fraser.  That's right - no swimming on this island due to the large shark population and deadly currents!

 

Upon passing one of the locals on our way out, he said the pools were more like Chardonnay Pools on this day because the tide was so still there was no fizz in the pools like usual.  We still thought they were unbelievable...it's making me thirsty for some bubbly just thinking about the hot summer day!

 

Caden obviously approves.

Another shot of Indian Head from the Champagne Pools.

 

As magnificent as the pools were,  we didn't have long to stay before we headed back down 75 mile beach on our way home.

We spotted this kite surfer braving the surf.

Third and final dingo spotting.

Quick father/son beach walk while waiting for the ferry to take us back to the mainland.

Last beach find of the trip.

Great trip, but boy were we exhausted!  Lots of posts coming up about the joys of regular life at the Heitzmann house.