Day 32: Fraser Island

We left Bundaberg and headed south - our destination today is Fraser Island and we are both very excited and looking forward to it. We have wanted to get to Fraser Island for a long time. We stopped for smoko in Maryborough, and headed towards Rainbow Beach. It sounds like such a pretty place. We decided to get onto the island at Inskip Point because we have our camper trailer and we are worried about the inland roads and we are more confident that we will be able to get through along the beach road. We got our permits and barge tickets and waited for the barge to come back and get us. Luckily we didn't get bogged getting onto or off the barge! I know Jim loves sand driving, but there has been a tendency for this to end up with being bogged in the sand!

The deckhand on the barge told us to drive around the headland, get out our chairs and have some lunch while we waited for the tide to go out. It sounded like a great idea, and as we drove around the headland we realized that we couldn't actually go any further until the tide went out and there was dry sand for us to drive on.

 We had some lunch and wandered along the beach - it was so beautiful.

We saw a dugong that had been washed up on the beach and died, and then noticed a sleepy dingo nearby. The dingo kept one eye on us as we wandered past, but didn't seem too interested in us. I think we were safe as long as we left his dugong alone!

After about an hour, we decided to brave the receding tide and continue along our way. It was a spectacular drive, as we crossed freshwater creeks, rocks and the wreck of the Maheno - a ship wrecked in 1930s. As the tide slipped away, we were able to zoom along the beach at around 70 km per hour, and soon we were at our campground: Frasers at Cathedral Beach. We set up camp and settled in. It gets dark early here, because we are the eastern side if the island and very low behind a huge sand dune. The camping ground is behind the first row of sand dunes on the eastern side of Fraser Island and it’s a sandy camp. Actually there is salt and sand everywhere and it makes an interesting pattern with the red dust from Cape York, and the soft white local sand.

Lizard update: The gecko was found today, squished between the canvas of the camper.



Problem: There is no mobile phone or Internet access. For 4 whole days!!