TOD Tour, Day 55 - Fraser Island

Running up the west coast of Fraser

The world's largest sand island, Fraser Island, off the Qld coast adjacent to Hervey Bay, has always been one of our unfinished pieces of business and to be honest, deliberately so. Images of resorts and backpackers and crowds around pristine lakes and 6WD buses bruising through the sand tracks had never been much of an encouragement for us to visit.

However, an insistent view from my Dad that it shouldn't be missed finally pushed us into booking a tour. After an hour scanning the internet and Trip Advisor reviews, we plumbed for a day tour to the remote areas of Fraser Island off Hervey Bay, Qld, with the Tasman Venture people.

What a great decision.

They offer a range of tours for eco tourists, whale watchers and fishermen. We opted for the one day, Remote Fraser Island Tour and were rewarded with one of the best days we have experienced in Australia or overseas.

Our day started with an accommodation pick up at 7:30pm - including a courtesy call when the bus was running a few minutes late - and ended with a drop off at just on 6:00pm and from go to woe, it was everything we could have hoped for. 

The cruise up the west coast of the island past Moon Point, as far as Wathumba, was in bright sunshine. The sand cliffs rose from the white sand beaches in bands of colour from deep brown dark chocolate rocks through various shades of orange and yellow and topped with vegetation. The water was an aqua blue when we moored off the mouth of Yeerall Creek. Its a fresh water creek which is tidal, so sea water flows in and out. We volunteered to be on the first load ashore and it proved to be a good move, as we donned our PFDs and climbed aboard our big kayak.

Snorkelling at Wathumba

The creek was narrow with very clear water as we paddled quietly among lots of dead mangroves which had fallen victim of being flooded by super high tides several years ago. The water was still and the reflections of the dead mangroves created an eerie scene.

Returning to the mouth of the creek, Sue swapped the kayak for goggles and snorkel and took a float across the low, shallow bay which is the opening of Wathumba. She was nervous after a bad experience a few years ago in Western Australia but soon adapted and after seeing her first few rays, she was loving every moment but when the big sea turtle swam past, she was more than a little amazed.

We were taken across to the front beach, where we swam in the clearest, bluest water across the whitest sand ... for nearly an hour.

Returning to the boat, a BBQ lunch of steaks, chicken kebabs and snags accompanied by four different salads, in quantities that only diminished when we'd had enough, was well received.

After lunch, we moved to another beach to the south, behind which Awinya Creek runs back into the island. This is a pure freshwater creek, which rises as a spring so there is no saltwater in the creek. It is much narrower, barely wide enough for the kayaks but we found out a lots of information about the island from our guide Karl.

Returning to the beach, I'm ashamed to say the highlight of the day was our manic ride on a biscuit behind the Sealegs. This amazing little craft is a high speed boat in the water and a three wheel drive beach vehicle on the sand. In its water configuration, it towed us at high speed on our inflated rubber platform - Sue and myself and another older lady - in great arcs and runs. Anyone who has dragged behind a ski boat on one of these inflatables knows just how much fun it is to jump across the wake and zoom out in giant arcs out beside the tow boat. We spend a lot of our ride laughing, some of our time screaming and absolutely all of our time hanging on for grim death!

The Tasman Venture made another stop late in the afternoon to climb a giant sand dune and another swim in a freshwater creek but we opted to sit out that excursion and experience the bar instead. My shoulders were already screaming from the paddling and the climb up the sand dune would have sidelined Sue's back for days.

All of these activities, the information, the food, open ended tea and coffee were included in the cost. Only items from the bar or merch were extras. At $15 an hour for each of us, it was a remarkably cheap day. 

The last forty five minutes back to Urangan Point at Hervey Bay was a fast run against a setting sun and the views were among the best of the day.

TOD Tour, Day 54 - The Esplanade @ Hervey Bay

Where have all the listeners gone?

A nice day.

We rode the bikes into the main wharf area at Urangan Point along a well developed bike track called the Esplanade. It extends from Point Vernon at the west end of Hervey Bay all the way along the shore to the marina which opens the town to the sea.

The long jetty which juts out into Hervey Bay at Urangan used to be twice as long as sugar and pineapples were exported and oil imported but a deeper, better port at Bundaberg - one not affected by tides - took that international traffic away.

Much of the bike track runs in shade which makes for a pleasant ride, especially on a hot day.

Once we reached the marina and stopped for cold water, we discovered a roast lunch for $12, served on a deck over-looking the marina. It was a Bob Hudson moment so we didn't let that chance go by. The ride home completed our ten kilometre journey.

I delivered a poetry reading in the caravan park which was pleasant but poorly attended. At least those there enjoyed it. They suggested that a few more months and the emergence of the Grey Nomads onto northern roads and the inclusion of  a poetry breakfast might be considerations worth mulling over. My feeling is that its time to put the readings on the back burner for a while and get back to enjoying our trip.

TOD Tour, Day 53 - Glasshouse Mountains

The Glasshouse Mountains

They certainly have a unique way of farewelling from Bribie Island. As we drove across the Bribie
Island Bridge - the only non-water access to the island - a pelican sat on top of every one of the tall light poles which illuminate the roadway and make the bridge stand out as a landmark. Squatting there in the early morning sun, each seemed content with his perch, like aquatic gargoyles.

It was an easy run up into the hinterland and the scenic lookout in the Glasshouse Mountains. Low cloud rolled across the scene from the south, allowing shy peaks to hide from view for anything from moments to half hours. Captain Cook named these eleven peaks in 1770, as he sailed up the east coast of Australia, reminded of the glass furnaces of his beloved Yorkshire, so far away. Matthew Flinders explored the area, climbing Mt Beerburrum on his 1799 visit. They are the remnant plugs of volcanoes which were active across eastern Australia 26 million years ago.

The Gubbi Gubbi people believe the mountains are all members of the one family. The father, Mt Tibrogargan asked his son Mt Coonowrin to help get his pregnant mother to safety when he saw the sea rising. Coonowrin refused and Tibrogargan hit him with his nulla nulla. Once the danger passed, Coonowrin felt ashamed of his actions and asked for forgiveness from his family. This is why the many streams run from the mountians, as Coonowrin weeps.

Like the Warrumbungles in north western NSW, these dramatic geological features seemed to rise up from the plains around them, towering over the pineapple farms which are so prevalent.

On the way down from the lookout, we stopped at the Lookout Cafe for a second hobbit breakfast and with the sharp spire of Coonowrin rising in view. A shower passed through, masking Coonowrin in a grey curtain but it lurked there, waiting for the sun. In one corner of the verandah, an old Kookaburra oven, still in working condition, reminded me of my Mum's kitchen when I was a lad.

Heading north, we passed Irwin's Palace, otherwise known as Australia Zoo ... we had been driving along Steve Irwin Way since we left the Bruce Highway. Signs every ten kilometres breakdown the distance left to go, perhaps as a homage to the kids in the car who can't wait to get there. We didn't go in.

At Landsborough, we turned west towards Maleny and climbed up onto the Blackall Range, a long steep climb. Just as we reached Maleny, we turned north again for Montville. Originally a timber getting service centre and then dairy, citrus, avocados, pineapples and macadamia nut farming community, tourism has dominated since the 1970's. People come up from the Sunshine Coast in their droves to enjoy the wonderful scenery and the myriad of galleries, craft shops and the constant markets. As usual, there were no parking spots for cars with trailers, so we drove through the main street, turned around and drove back. It all looked very nice and was chock-a-block with tourists.

Almost on the outer edge of the village, the GPS told us to veer left to take us to Nambour. It only took a few hundred metres to realise we were in for an interesting drive to Palmwoods. Measured at 10kms in length, the road falls of the Blackall Range with a variation of 400m in height above sea level in the first few kms between the two towns. Its narrow and very, very steep. As a result, the Forester was switched to X-Mode, a controlling low gear setting which takes the car along at a walking pace. It was slow but it was immensely safe and with the van on the back, it ensured we arrived safe and sound.

After our steep descent, our path took us right past the Big Pineapple. Opened in 1971, it is not only a heritage listed member of the "big things" tourist attractions around Australia but one of the earliest. Of the well known "biggies", perhaps only the Big Banana at Coffs Harbour (1964) has been around longer. The business that grew around it has long since gone bankrupt, to these days it is kept open by the markets which are held there. Those who follow "Travels With Pete & Sue" will know that big things feature often in our road miles, so fortune favoured us in snapping one of the classics.

From the big, rough end of the pineapple, we drove on to Cooroy and had lunch with a lady who I attended high school with and haven't seen since 1974. Facebook does some wonderful things and one of them is putting people in touch with one an other and providing support for folks who need it, despite distances between them. Sue Jameson and I communicate regularly through Facebook and she has been a solid supporter of my poetry, buying all three collections. We had a relaxed lunch with her and met members of her family at their home. They must have the biggest living area, with the highest ceiling, of any house I have every been in! It was great to touch base.

Apart from a stop for fuel and toilets, the rest of the afternoon was spent driving on to Hervey Bay, which will be our base for the next three days.

I watched and photographed the lunar eclipse to round out my day.

A Little Further North - Hervey Bay

The beach called Sue and I as early as it decently could this morning and clearly it has both understanding and knowledge of those it summons because it left it until mid morning. The 400m to travel proved too much for my recovering knee, suffering as it is from a reunion hangover after failing to carry the pretence of age during a cricket match last Saturday. It's lumpy characteristics had subsided but an unfair level of pain in a medial ligament keeps reminding me that my playing days are finished and just how good the freedom of walking was. Therefore, we made it to the gate of the caravan park before I limped a retreat back to the car.

Beaches this close to the Tropic of Capricorn are not those of my boyhood fear, with waves rolling and crashing and proving my inadequacy to bikinied bystanders who caged laughs and soon looked past me to other boys on boards. No, here, the waves are as flat as those bikinied bystanders were and they ripple rather than crash. Either way, my knee kept me dry. Sue on the other hand was quickly into swimmers and breaststroking 20 meters parallel to the very straight shoreline, surprisingly swimming between the flags but to what purpose beyond making life easier for the lifeguards I couldn't ascertain.

Apart from snapping a few pictures there was little for the beached whale to do. A phone call from Steve McMillan at Radio Station 2AD changed all that and we talked through the selection of the Waratahs First XI and the Reunion in general. It was a nice, final way to doff my cap at a fabulous gathering.

Once Sue was rung out and dried, we headed south to the boat harbour and watched some kite surfers operating off the beach. Spectacular scenes of boards flying sometimes five or six meters off the surface and giant coloured sails bent under the strain of a freshening 35 knot freeze trying to escape the straining cables held by surfers with feet strapped to boards that raced across winded bumped small waves.

In the afternoon we shopped and tried to filled holes left by having the camping trailer sit on the

TODAY'S PHOTOS

block and be slowly emptied as we "borrowed" items. I also made an appointment for some physio attention on my knee.

Tomorrow, it's on to Bundaberg.