Driving on Eastern Beach at low tide was easy. In seven days we covered about 400km and loved the island

At the time of writing we are just on six weeks into our nine-month journey around Australia in our VW Transporter campervan and have already covered more than 4000 kilometres. We are getting very used to cold showers, at least I am, Slava is still not keen, but there aren’t many alternatives for us in the Vanborghini.

You know the old saying: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is? Well, we experienced that first hand in Surfers Paradise. We thought we had stumbled onto a fantastic free-camping spot within walking distance of the heart of Surfers. Actually it was the Pit Area for the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit that is used annually by the V8 Supercars. We asked around some other campers to see if the area was being policed. The feedback was that several campers had been there for a few nights without attracting any attention. It seemed too good to be true, a legitimate free camp just off the edge of downtown Surfers Paradise. Next morning we came back to earth when the police knocked on the van door. They were very reasonable and just warned everyone. No fines were handed out. We found an alternative spot for the next night on the coast road north of Sea World. While driving around the Gold Coast there was obviously lots of street camping. The authorities seem to take a much more relaxed view of it than their counterparts around the Byron area.

It’s said that good luck often comes in threes. Within hours of escaping with a warning for street camping in Surfers, we inadvertently overstayed in a meter zone while we were off at the beach. I wasn’t wearing my reading glasses and had misread how long we had paid for. Just as we got back to the van, a parking inspector was starting to write us a ticket. After a short discussion, the parking inspector let us off with a warning. That was two narrow escapes within a few hours and our stay in Surfers Paradise left us with the strong impression that the Gold Coast administration is out to leave a very good impression with its visitors. Later the same day while wandering around the Pacific Fair Shopping Centre at Broadbeach, we were selected for a tourism promotion and won a week’s accommodation. We’d come out significantly ahead on a day when we could have been seriously out of pocket.

Our next destination was Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island. It was World Heritage listed in the 90s to stop it being mined. Except for a few small privatelyowned areas, the island is part of the Great Sandy National Park which extends down the mainland almost to Noosa Heads. The surrounding waters are protected as part of the Great Sandy Marine Park. Fraser Island is a unique mix of forests, dunes, lakes, ocean beaches and headlands.

Just to break you out of any false sense of security, there is a sign at Inskip Point warning of the possibility of estuarine crocodiles along the western shore of the island. Dingoes also roam freely on the island and there are plenty of signs advising you how to avoid any trouble with them. We didn’t have to wait long for our first encounter with a dingo and they were a daily event during our stay. Most of our contacts were benign but one afternoon we were confronted by three dingoes on Eastern Beach who went into pack mode and surrounded us. After we yelled and waved our arms they wandered off without becoming aggressive. We notched it up as just another part of the Fraser Island wilderness experience.

One of the most appealing features of Fraser Island is its lakes. The Island has more than half of the world’s perched sand dune lakes. These lakes are not drained or filled by surface or subterranean water. They were created high in the dunes over thousands of years. Water is captured by an impermeable layer of vegetable matter on the bottom of the lake, a bit like leaving a bowl out in the rain. Some have become crystal clear while others glisten with the colour of tea, depending on the type of sand that the water has filtered through. We did the Southern Lakes Scenic Drive from Dilli Village to Central Station which passes three lakes. The most accessible was Lake Birrabeen with its clear water and pure white sand. We also drove along the Central Lakes Scenic Drive past Lake McKenzie which must be one of the prettiest lakes on the island. This track also goes past Lake Wabby which is the deepest on Fraser Island and has the most varieties of fish (12) all of which are protected. This lake is being gradually engulfed by the Hammerstone Sandblow. The sandblows on Fraser Island have formed over hundreds of thousands of years and move at a glacial pace. They start to form where there is a gap in the vegetation and inexorably consume everything in their path.

Wreck of the SS Maheno

Champagne Pools below Waddy Point

We tried driving to Sandy Cape, the most northerly tip of the island, but even at low tide we couldn’t get around the Ngkala Rocks. I suspect that there is a bypass which avoids the rocks but we turned back too soon and missed it. That left us about 20km short of our objective. However, we did get to the west coast twice and visited Kingfisher Bay and Wanggoolba Creek Barge. We also took in all the major points of interest on the east coast including the wreck of the SS Maheno, Eli Creek, the Red Canyon, Indian Head, the Champagne Pools and the Wungul Sandblow.

Bogged! But not for long

When we were deciding on the specifications for our campervan, 4WD or AWD was right at the top of the list because we wanted to return to Fraser Island. This trip was our first opportunity to fulfil our plan. Getting to Fraser Island is easy enough. If you can successfully cross the deep sand at Inskip Point to board the barge to Hook Point at the southern tip of Fraser Island, you will have no trouble with the island’s sand tracks and beaches. From Hook Point, if the tide is low enough, you can drive along Eastern Beach and from there you can access all the camping areas on the island.

They obviously don’t see many campervans on Fraser Island judging by the jaw-dropping looks we got as we drove along the soft sand on Eastern Beach with a relative ease that made some of the hardcore 4WD vehicles look like massive overkill for the conditions. I’d like to say we didn’t get bogged, but we did, twice, on the soft inland tracks. Both times were due to brain fade on my part rather than any limitation with the Vanborghini. Notwithstanding our extended Bilstein shocks, some extra  ground clearance would have been better, not essential, just better. But it is definitely not a Sand-bog-ini. We’ve been to Fraser Island twice before in a couple of soft road AWD wagons and the Vanborghini handled the conditions better than either of them.

Coloured sands on Eastern Beach

When we bought our island access and camping passes before catching the barge we had to nominate where we wanted to stay each night. We took pot luck nominating a few nights in the designated camping areas on the basis that it was off peak and it wouldn’t matter if we changed our minds on the spur of the moment. I imagine that choosing a campsite at peak times, when they are booked out well in advance, would require more meticulous planning. In any event we camped in the dunes on Eastern Beach on most nights. I don’t know what the protocol for beach camping is but I couldn’t believe it when on two consecutive nights, two separate groups decided to camp within 50 metres of us. The beach on Fraser Island is about 130km long so why would you choose to camp so close to someone else? On the second occasion we packed up and moved further down the beach to reclaim our personal space.

In seven days we covered about 400km and loved the island. If your camper has any 4WD or AWD capability we recommend that you look into spending some time on Fraser Island.

Thanks to all those of you who have emailed us with suggestions and comments. We are always happy to hear from you because we still only have the vaguest idea where we are going and are happy to get advice from anyone who has already done the big lap. You cancontact us at robandslava@gmail.com and keep an eye out for the Vanborghini on the road.

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Written: Fri 01 Aug 2014
Printed: August, 2014
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