Fraser Island Camping Trip Diary – Part 1
A recount of our camping trip at Fraser Island. We have broken this down into a few posts which we will add over the next few days. This post takes your through the first few days getting DOT373 out for the first time. We always go through Rainbow Beach and take the Manta Ray barge from Inskip Point. From here we went up the Eastern side of Fraser all the way past Eli Creek and the SS Maheno wreck. We were camping on the Western side this trip so we took Woralie Road just after the wreck and followed this road all the way to Woralie Creek. This side of Fraser is absolute paradise. Our camp was further down the Western side from Woralie Creek, an epic secluded spot as it can be tough to get to during high tide as the sand can get super boggy. No issue with a decent 4WD and running the correct Tyre pressures. We did hit a bit of a snag towing the trailer for the first time but that was to be expected.
Read Shayne’s blog post below.
Day 1
DOT373’s Maiden Voyage!
It was time for another escape to Fraser! This had been much anticipated as the first outing for DOT 373 (our new Drifta Off-road Trailer) or Dotty as I had christened her – although I don’t think Peter was too keen on that! Since Dotty’s arrival a couple of weeks prior I had become even more of a shed widow than before. Peter spent a lot of time in there arranging things to his satisfaction i.e. with military precision.
Finally the day came. It would be nice to say it dawned clear and bright but there had actually been almost two weeks of continuous bucketing rain and this Sunday looked grey and drizzly. Fortunately we didn’t have to set out at the dawn of crack as tide times meant a mid-afternoon arrival was preferable. I had to say goodbye to young Sadza the Cobberdog – now a gangly seven-month old; it would be the longest we had left him. I had tried to convince Peter that I could disguise Sadza as a dingo – a little shave, some henna and some way to perk the ears up – and take him along. Sensibly Peter vetoed this idea and so Sadza’s uncle had kindly volunteered to house and puppy sit for the week.
Away We Go…
We headed off into the intermittent rain. We spent most of the drive looking to the horizon and trying to convince ourselves it was clearing. As we neared Rainbow it pelted down. Peter waved to a fellow Land Cruiser 76 enthusiast he knew via Instagram on his way out. We approached Inskip to board the ferry a little apprehensively as it would be our first time towing Dotty on the beach. Given the weather and that it was Sunday afternoon there were only two other vehicles boarding, so if we did get stuck humiliation would be minimal. Of course we did not get stuck and managed to board just fine. The crossing was rough – standing by the side as the ferry lurched you up and down I managed to get drenched by a large wave.
Getting Bogged on the Way to Camp
Safely on Fraser we motored off. We wanted to make it to our site with daylight to spare but still had to cross the island. The rain continued to splatter on and off. Dotty bounced along behind us – on the inland track she did tilt about a bit but remained upright and with us.
“I’ll probably get stuck here”
We finally made it to our chosen spot. “I’ll probably get stuck here,” Peter jokes. I scrambled out and Peter aimed Big Betty up the sandy slope. She heaved to just about halfway then ground to a halt. Peter tried to reverse – no luck. A little rocking back and forth did not improve matters. Yup – we were bogged, at the last minute!
Undeterred we turned to the Maxx Tracks (and other things that look like smaller max tracks! – TREDs) for the first time. With a slight shovel of sand we placed them and tried again. Big Betty gave a roar, tyres span briefly and then Dotty was hauled up and into the site. With daylight fading now it was a relief not to have to set up half on and half off the beach. A few minutes later a group of vehicles came trundling by, fortunately too late to witness our embarrassment! My job was then to search for and retrieve the buried recovery tracks.
Camp Setup & First Dinner in DOT373
We then got to setting up. As this was our first trip with Dotty it took a while to get things right but we were happy with the final result. Lots of undercover space in case the rain returned and for shade if not.
Although it was getting late we couldn’t resist the chance to cook a proper meal in our new kitchen. A Thai red chicken curry with brown rice was rustled up with a bit of teamwork. We hadn’t cooked rice without the assistance of our Thermomix for years and were impressed with the fluffy effect of our Japanese rice cooker (which had clear instructions for dummies just such as us about rice to water ratios!).
Hot Showers at Last!
Prior to bed it was time for that marvel – a hot shower whilst camping! I disrobed and stood in the little cubicle (shower ensuite tent). Peter stood outside giving instructions and fiddling with the temperature. I confidently turned the water on and stepped into the warming spray – which rapidly turned icy! “Cold! Cold!” I gasped. This happened a few more times before we got it right. Around midnight we finally got to bed, excited for the ray of our week.
Day 2
Wet Wet Wet
Day 2 started off a bit drizzly around the edges but soon a persistent deluge set in. This was quite fine as we took the chance for a bacon and egg breakfast. Afterwards I read, napped and meditated. Peter did not seem too bored either as he was kept occupied rearranging and waterproofing our set up. It even became necessary to dig a deep trench around the front entrance. This became known as the moat. Peter had been quite enthusiastic in digging it and so a little leap was needed by those of us on the short side! I would fall in several times in the dark over the next few days!
Roast Pork on the Rotisserie
In the later afternoon the rain cleared a bit. Peter set up the rotisserie over the Potjie King charcoal burner for his delicious roast pork which we thoroughly seasoned with lots of salt, pepper and fennel seeds prior. We had a beach stroll and then added chopped pumpkin, carrot and sweet potato in al foil to the bottom of the burner in a bit of an experiment. An hour or so later we were feasting on sublime crackling (the food of the gods) and perfectly cooked roast veggies – yum!
Check out how to cook this in our post here.
An Itchy Mistake
That night we both got up to answer the call of nature a couple of times. I kindly left the screen unzipped for Peter to return – a rookie error! As we settled back into bed I heard a buzzing. “Think there’s a mosquito in here,” I mumbled blearily but Peter was already snoring again. I shrugged and went back to sleep. The next morning we awoke to find not one but a grand total of twenty-two mosquitoes sharing our tent! There followed a frenzy of slapping and shooing – revoltingly a lot of them were quite full of our blood which made for disgusting explosions! It was then I realised that I was incredibly itchy and had more bites than skin – at least thirty on my arms alone and many more on my legs! Served me right for underestimating the enemy and from then on I kept the screens tightly zipped…
Day 3
Coongul Creek
Day 3 having got off to a bloody and itchy start did improve from there. We headed north along the beach hoping to get to Awinya Creek. Unfortunately as we soon discovered the tide, combined with some fallen shrubs, meant we were stuck on our little stretch of beach! Oh well, worse places to be stuck – we trundled back to camp for some leftover pork and salad wraps.
We then decided to explore the creek behind our camp site. This was quite reedy but deep in places and flowed briskly. Peter was smart enough to have bought some tubes so we joined the yabbies and little fish and cruised with the current. It was quite blissful drifting amongst nature, backs and bums in the cool water and sunshine on our faces. Eventually though we realised we had to paddle back upstream. This afforded me great amusement as Peter tried to flop onto his belly and managed instead to fall off twice! Once my hysteria subsided we started paddling. It was pretty slow going and a good arm workout but we got there eventually!
Awinya Creek
By then the tide was low enough to allow us off our private beach. We planned to zoom north to Awinya Creek. There sand was quite thick and there were some tricky spots around rocks. I perused the map again and advised Peter of a warning I’d just noticed about the high risk of getting bogged along this stretch. Just as I said that Big Betty gave a lurch and stopped as she encountered thick, wet sand! Luckily we managed to rock our way out without resorting to recovery tracks.
Awinya Creek was very picturesque although a faint smell of sulphur was noticeable. As we drove in we saw a young male dingo. He plonked himself down and in true doggy fashion started licking his bits. We parked a few hundred meters away and started reapplying sunblock. As we did our new friend the dingo quietly popped around the door not one meter from me! I nearly swallowed my tongue and softly said a bad word. The dingo gave me a disapproving look and trotted off towards a nearby campsite. We then hopped into our tubes and cruised down our second creek of the day.
Following this adventure Peter asked me to drive Big Betty across the creek so he could get some drone footage. This was a bit of an unexpected honour as I’d yet to even drive her on the bitumen! However I made it safely across and back again without sinking her!
Game Night
That evening we played Pass the Pigs (always a good one!) and Jenga. Having won both I named myself the Gamesmeister until I realised how nerdy it sounded. We also noticed as we played that Peter’s red shorts and brown hemp shirt perfectly matched our camping chairs and canvas walls, so that he could almost blend in chameleon like!
The thoughts of Shayne.
We hope you enjoyed part one of our camping trip at Fraser Island. The next story will be posted soon.
If you have any questions, comment below. Follow us on Instagram to see where we adventure next and to see the progress of our Land Cruiser build.
Cheers legends 👍!
