Holiday on Fraser Island

We set off to Fraser on the Sunday night rather than the Monday morning as we'd originally planned because the tide height is a critical factor when you arrive at Rainbow beach and you only have a relatively small window of opportunity to get on to the island and around the hook before the tide is a bit too high. Even at low tide (when we landed) you still have to drive into the shallow surf to get past the odd fallen trunk here and there. Once you're around the hook however, it's a good straight run up the beach for about 55k to Dunderburra where we had elected to camp, that being a fenced site as I mentioned in the previous blog.

So after spending some time packing the food and the car, Daile and I were fairly knackered before we even set off, around 12.30 am. I drove through the night and we arrived at Rainbow beach at around 5am. I'd just nicely let all the air out of the tires for driving on sand (to about 18psi) and got onto the beach, when we saw the little ferry coming around the spit. It's supposed to start at 6.30 but often starts earlier when the tides are like they were, so that you've got a decent chance.

This vid shows the girls, eager to stretch their legs after what must have been an exhausting sleep for them! (How bitter I am!) Matilda has been eager to check this island out for years. Her giggle is because she can see it... just a short hop over the channel.

The car was overloaded as it always is, and I was a little concerned about the going once we were on the island as there are one or two places where deep ruts in the sand combined with rocks, increase the chances of grounding out or tipping a top heavy car over. The car was really swaying about on the ferry, as there was quite a swell.

(the ladder ended up black...on Daile's preference... and I agree that it looks better after all)

...interesting how early they lower the ramp isn't it. I couldn't help thinking about that ferry disaster in Holland....(Herald of Free Enterprise) that sank due to the doors being left open as it left Zeebrugge in 1987.

We made good time to the site and were pitched and having tea before too long. It's always better when it's not raining though... and whilst we got most of it up in time, we did have rain to contend with that day and night.

The next day the rain abated for a while and we had a great time at the 'Champagne Pools' where even Daile got into the water. Those of you who know her will understand that this will only happen if it's warm to very warm, so despite the weather, the temperature at least was very nice, and even in this, we all were surprised to find that we'd ALL got a little sun burn - and that despite blathering ourselves with the good stuff.

This vid gives you an idea of the sort of run you get up the beach. This was one morning doing our daily run to the dump and then to the little shop at Cathedral Beach to get ice.

Sometimes gob stoppers are a good idea... especially for Matilda!

This was Orchid beach bar and shop, the only place that we had any reception for the phones.

We found a really good spot off Orchid beach that was safe for the girls to play in the water. Most of the Eastern side of the island is ocean breakers with all the associated rip tides, gutters, sharks etc. This was a little haven protected by a sandbar.

There's been quite a bit of attention about the Dingos lately, as there's been some attacks, especially around Eurong, and some of the young males have taken to tearing holes in tents... when you're in them! This one seemed very timid indeed, and I think it was a female judging from the position of her tail. In any event, partially to be less of a threat to her, and partially to keep the girls safe, we climbed onto the roof of the car to watch her.

The next day we decided to check out Central Station where they used to run a logging operation off the island, and then onto a lake for a lunchtime picnic. Given the volume of traffic on the island this time of the year, we elected a less well known lake than Mackenzie where Molly and I went, as you can drive right up to it, and so all the tour buses do just that. This one (Lake Birrabeen) is further south and you have a short walk to get to it, anathema to many tourists.

This is a sandy stream near to Central Station..

On Daile's birthday Phoebe and I baked a chocolate cake in our camp oven! It was a big success and that's what we had for breakfast..ha ha! (Even Daile!) We'd decided that we'd come back to Brisbane on the Saturday rather than the Sunday so that we'd all have a day to recover before school started on the Monday. Daile's birthday was therefore the last day of our holiday and we agreed that we'd go to Kingfisher Bay (where there's a holiday resort) to have a nice meal at the posh hotel and perhaps do some fishing. On the way, we thought we'd see if the beach plane was there, having spoken to the very affable young pilot the day before about it. He flew in shortly after we pulled up at the place he normally operates out of, so we went for it!

These three pics were the day before...

...and these were after the flight.

Fasten your seat belts...:-)

We were well ready when we finally made it here...the tracks are pretty heavy going, and you're in the middle of wilderness when suddenly you arrive at this oasis of civilisation.

After a long swim in the pool, during which I got dunked several times, Matilda and I went fishing off the jetty for a couple of hours, whilst the girls went to the hotel and had a look around. We tidied up in time for an ice cream and a beer (first of the holiday) whilst we watched the sun go down.

We drove back at night, quite scary going down the tracks at night, but nothing compared to driving along the beach, at near to high tide, and suddenly seeing rocks loom up from nowhere! We made it home, OK and had a good kip in time for an early start and home again.

Lovely break... wish you'd been with us!

Charlie Todd is a worthy man...

I really think this kind of thing is a powerful force for good (if that doesn't sound too trite)....and why the hell not?



Check out the one that says 'Will you marry me' on their site. So sweet.

The cost of living (in a glass tank)

Well, we're off on holiday on Monday - Fraser Island. This will be the first time that the girls have been there and the first time that Daile has been there since 2000 when she and I went there on foot... which is mistake as it's all sand and the going is tough, not to mention that there's no shops other than Kingfisher Bay (which is very pricey indeed) and a small one about 90km north of it at the end of the navigable (by decent 4WD) part of the island. (North of that, you have to be both experienced and in a group that have winch gear etc).

When Molly and I went there in the Ute a few years ago, we found it to be a fantastic holiday, and aside from pulling some cars out that were stuck in front of us, and mending a Nissan Patrol (the one to have) which had blown a coolant hose, we didn't have any real problems. This will be the first real test of the Pajero that we've had the opportunity to give it. There are some bits around Indian Head that may test it, especially fully loaded, so we're camping about 20k south of that in a proper camp site that has a fence around it to keep the Dingos out. Dingos were a bit of pest to Molly and I on a couple of occasions but with the girls being so physically small, it's considered very wise to camp in a protected area!

Last year when Josh and Molly went with us to Moreton Island, you may remember that I made a roof rack for the trusty old Paj... and since then I've been meaning to make a ladder. I HAD thought that I'd make one that was on the side, but that's actually not a brilliant idea when you're going through tight areas where the truck is pitched over for example and it's surprising how tight you get to things when you're sliding around in sand tracks that are sucking on your wheels. So I've made one that bolts onto the spare wheel on the rear door. It's actually quite a simple one bolt attachment and it means that we can now dispense with putting our step ladder on the top of all our other gear (SO unprofessional looking!) It's close to the rack, but obviously doesn't attach to it or we'd not be able to open the door! Here's a couple of pics that Matilda took today, one in the late arvo and one after it was painted with 'galvanising' paint. (I used this stuff when I rebuilt the boat trailer and it works very well... so I might paint the roof rack with it on top of the black stuff, the next time I take it off the car - hardly ever these days).

Poor old jalopy... we love the Paj - or as they say in Australian Mitsubishi adverts 'Love that Cear!'

On Monday this week, I read about a drawing competition in Sydney that has a very tempting first prize and decided that I really ought to have a go even though the date for submission of the entry forms and pictures of the drawing was Friday, so I'd need to finish on Wednesday. I got it done in time and it's below.

The drawing is charcoal on paper and is 22 inches by 30 inches... just shy of A1 size. There was so much charcoal on the paper that it took me half a can of hairspray to fix it! Lucky that I use the bargain stuff from Coles the supermarket!

A few weeks ago, Matilda and I went out to get some tadpoles. We'd originally found the site when the girls and I had been out on a walk in one of the local woods. We couldn't really get any then because we didn't have a net, and we didn't have any insect repellent, which meant that Phoebe was getting bitten badly. We bought some net from the local haberdashery and made a large net. We found a short handle net that Tild had from some 'explorer' set and fitted it to half a fishing rod, so we had two, and with that, a large jar, and a can of mossie repellent we set off again. Matilda LOVES this kind of thing! We were there for an hour and a half and got about 15 of them. They're REALLY fast! At first we were trying to 'catch' up with them, and not managing to get anywhere near... then we realised that you can chase them into the net with a stick... much better!

When we got home, we looked for something that would do to keep them in and found a vase that Daile had filched away at the back of a cupboard...PERFECT!!

...but before long we realised that the water was overheating... so I put some ice cubes in while we scratched our heads. We also realised that one of them was crawling up the side to get out... so I made a net to cover the top with stuff we bought, and wired up an old motherboard fan to hang over the tank to keep the air circulating. Then we realised that they really needed somewhere to hang out, so we wired up a rock to hang on the side that was half in and half out.

OK so far.

But there's more!

The little frogs that made it onto the rock died for some reason. We thought that perhaps they needed some space to hop about in. So I made this:

and Matilda went out and got a Lilly leaf with a root.... and some other stuff to scatter about.

The cooling fan went on the lid now...

Pretty soon we felt that we needed some plants, because the bits of stuff just dried out and that... so off we went to the local plant place to see what they could sell us cheap...

...and we spent $7 on some crickets for them to eat... that were as big as they were, and kept drowning themselves!

The frogs are 'Brown tree frogs' with a stripe down the side.

...Oh for the simple life!

I sent off my malfunctioning Canon camera to Canon. It's been giving poor quality pictures for a while now, poor focus and resolution (and it's not the lens cos I've tried it on other people's cameras), and the on off switch has broken on the back.

I asked them for a quote to make work like it's supposed to and fix the switch. They quoted $893.63! Then they said they could sell me a new one for $1090! And it cost me $80 including the postage for them to tell me that! You'd think they were short of money...despite the price of their inks! So it'll be 'snaps' for me for a while I'm afraid!

Bugger!

Dan and Dare

Thought I'd show you the finished Dan painting...

In the end, I decided (well I was told..!) that his knee looked like his belly... so I gave him some jeans instead. Dan really wanted the tree (which is called a 'Batswing Coral') to be more detailed, and didn't think that my concern about the detail pulling the viewer's gaze from his face was legitimate. Now that I've done that, I think he was right. So I'm on to the next thing...

A couple of nights ago Matilda came belting up the stairs shouting 'DADDADDAD....' in a panic. She thought she'd been bitten by a spider when she was closing the bathroom window. Turns out (thankfully) that it was just a bee sting. I pulled it out, and this is most of it, though there was more of the barb still in when I took this.

She's such a critter lover though, it's surprising she doesn't get more of this. Here's a blue tongue that she snaffled yesterday.

..she was trying to get it to stick out it's tongue... much like a parent does when they want a baby to open their mouth. See how she's doing the tongue thing herself? Ha ha.