Hervey Bay - 10 to 11-7-2023

On our last night in Bunderberg we went to the H20 Restaurant at the Burnett Riverside Hotel and had a bite to eat enjoying a beautiful sunset over the river.

On Monday we drove to Hervey Bay, a beautiful beachside town with a mild sub-tropical climate and about 3.5hr drive up north from Brisbane. Hervey Bay has a picturesque esplanade reaching for many kilometers that bikers, walkers, and skateboarders can enjoy. The esplanade finished at the Urangan Pier, a historical pier of 868 meter. We didn’t walk up the pier as many other people did (too hot!) but rather took advantage of the ‘Happy Hour’ at a beachside pub and had a pizza and beer.

We stayed behind the I-Site at Hervey Bay that night and organized our Fraser Island trip, booking all our camp sites and ferry first thing on Tuesday. From there we drove to the Susan River Adventure Resort, a very cool ranch with 60 horses, clean facilities and huge grounds to camp in. They allowed us to leave Jacko there while visiting Fraser island. At the ranch we had time to get Elsie ready for

her big trip. We filled up with enough water, food and other essentials (sleeping bags, pillows, swag, toiletries, sticks to fight off Dingos! etc.) and on Wednesday morning we made our way to the ferry.

At 10AM we backed Elsie onto the ferry and the adventure began.

Day 1 - Fraser Island

After a 45-minute sail we landed on the island and drove to our first stop, Lake McKenzie. The sands around this lake are composed of pure, white silica and the water in the lake is also so pure it is unsuitable for many species. It was a warm day but cloudy, so we didn’t see the colours as they usually show on the photos of the lake one sees on the Internet.

On the way down to the water a lady who was returning to her car told us that the sand is so fine that one can polish one’s jewellery with it or go in the lake and have a full body scrub. I went for the first suggestion and polished my rings, which worked as she had suggested. There were quite a few families at the lake, swimming, splashing around or just relaxing. I think one has to go there very early in the morning to have the experience of just you and nature that you can see in all the photos on the Internet.

From there we drove to our first camp ‘Central Station’. The ‘road’ (as wide as our car) led us through tropical rain forest with trees of about 30m height and sand that was knee deep. What an experience! I understand now why one needs a 4WD to get around on the island. After about an hour driving through thick sand and rain forest we arrived at the Central Station. The camp was in the middle of the bush and besides toilets had no other facilities.

We set up Elsie, put out the awning and sidewalls, set up table and chairs and got out the beer and wine. A couple camping right next to us joined us and we had a nice chat with them while it was slowly getting dark.

As I am getting claustrophobic in the swag, we had agreed that Bulla uses the swag while I sleep on the backseat of Elsie. However, Bulla decided that night not to put up the swag but instead just sleep on the mattress on the ground sheet. I thought this is probably more comfortable and jumped into my sleeping bag onto the mattress when it was time for bed (probably 8PM) I fell asleep easily after the exciting day and slept well until………………….

I felt something crawling up my hair!