Fraser Island, 2nd day...
Sven drove north to Indian Head while the tide was still quite high. We had to make excursions into the soft sand and sometimes into the wet sand to avoid colliding with other vehicles. Normally you're supposed to drive on the hard sand, which is about 10-20 feet from where the water reaches. Above the hard sand is very soft sand that is difficult to maneuver through and slows you down quite a bit.
At times you have to take a side route up onto the mainland through soft sand to go around obstacles, like rock cliffs and all. Indian Head is the most challenging one. The technique is to start in 2nd gear, floor the gas pedal and keep it floored until you're through the soft sand and have better traction. We met another vehicle coming the other way and escaped a low-speed collision by inches. Maneuvering in soft sand is very unpredictable.
We saw some sea turtles from Indian Head cliff. It's an awesome viewpoint and you can often see sea life from it in the water below.
We contionued on to the Champagne Pools. These protected pools provide the only salt water swimming/wading on the island. Fraser Island is a breeding ground for Tiger sharks, one of the few man-eating sharks. It also has severe riptides that can carry a person out to sea. The pools are so-named because water breaking over the protective reef into the pools becomes frothy and appears like champagne bubbles.
I was the driver driving back to the aboriginal campground for lunch. We had a 30-minute lunch of sandwichs while the Israelis cooked a 2 1/2 hour lunch. That gave us quite a late start.
We arrived at the next site, Eli Creek, at 4:30 pm. Driving on the beach is supposed to be finished at 5 pm per the park service. We had a discussion with the Isarel group over their proposed change to the itinerary to stay at a camp ground with showers that was 80-km down the beach. It was too late to travel that far on the beach in the dark. We went to Happy Valley store for ice cream and cokes, and camped in the dunes at Cornwall Break.
It was cool camping in the dunes!
Sven drove north to Indian Head while the tide was still quite high. We had to make excursions into the soft sand and sometimes into the wet sand to avoid colliding with other vehicles. Normally you're supposed to drive on the hard sand, which is about 10-20 feet from where the water reaches. Above the hard sand is very soft sand that is difficult to maneuver through and slows you down quite a bit.
At times you have to take a side route up onto the mainland through soft sand to go around obstacles, like rock cliffs and all. Indian Head is the most challenging one. The technique is to start in 2nd gear, floor the gas pedal and keep it floored until you're through the soft sand and have better traction. We met another vehicle coming the other way and escaped a low-speed collision by inches. Maneuvering in soft sand is very unpredictable.
We saw some sea turtles from Indian Head cliff. It's an awesome viewpoint and you can often see sea life from it in the water below.
We contionued on to the Champagne Pools. These protected pools provide the only salt water swimming/wading on the island. Fraser Island is a breeding ground for Tiger sharks, one of the few man-eating sharks. It also has severe riptides that can carry a person out to sea. The pools are so-named because water breaking over the protective reef into the pools becomes frothy and appears like champagne bubbles.
I was the driver driving back to the aboriginal campground for lunch. We had a 30-minute lunch of sandwichs while the Israelis cooked a 2 1/2 hour lunch. That gave us quite a late start.
We arrived at the next site, Eli Creek, at 4:30 pm. Driving on the beach is supposed to be finished at 5 pm per the park service. We had a discussion with the Isarel group over their proposed change to the itinerary to stay at a camp ground with showers that was 80-km down the beach. It was too late to travel that far on the beach in the dark. We went to Happy Valley store for ice cream and cokes, and camped in the dunes at Cornwall Break.
It was cool camping in the dunes!
posted by Chris at 9:00 PM
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