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| Peter bathes the leg in Lake McKenzie, inland fresh water lake. |
The northerly wind persists and we are still hunkered down in the Susan River at River Heads. The wind is not really that bad' but still no fun sailing into it, something like banging your head against the brick wall. We have never seen anything of Fraser Island apart from several short walks along the beaches and into the forest nearby, so we decided to take a day tour with Fraser Explorer. Large four wheel drive buses take you on a tour of some of the scenic spots on the island. Our bus had 40 or so passengers. The cost of this day trip was $239 each. For this sum we had a trip to Fraser island from River Heads on the ferry, a full-day guided 4WD tour, buffet lunch at Eurong Beach Resort on the east coast and national park fees, and it was a long day - 8am until 6pm. The 'iconic' sights we saw were Lake McKenzie, Central Station (rainforest walk), Wanggoolba Creek, Eli Creek, The Pinnacles
Coloured Sands, 75 Mile Beach and the Maheno Shipwreck.
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| Maheno Shipwreck, 75 Mile Beach |
It was a packed day and we can recommend it to anyone who is interested. The buses take the rough, sandy tracks in style. Luckily the seats are well sprung and the constant pitching and lurching along the forest tracks is achieved with comfort. I could not believe the size of the forest trees, especially since they were growing in sand. There must have been at least six of these buses touring that day so plenty of people about.
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| Our Bus |
Eurong Beach Resort catered for lunch for all these people. Our bus driver said they were expecting 300 people for lunch and we enjoyed our meal and went back for seconds. After lunch we drove along the 75 Mile Beach for about 25kms. (not sure about that but that's what I thought!) The one thing I would have like to seen was a dingo. However I guess these things cannot be ordered. Peter had his sore leg so we didn't do much walking, but there wasn't time anyway. Fraser Island is an interesting and unusual place with its fresh water lakes, glorious beaches and beautiful forests.
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| Central Station rainforest. This is a stream. It is so clear you can't see the water. |
Off to Keppel Bay
The northerlies have petered out and we left for the Burnett River the next day. Calm, sunny weather greeted us in the morning and we set off early in expectation of it being a long day. It was. About 10nm from the Burnett the wind turned north again, not strong, but enough to cause a sloppy sea and turn things rather uncomfortable. It also slowed us down so that we arrived in the dark, something I hate doing. With more light northerlies predicted for Monday we decided to stay put and explore the small town of Burnett River. It is a really lovely spot, not so much for scenery, but the people in the little town and shops were so friendly. The caravan park looks like a good one for those caravaners looking for a place to spend a day or two.
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| Old lighthouse at Burnett Heads |
Tuesday saw us motoring most of the way to Pancake Creek along with about six other boats. We left early and arrived there before dark and anchored in the outer creek with seven others. We have not seen many whales yet. They must be up north by now. We decided to make a break for Great Keppel Island as the wind forecast was good - 10-15kts and later up to 20kts SE. We sailed all day. Keppel Island is one of our favourite anchorages. However as we motored across the northern face of the island we noticed that the swell was rolling alarmingly around the island. The twenty or so boats anchored in the northern bay were all rolling about in the constant swells, not dangerous but uncomfortable and noisy as contents of cupboards are flung about. We had just anchored when the wind piped up with the arrival of squalls. Luckily this was relatively short lived and things settled back to the rolly swells that continued catching Olivia side on for the rest of the night.
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| Relaxing after a day motor sail to Pancake Creek |
We both slept amazingly well, but decided to sail over to the Keppel Bay Marina near Yeppoon so that we could fill up with water and fuel and take a trip to the shops for some stores. The laundry is done, hair washed with no thoughts of saving the water and Olivia has been cleaned, bow to stern.
Tomorrow we are heading north to Pearl Bay or Island Head Creek, then on to the Percy Islands or another nearby island and then we will be in the southern end of the Whitsunday Islands.
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| More Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island |
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