Thursday, April 30

Got up at 4 a.m. to make it to the meeting place in Tewantin (near Noosa) by 6 a.m. – we were amazed at the intensity of the rain and wind and kind of groaned because we were going to be outdoors in it. Oh well, no help for it so we packed our rain gear, started up our GPS (affectionately named TimTam) and set off in the dark, pouring rain to find the meeting spot. It wasn’t a pleasant drive but with the help of TimTam, we made it. Of course we were early, so we sat in the car hoping we were in the right spot.

Just a few minutes after 6 (when I had pulled out my phone and the phone number of the company), the bus from Fraser Island Adventure Tours arrived. Our driver was Andrew and there were only 10 passengers – a nice number for a rainy day. Once at Fraser Island, we couldn’t travel around the point on the beach because the tide was too high so we took a “corrugated” road (think heavy washboard!) for 11 km until we could safely drive on the beach. The speed limit on the beach is 80 km an hour although Andrew said it depended on the conditions if you could actually do that speed.

Our first stop was Eli Creek for morning tea and a restroom break.

There was a nice boardwalk at the creek so we took advantage of it and stretched our legs. The water was quite warm but we decided not to wade back to the bus (it was a little deep at the top end). Once back at the bus, tea was served and then it was off to see what was left of the Maheno wreck.

Apparently there was an Anzac Day ceremony held at the site of the wreck, as the ship had been used as a medical transport in WW1.

Next on to the Pinnacles (hmmmm I think everywhere in Australia must have some placed named the Pinnacles). These were beautiful and I think the rain had made the colours more noticeable.

John was riding up front with the driver at this time and he has some awesome video of the beach and the sand roads that are inland. We headed through the bush to go to Lake Mckenzie for a swim and our bbq lunch. John and one other fellow decided to swim – the rest of us just enjoyed the view *s* Lake Mckenzie is a beautiful – so clear because it is filled with rainwater and filtered by the sand.

The picnic area has been moved a little further away from the lake than when we were there 7 years ago – the picnic area has an improved dingo fence and more picnic tables. There is also a neat set up where a tarp can be hung over the provided posts to protect from sun or rain. The picnic area also features a laughing kookaburra (how many of you sang the kookaburra song to yourselves?) who likes to steal the grilled steaks right off plates. He didn’t get any of my steak though!

Once we had finished lunch, we were back on the bus to head to Central Station and Wanggoolba Creek. This creek is so clean and clear that you have to really look to see the water in it. In the river bed are King ferns that are similar to ones that grew 300 million years ago. Pretty impressive.

That was our last stop – we were pretty lucky with the rain – it didn’t completely stop everytime the bus stopped but it did slow down a lot (as Andrew said – his wipers were on intermittent instead of full out). As before, it was a fantastic day and we really enjoyed seeing the island again – in fact the rain just made things look cleaner. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any dingoes on this trip.

We went back to the barge by way of the beach – the tide was coming in again and there were a few spots that looked like we might not make it but Andrew was a great driver and had no problems.

Back to the meeting spot about 5:45 and I started up the GPS to find our way home in the dark night complete with more heavy rain and traffic. We were ready for sleep by the time we got to the condo but managed to stay awake long enough to have a snack.

Friday, May 1

Another windy, rainy day today so what to do? How about an aquarium – there is one just up the advertised as the largest aquarium in Queensland. So off we went to Underwater World Sea Life. We didn’t find the turn off at first so we had a scenic drive (through driving rain, light rain and no rain) down the coast – looking at the large waves and the blowing trees. On our way we went past the Arnold Palmer designed golf course that features the Palmersauraus (a T-rex that is on the golf course – John says that when a pro golf tournament was played there, the T-rex had to be turned off because the players were playing badly whenever he roared). There is an automobile museum at the golf course too but it wasn’t open at 9:30 a.m.).

Eventually we found the aquarium and went inside. There were some really cool exhibits and a walk-through tunnel but it wasn’t really very large. It seemed like it was designed more for children as there were activities everywhere for the kids to do (one of the interactive exhibits involved finding out what a seal’s breath smells like – ummmm, no thanks!)

It was pouring again when we got out of the aquarium so we puttered our way back, popping in and looking at beaches until we were back in Caloundra. John stopped at a fish market to get something for dinner and, instead, came out with steaming hot order of fish and chips. They were so good (and filling). Food is expensive here but seafood is fairly reasonably priced.

The rain didn’t give up and the wind picked up so we spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching the trees outside our apartment blowing. We were going to drive down toward Brisbane away from the coast tomorrow but there is a weather alert for that area warning of flash floods so that probably isn’t the best idea.

No glitches this time. We were up at 4:45 and were picked up at the condo at 5:30 in a passenger vehicle. While we were waiting in the lobby the only living thing around was

– I think this is the Worldmark, Golden Beach mascot *lol*

The driver explained that we were the only pickups on the south end of the run – we felt bad until she said that she lives in Caloundra and has to go up each morning anyway. We met up with the tour bus

at Noosa. The bus holds 18 passengers and there were only 10 people on the tour so there was lots of room to spread out. Another really neat thing was that there are two seats beside the driver and everyone got a chance to sit in the front.

 We started out by crossing the Noosa River on a small cable ferry that only took a few minutes to cross and then we were driving up the Teewah Beach.

The sun was just coming up when we started up the beach. The dunes were very exposed and the driver explained that there had been a huge cyclone in January and a lot of the sand was swept away leaving large rock exposed. The sand is coming back now but will take a while longer before the dunes are softened again.

There is a large camping area along the beach – you just need a permit to camp there (and to be self-contained). Ken, the driver (who reminded us of Gordon Nikirk – without the cowboy hat and with an Aussie accent) told us that at Christmas and New Years there can be up to 6,000 people camped along the beach. We had a quick stop at

the Teewah Coloured Sands

and then continued up the beach. We couldn’t go all the way to Rainbow Beach on the beach road because the tide was in too far to go around Double Island Point so we headed inland on the Freshwater Road – a 4 wheel drive track. We weren’t far along it when we spotted a road construction sign – no photo as it was hard to take photos on the bumpy road *lol* We were going to have morning tea on the beach at Rainbow Beach but Ken took a look at the sky and predicted a shower so we went to a picnic shelter at the park.

Not sure if you can see from this photo, but the spots are heavy rain.

The crossing to Fraser Island is via a barge which loads from the sand (like a double ended landing craft).

There is no set schedule – it just goes back and forth as required. The crossing only takes about 12 minutes and then we were off on the beach road. It was funny to see speed limit signs on the beach – and signs warning that you were sharing the road with a runway.

We left the beach at Eurong (a resort area) and travelled through the rainforest. Ken explained what the trees were and what they were used for as well as the history of the island. We stopped for a lunch break at

Lake McKenzie where we had the opportunity to go swimming. John made it in all the way but I chickened out at the tops of my legs. Lunch was fantastic – when we booked we were given a choice of steak, fish or vegetarian and we both chose steak. Ken bar-b-q’d while everyone else was relaxing and when we got back to the picnic area (fenced to keep dingoes out), the meat was ready, there were about 5 different salads out, and we were offered either beer, wine or soft drink. For dessert, we had fresh cantaloupe and pineapple. It was great to be able to eat what was offered (the second tour that has happened on).

Once back in the bus, it was time for John and I to ride up front. It was a good time to be there – we saw rainforest and the beach. On the beach road, the tide was starting to come in which made it interesting in spots – especially when other vehicles didn’t want to move over so that we were driving in the surf. We saw a dingo – who wasn’t interested in us at all – and a sea eagle who didn’t want to move and then reluctantly took off right in front of the bus.

Once back on the mainland, we took a short trip down Rainbow Beach (on the beach) and had our afternoon tea at some of the coloured sands there. Apparently it’s a good area for paragliders too – we saw one guy packing his parachute and another one playing in the thermals above us (we thought he might be checking out what we were having for tea and deciding whether to come and join us). We couldn’t stay too long as there was one spot the bus wouldn’t be able to manouevre over if the tide came in too far. The trip back to Noosa was interesting – we had a scenic tour past and through Queensland’s largest pine forest (planted) – the good thing was that John and I saw real, live wild kangaroos – they were in the distance but they were definitely kangaroos.

Ken dropped everyone else off and then took us for a tour of Noosa before we met up with another bus that was coming back towards Caloundra. It was filled with school kids who had been on Fraser Island on a field trip. We rode part way down on the bus and then transferred to the same vehicle that took us up.

I can’t say enough about Fraser Island Adventure Tours – they were very safety conscious, eco-friendly (not one piece of anything we took with us was left behind on the island or the beaches), knowledgeable and friendly. We had a really good day – just wish we could have got out and looked around more often but the roads really weren’t wide enough (even though the signs kept saying 2-way traffic) for Ken to stop safely. We did have a walk at Wanggoolba Creek that was really neat – it’s at Central Station which used to be a forestry camp. The information centre there is an old forestry worker’s home.

Temperature: 23 C – sunny with heavy rainshower in morning