Fraser Island - 17th and 18th May 2008

Hi to anyone that reads this blog. This weekend we went up to Fraser Island for a couple of days. We went with Andy and Jayne and their friends who are visiting from the UK. We followed good old TomTom on the way up which took us up a dirt track for about 50km's :-( the track is called the Cooloola way which TomTom thinks is a road, take it from me it isn't and we were lucky to be doing 20km/h most of the way. Anyway, eventually we got to Rainbow Beach and stopped for a big old brekkie meal and also picked up some firewood and bait for the trip. We then headed for Inskip Point where the barge leaves for Fraser Island. The barge cost $85 return which seems a bit steep to me as you're only on it 10 minutes each way.

When we got to Fraser we began the drive up to our campsite which was nearer the top of the island. The tide was fairly high so we had to use the inland road which was rough as hell and a bit like the Coooloola way. After about 15 minutes of bone shaking Andy noticed one of my spot lights had fallen off so I had to turn around and go back to find it :-( after about 10 minutes we found it but alas someone (or maybe me) had ran over it and it was smashed to bits. I'd had these Cibie lights since I was 18 so they had some sentimental value, they also cost $160 to replace each one so that hurts as well.

Anyway, we headed back to where Andy had waited to find he had gone exploring and was stuck up to the axles in soft sand :-) We soon yanked him out though with the snatch strap and continued on. Our camp site (Dundubura) was a fair bit up the island and on the way we stopped at this shipwreck

After doing the touristy thing of wondering around we jumped back in the cars and continued towards our campsite. Eventually we got there and setup our tents and our kitchen area (with the tarp and poles). We couldn't have a camp fire next to the tents but there was a fire ring just a few metres away. A bit later Sam, Jayne, Andy and myself went down to the beach to do a bit of fishing, Sam and Jayne chilled out with a bottle of wine whilst we fished. Andy caught a decent sized Dart straight away but nothing else was caught by either of us. We then went back to the tents and started the fire, cooked our steaks and consumed a few beers and generally had a relaxing evening. I'm beginning to forget what it's like to be stressed nowadays, life is so relaxing for us and I wished we'd been doing this kind of stuff years ago. I'm sure it must prolong life.

We all went to bed around 9:30ish and had a good nights sleep. We were up fairly early the next day and had eggs, sausages and bacon cooked on the stove (I'm sure the other campers must have smelled the bacon. We then went off firstly to Lake McKenzie

And then we went on to another lake for a picnic. Needless to Say Andy couldn't stay out of the water although it was only about 16 degrees yesterday. The others went in as well but I just sunbathed. The water was so clean at both of these lakes and tasted lovely, a bit like the sea at Felixstowe really or maybe not.

It was then time to head home, Andy and the others were staying for 1 more night but Sam and I headed home. Needless to say we didn't go down the rough track on the way back, we stayed on the main road. It was maybe 50km further but so easy setting the cruise control to 100km and watching the world go by.

We had a brilliant weekend and each weekend we say it can't get any better. We are going up to Fraser again on the queens birthday (7th and 8th June) and we have also decided we are going there for the Xmas break. The idea being that we'll have a traditional Xmas lunch on the beach with hats, crackers etc. Then instead of sleeping in front of the telly all afternoon we'll sunbathe and maybe do a bit of fishing and beach cricket.

The invitation is there to anyone that wants to join us, all you need is a 4WD and a tent and more importantly wants to have fun and chill out.

That's it for now, have a look at the rest of our photos of Fraser if you want http://www.flickr.com/photos/bloomster/sets/72157605136063381/

Bye for now