Trips | petesmedia

So it has been over a month since I went to Fraser Island with Brendan and figured I better reflect on the journey for something to read in the future.

Wednesday

Fly up to Brisbane from Newcastle
Grab supplies from Woolies
Crazy lady at Bunnings and $8 camping chairs

I flew up to Brisbane with Jetstar and ended up having a good chat to the guy next to me. He was heading to the Solomon Islands for a week, that explained why he boarded the plane in winter wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Brendan picked me up from the airport and we hit up Woolies to get stocked up on food for our trip. It became apparent that we needed some camping chairs so a quick stop at Bunnings had us sorted. We were greeted with this dear ole lass of a lady who seemed a bit over excited to tell us where the camping chairs were. We followed her directions and found the camping chairs. Although I have a dislike for Bunnings, I can’t complain about the chairs we picked up for $8 each… bargain.

Thursday

Drive to Hervey Bay
Get 4WD
Maheno Shipwreck
Setup camp
Steak

An early start at 5:30am in order to drive up to Hervey Bay in time to organise our 4wd and catch the 12:30pm barge. Normally I would do my best to be sleeping at this hour but with the excitement of an adventure Brendan and I were packed and on the road after some oats for breaky. Surprisingly we almost ran over someone walking their dog in the early hours as we reversed out of the driveway. So Brisbane to Hervey Bay was an alright roadtrip of about 4hrs with some technology advanced road signs telling us we were tailgating. We passed an interesting looking pub and a giant Ned Kelly as we arrived into Hervey Bay. A quick lunch and we got the keys to our 4WD after watching a safety DVD. It was a Landrover Discovery with a 2.5L turbo diesel engine supplied with basic camping gear and a gas cooker.

As Brendan and I waited for the barge at River Heads I spotted a fellow FJ40 Landcruiser and what was initially a friendly “hello” turned into a 30 minute rundown of his 4WD. The barge arrived and just as we had 5 minutes of driving experience in the Landrover we were the first ones to reverse onboard. It took about 40 minutes to get across to Fraser Island. We didn’t really know what to expect as we drove off the barge, across a wooden jetty and into the resort area. We could have looked at the maps but figured it was best to take the first 4WD track we saw… and so we did. Luckily we were heading in the right direction and eventually ended up on the east coast of the island on the main beach. Speed limits are 40km/h for inland tracks and 80km/h for the main beach.

It wasn’t long until we spotted the Maheno shipwreck and took a few photos. We camped nearby behind the dunes on the beach. Fenced camping areas are on the island but we were warned they’d be full of screaming kids so we opted for the scavenging dingos that didn’t cry throughout the night. As with any camping adventure, it was essential to have some steak for dinner.

Continue reading →