Mark and Arie were met by David and Melinda and kids on the Friday at the BP just before Caboolture, and then headed off to Inskip Point. Allan and Tim were aiming to meet us at the Campground at Central Station on the next day (Saturday). Crossing on the MantaRay barge, we landed on Fraser and headed up the beach.
Vehicles waiting on Fraser to cross on the MantaRay
Once the tents were set up,
Mark, Arie, David, Melinda and the kids drove off the Lake McKenzie .... a fresh water lake with very clear water and white sandy shoreline.
The next morning we drove to Central Station itself (900m away), past the dingo to start our 4.8km circuit walk.
It started as a walk along a 'boardwalk' along Wanggolba Creek. Certainly a very nice walk.
The creek itself had crystal clear water running through it. The water was so clear, it was hard to see from a distance.
The walk continued through 'Pile Valley', and then through a large pine forest.
After Allan and Tim arrived and set up their tent, we had another trip to Lake McKenzie where Allan and Mark braved the water temperature and took a swim. David's kids were saying the water was too cold to ..... and by the time I looked around, they were already in the water (but they did have light wet suits on).
We then aimed to head across the Island to KingFisher Bay. However, with only 1.8km remaining, we ran into congestion on a single lane soft sand track. As time went on, we discussed to head back up the road to a turn-off only 150m behind us. The trick was to turn around. More vehicles and buses came along from both directions, and nobody was going anywhere. We eventually made it back up the hill.
The plan for Sunday was to head up 75 Mile beach at the begining of low tide to Indian Head and possibly Waddy Point.
On the way up, we stopped with many others to watch some whales offshore swimming south.
We also stopped at the Maheno Ship wreck.
Heading further north we stopped at the Pinnacles.
Once we arrived at Indian Heads, and seeing the queue of vehicles waiting to get around the bogged vehicles on the bypass, we decided to stop and climb Indian Heads itself.
There was a great view from the top. You can see how many people were around India Heads (good fishing).
We crossed the bypass easily, and continued on to the Champagne Pools where we had lunch. Time was passing quickly, so we drove south again to stop at Eli Creek. Mark and Allan were again brave enough to walk down the creek. With the cloud cover, the air temperature was colder than the water.
80 Million litres of crystal clear fresh water runs into the ocean each day.
Later, heading up a beach track, we practised some recover technics. All went well.
After climbing a fairly steep sand hill, we stopped at Stonetool sand-blow.
By the time the reached Wabby Lake car park, the sun was low on the horzion, and there was lots of cloud cover. So we decided to head back to our campsite. The tracks were fairly rough, and drivers had to concentrate not to get bogged. The travel speed was slow on the rough tracks, and soon the light in the rain-forest tracks disappeared. But this gave David to test his new spot lights with the cheap HID Kit. They seemed to work well.
Our last day (Monday) soon came around. We packed up our tents, and then drove inland past several lakes. Unfortunately is started to rain, but the tracks and surrounding bush were interesting.
We later reached the beach, but had to drive along the soft sand as it was only mid-tide.
The trip was coming to an end when we approached the MantraRay to cross back to Inskip point.
BTW - on the way home, we hit a traffic jam, but of most interest was this 4x4 ute with an interesting front right wheel. The guy didn't stop even though lots of people were pointing at his smoking wheel. He knew of the problem but didn't want to stop. Eventually we caught up to him again at 25km in the traffic jam. Fearing his wheel will come off just as we are beside him, I took a photo of his licence plate. On auto, the camera flashed. The guy must have seen a flash, and not sure where is came from, hit the brakes and pulled over.... and about time too.
