Inskip and Fraser Island

Inskip National Park

Arriving in Inskip National Park we managed to get a lovely camp right on the beach front!
After setting up camp, we of course had to go check out the large sinkhole that opened up less than 2 months ago!
We soon noticed that the sinkhole had become the new place to fish! With fisherman lining the surrounding bank, and with the knowledge that there is a new artificial reef some 10m below... Consisting mainly of a Caravan, Camper trailer and lots of huge trees swallowed up in this football field sized hole!

Gary checking out the Sinkhole

The next few days were spent exploring the surrounding National park and cruising around the coastline in our boat. 

The view from our camp

Last beach day...

Checking out the coast in the boat

Inskip Point 

A friendly pelican with Fraser Island in the background 

Catching goannas again! 

With the weather forecast looking beautiful for the next week we decided a trip to Fraser was on the cards.
Packing our car and tent we once again put out caravan in storage and headed off across the barge to the stunning Fraser Island.

Fraser Island

To get from the mainland to Fraser we drove to the tip of Inskip National Park and drove our car onto the Barge. A short 10min trip later we were on Fraser and ready to start exploring! 

The Barge to Fraser Island

Ella on the barge 

Following the sandy inland 4x4 track we soon arrived at Lake Birraben. A large  beautiful fresh water lake with crystal clear water and white sand as fine as cornflour! 

Lake Birraben

We had this spot pretty much all to ourselves! There was a small group of people.. But they were way down the other end of the lake!

Setting up at Central Station Campground, located right in the middle of gorgeous forestry, we based ourselves here for the next couple of nights. 

Our camp at Central Station Campground 

Hiking at Fraser

Something we noticed quite quickly was the huge amount of signs and warnings posted everywhere when it came to the many Dingoes that call Fraser Island home. There are very strict rules in regards to making sure all your food is in sealed containers and a lot of areas near the lakes have enclosed areas for preparing and eating your food. Caught preparing or eating any food outside of these areas results in large fines! The same goes for feeding the dingoes, being wild animals that can quite often injure and at times have killed people.. The rules were strict when it came to not feeding or even approaching any dingoes.
Many of the camp areas also have large dingo proof fences surrounding them so that the dingoes can't get in!
With all this said.... It took us 3 days before we even managed to see a dingo!

Dingo warning signs are everywhere! 

We followed long sandy 4x4 tracks to  Lake Wabby where we enjoyed cooling off with a swim.
With a huge sand dune that led directly into the water, the girls had a great time rolling down the dunes straight into the lake!

Lake Wabby

Running down sandhill at Lake Wabby 

We also visited what soon became our favourite place on the Island.. Lake McKenzie..
A huge freshwater lake with crystal clear water, white cornflour like sandy banks and numerous long neck turtles. This place was AMAZING!!
We spent over half a day here on this particular visit, and only left at the sun was getting low. 

Lake Mckenzie <3

Ella showing just how white the sand is at Lake Mckenzie 

Moving camps we headed up to stay at Dundaburra campground.
We visited what remains of the shipwreck Maheno, and visited Champagne Pools for a swim in these nearly shoulder deep rock pools along the beach.

Maheno shipwreck 

Maheno shipwreck 

Champagne pools 

Indian heads beach 

We drove to Waddy Point where Gary tried his best to catch us some dinner whilst spearfishing.. But unfortunately he had forgotten to pack his flippers and only had his homemade spear on him. With large rolling waves pushing him around towards the rocks he failed to catch us any dinner... But had fun trying!
The girls and I loved just watching from the surrounding cliffs. With huge rays, small sharks and turtles swimming nearby, it was a great place to just sit back and watch! 

We also finally saw our first Fraser Island Dingo from a distance too! 

Waddy Point

Our camp at Dundaburra was great also! One night we had not one, but TWO large Pythons slither into our camp. One even climbed up onto the seat of our camps picnic table to say hello!

One of our nightly visitors! 
 

Our uninvited guest checking out our picnic dinner table! 

After leaving Dunaburra we visited Eli Creek. A great freshwater creek that flows out to the ocean. The girls and Gary soon did as everyone else was doing and grabbed their inflatabe tubes to walk up to the end of the boardwalk, and then float on them back down the creek to the ocean. 

Eli Creek 

Floating down Eli Creek 

We stopped past Lake McKenzie once again for another afternoon of fun lakeside and even managed to see another dingo on the beach! This one came a lot closer to our car than the last one!!

Finally we saw this Fraser Island Dingo playing on the beach!

Revisiting Lake McKenzie... Love this place! 

After 6 days we had clocked up over 450km on this sandy island and seen stunning sights! We were really impressed with Fraser and would love to return here again at some stage. 

Driving back to the barge, we were soon I onboard and headed back towards the Island and off to our next stop, Hervey Bay!

Xx

Aqua Parks and Noosa!!

Elke, myself and our girls 

After Liz left, the rest of us stayed on the Gold Coast for another couple of days. We revisited some of out favourite theme parks and also had a great afternoon out at "Aqua Splash."
An inflatable water park full of slides, trampolines, rope swings, walls to climb and platforms to jump off of. 

Gold Coast Aqua Splash 

From here we packed up and drove back up to Eumundi to let Elke and the girls explore the famous "Eumundi Markets" before heading to Noosa for a few days of fun in the sun!

Dad playing along with a local musician

 
Noosa beaches are just stunning. We spent the first day driving around checking them all out before settling in at our favourite for the afternoon.

Noosa 

Look out over with views of the Noosa River Mouth 

Having seen some photos of our fun at Aqua Splash, my sister in-law Shiralee messaged me to say that there is a even bigger water park just down the road at Coolum!
So on the Thursday we all headed here. Wow... This one was huge and had everything a big kid like me could of possibly dreamed a inflatable water park should have!!!
Unfortunately I may have gotten a little too excited... As I had barely been on it more than 2 minutes when I slipped and badly sprained my ankle.. Ouch!!!!
Doing my best to ignore the pain I still managed to have a great time! Huge slides, giant rope swings, towers to climb, hamster wheels, wall climbs and my favourite... The Giant Blob!! We had a great time laughing as we launched each other off the end of this giant pillow!  After our 50mins was up the girls even asked to head back out for another turn! Who was I to say no? ;) 

Family :)

After returning to dry land, that's when I noticed that my ankle hurt a little more than I realized.. (I think the cool water may have numbed it!)
By the next morning it had well and truly swelled up and I couldn't walk on it. Not wanting to miss out on the days events, I visiting a local Op shop where I managed to pick up a pair of crutches!
For the next two days I hobbled around with the family and got more than a few laughs from people as I negotiated the soft beaches with my crutches! 

Beach days :) 

Ella and Imogen ;)

Scarlett and Tori

Mum and Dad :)

Typical QLD... Sunny one moment... Huge storms rolling in the next!! 

On the Sunday it was time to say goodbye to Elke, her girls, Mum and Dad. With Elke flying home in a few days, Mum and Dad heading south towards NSW, and us headed back up to Cairns for Xmas!
It was sad to see them all leave, and felt strange after traveling on and off with Mum and Dad for quite a few months now to realize we would not be bumping into them for quite some time now.. Maybe not even before we arrive back in Adelaide!

Next stop for us... Inskip National Park and onto the beautiful Fraser Island!!

Xx

A quick trip down the East Coast

A quick trip down the East Coast 

After spending so long up Cape York we were in a hurry to make our way down the coast. With plans to catch up with my sister, her girls, my Aunt Liz and Mum and Dad all in just a few weeks on the Goldcoast, 1700km away... We had to make a move! (We weren't to worried about what we missed on the way down this time... As after all, we will be travelling back to Cairns in December anyway, so we can see what we missed then!) 

We spent the first few days after leaving Mt Carbine travelling through the Atherton Tablelands. Visiting the many Waterfalls and visiting lots of fresh fruit markets! Yum!!!

Millaa Millaa Falls

Ellinjaa Falls 

Tori and Ella at the Curtain Fig Tree 

I love the huge trees in far North QLD! 

From here we headed to Misson Beach for a couple of nights. The weather was a little on the average side the second night with quite a wind blowing the van this way and that.

Views over Mission Beach 

Travelling further down the coast we made a unplanned stop just south of Bowen.. 

15kms out of Bowen the Brake Master Cylinder on our car decided to jam on... Eeekkkk.... This meant the car would not drive. It just slowed to a stop and I had to 

Rev it out in low 1st gear to get us 100m up and off the road. Not cool!!! 

Now as handy as Gary is... This time we had no choice but to make use of our RAA membership! (Never have I been so glad to have this!) 

We ended up having the car and caravan towed to Bowen and we were put up in a Motel for the weekend as no mechanics were open being a Saturday afternoon... All paid for by the RAA! 

Hitching a lift on a tow truck... 

We soon met the very friendly family who own the motel we were staying in and they invited us to join them the following day for a BBQ whilst watching the Bathurst races on TV! Great! 

On Monday the car was finally looked at by a mechanic and the car issue was confirmed. Gary was able to order the new part and spent the afternoon installing it. Monday night we were back on the road! 

Our next stop was Mackay where we set up right on the beach for a couple of days.

Beach camping at Mackay

 Beach fun 

The girls loved Mackays free Waterpark! 

We got the boat out and explored around the nearby islands. We put our lines in the water.. But failed to even get a bite! 

Boat time! 

Our next stop was Mt Hay. Tori especially had been extremely excited to visit here as we were there to find Thunder Eggs! 

These rocks are millions of years old and come from the centre of an extinct volcano. 

After a good 2hrs of sorting through rock and dirt we were thrilled with our finds. 

Tori searching for Thunder Eggs

The girls sorting through their thunder eggs 

Some of their favourite finds 

That night we headed to Lake Victoria. Here we spent the next couple of days fishing and Ella managed to find lots of huge black mussels! 

Lake Victoria 

The mussels Ella collected

 

Tori fishing 

Evenings at Lake Victoria 

Tori catching up on some school work lake side! 

Ella helping change Brake Pads 

Heading further south we stopped in to visit our friends Roy and Margaret in Bundaberg. But before this we took a slight detour past the Bundaberg distillery  for a tour of the ins and outs of what's involved in making their rum. We even got to sample some of their many different flavours... Gary.. Well he loved this ;) 

Gary relaxing with a bottle of Bundy ;) 

Catching up with Margaret and Roy we enjoyed having dinner out with them at their local pub. We also spent some time exploring the lovely beaches here and a 4x4 track. 

Next, after a quick after browsing through the Eumundi Markets, we finally caught back up with Mum and Dad in Brisbane where they were staying at their friends home. 

Eumundi markets 

As their friends were going away on holidays they invited us all to house sit their beautiful home. Complete with pool, spa, huge outdoor kitchen and multiple outdoor entertaining areas this place was huge! 

We spent the next 5 days relaxing pool side, cleaning our vans and Gary spent some time giving our car some much needed TLC! Some of which included a 2 inch lift kit and 4 new tyres! 

Pool fun! 

Pops, Ella and Tori making the most of the spa 

We also caught up with friends Bryan and Pauline for a delicious home cooked dinner in their home. 

Dinner with Brian and Pauline 

From here we travelled down to the Treasure Island Big4 Caravan park on the Goldcoast. With everyone else arriving the very next day, we made sure we did a big shop to fill our fridges and cupboards up with enough food to feed an army! 

All we had to do now was wait... For the kids... This seemed like a enternity!! 

Xx