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Here it is... Ive been wanting to do this for a while but a lot has got in the way, (got engaged on this trip) so soon I'll have a SWMBO right?
Anyway I'll keep it brief as I want to get home for the weekend and its Friday afternoon.
Day 1:
We shot up the hwy from brissy and ended up doing the national park between the hwy and rainbow beach through the pine Forrest this was actually a nice drive (bypasing gympie) I wanted to get there midday and catch the right tide time to get up and around inskip point. We picked up quite a bit of wood, (I had the chainsaw) and was under the impression fires were ok in some camprgounds. this was the first mistake as I was already really loaded up and the extra wood probably cost me another inch.
we landed on the island and made our way relatively easily to eurong and headed for central station for the first night. The beach was really badly chopped up around the point and unill you cleared 70 mile beach it was a bit tricky especially with the weight and this being my first time on sand. As we hit the inland tracks this was even more obvious, I was bottoming out quite a bit on the center of the tracks and slowing the progress, sometimes I just had to plow through a bit but it wasnt ideal, I would go with a 2' lift minimum next time or a lot less weight. I was carrying:
- Roof top tent
-180lt fuel
-40lt water
-fridge
-icebox
-camping equipment
-fishing gear
etc
and about 100kg of wood.. so yea well heavy. like I said I did learn a lot...
Loaded up when we first hit 70mile beach.
Day 2:
After the first day things got a bit easier and we started to settle into the driving and such, we did some inland driving to lake Mackenzie and took the scenic drive around to lake wabby, this was much easier going and I think that main track from eurong to central station had just seen a lot of 4WD in the days before us, this was school holidays. saying that there was a decent amount of people around but not jam packed. The weather was great for us southern staters..
We were beach camping that night and as we were popping in and out of some sand hills to the camping areas just off the beach I was going fine untill I hesitated on a particularly soft exit/entry to the beach. The mrs was saying maybe here I was saying maybe keep looking and anyway I got bogged... really bogged. I didnt stop first up so I managed to get down to the diffs in no time. well that was fun.. I tried just about everything to get free, maxx trax, digging, even winching of a dead log... but as I was so diffed out and my shovel didnt reach under the chassis (learned another thing about them long ones) I eventually flagged someone down for a snatch. It was getting late, she was getting cranky and I thought best I give up. It was an interesting experience and I would do it differently next time but I guess its all about learning. I couldn't get traction on the maxxtrax so rather than digging for another our we got snatched out.
Day 3.
After an eventful day or 2 we decided dump about half of the wood.. and we were already getting more clearance..
we decided to take it slow, do some fishing and exploring etc. I caught some nice Dart, Whiting and we came across our first dingo. I also had a visit from a sea hawk who was pretty keen on my fish. We made our way up to Dundubrra and camped in the campsite there. I was really impressed with this campsite and others for that matter, there was good facilities, running hot water and it was generally not too busy and easy to find a spot to set up. we only stayed the one night and by this point we were already getting sick of the set up- sleep - pack down - drive - repeat routine so we headed off and went straight past the maheno wreck and shot up the beach as much as we could on the low tide. It was never impossible on the high tide but it just makes it so much harder when you are forced up onto the softer sand. There was still traffic so you had to be careful of the water edge, cars, soft sand, wash outs etc. It was becoming obvious we wanted to stop in the one place for a few nights. so that's what we did. we made it to Indian that afternoon and after a brief stop at champagne pools we did the short beach run to waddy point. At this time of day the small beach between was really chopped up and rutted and there was a few points we nearly got stopped either loosing momentum or being help by something.. we made it through and it was completely different on the way back, again tide times are the key..
Day 4-5 for the next 2 days we camped at waddy point top campground which was excellent, great facilities again and really nice surroundings. I did spot a PP'er in a black 120 V6 with QLD plates but didn't get a chance to say g'day. WE spent the 2 days fishing, walking and getnerally chilling out, the mrs was getting sick of the driving so I played the good partner and we had a nice time. I did happen to do a little more driving along orchid beach but didn't make it up to Ngkalla rocks, I had to save something for next time right?
I caught some great whiting, dart a flatty and some others.. great weather, fishing and 4WDing, no wonder its such a favorite spot!
Day 6.
For the last day we bolted down the beach on the low tide and stopped off for a few photos at some places we missed out on the way like the wreck, cathedrals etc. Did some whale spotting and such..
When we made it to the bottom I was re-acquainted with how bad the terrain was around inskip point and It was quite fun (mrs said not fun) to get back to the manta ray. the A/T did heat up enough at this point to set off my alarm (set to 110) but that was no great issue. back on to the mainland, tires up, under body wash at rainbow and the dream was over... till next time..
I have some more photo's but this is a good start.
Cheers,
Ross
Anyway I'll keep it brief as I want to get home for the weekend and its Friday afternoon.
Day 1:
We shot up the hwy from brissy and ended up doing the national park between the hwy and rainbow beach through the pine Forrest this was actually a nice drive (bypasing gympie) I wanted to get there midday and catch the right tide time to get up and around inskip point. We picked up quite a bit of wood, (I had the chainsaw) and was under the impression fires were ok in some camprgounds. this was the first mistake as I was already really loaded up and the extra wood probably cost me another inch.
we landed on the island and made our way relatively easily to eurong and headed for central station for the first night. The beach was really badly chopped up around the point and unill you cleared 70 mile beach it was a bit tricky especially with the weight and this being my first time on sand. As we hit the inland tracks this was even more obvious, I was bottoming out quite a bit on the center of the tracks and slowing the progress, sometimes I just had to plow through a bit but it wasnt ideal, I would go with a 2' lift minimum next time or a lot less weight. I was carrying:
- Roof top tent
-180lt fuel
-40lt water
-fridge
-icebox
-camping equipment
-fishing gear
etc
and about 100kg of wood.. so yea well heavy. like I said I did learn a lot...
Loaded up when we first hit 70mile beach.
Day 2:
After the first day things got a bit easier and we started to settle into the driving and such, we did some inland driving to lake Mackenzie and took the scenic drive around to lake wabby, this was much easier going and I think that main track from eurong to central station had just seen a lot of 4WD in the days before us, this was school holidays. saying that there was a decent amount of people around but not jam packed. The weather was great for us southern staters..
We were beach camping that night and as we were popping in and out of some sand hills to the camping areas just off the beach I was going fine untill I hesitated on a particularly soft exit/entry to the beach. The mrs was saying maybe here I was saying maybe keep looking and anyway I got bogged... really bogged. I didnt stop first up so I managed to get down to the diffs in no time. well that was fun.. I tried just about everything to get free, maxx trax, digging, even winching of a dead log... but as I was so diffed out and my shovel didnt reach under the chassis (learned another thing about them long ones) I eventually flagged someone down for a snatch. It was getting late, she was getting cranky and I thought best I give up. It was an interesting experience and I would do it differently next time but I guess its all about learning. I couldn't get traction on the maxxtrax so rather than digging for another our we got snatched out.
Day 3.
After an eventful day or 2 we decided dump about half of the wood.. and we were already getting more clearance..
we decided to take it slow, do some fishing and exploring etc. I caught some nice Dart, Whiting and we came across our first dingo. I also had a visit from a sea hawk who was pretty keen on my fish. We made our way up to Dundubrra and camped in the campsite there. I was really impressed with this campsite and others for that matter, there was good facilities, running hot water and it was generally not too busy and easy to find a spot to set up. we only stayed the one night and by this point we were already getting sick of the set up- sleep - pack down - drive - repeat routine so we headed off and went straight past the maheno wreck and shot up the beach as much as we could on the low tide. It was never impossible on the high tide but it just makes it so much harder when you are forced up onto the softer sand. There was still traffic so you had to be careful of the water edge, cars, soft sand, wash outs etc. It was becoming obvious we wanted to stop in the one place for a few nights. so that's what we did. we made it to Indian that afternoon and after a brief stop at champagne pools we did the short beach run to waddy point. At this time of day the small beach between was really chopped up and rutted and there was a few points we nearly got stopped either loosing momentum or being help by something.. we made it through and it was completely different on the way back, again tide times are the key..
Day 4-5 for the next 2 days we camped at waddy point top campground which was excellent, great facilities again and really nice surroundings. I did spot a PP'er in a black 120 V6 with QLD plates but didn't get a chance to say g'day. WE spent the 2 days fishing, walking and getnerally chilling out, the mrs was getting sick of the driving so I played the good partner and we had a nice time. I did happen to do a little more driving along orchid beach but didn't make it up to Ngkalla rocks, I had to save something for next time right?
I caught some great whiting, dart a flatty and some others.. great weather, fishing and 4WDing, no wonder its such a favorite spot!
Day 6.
For the last day we bolted down the beach on the low tide and stopped off for a few photos at some places we missed out on the way like the wreck, cathedrals etc. Did some whale spotting and such..
When we made it to the bottom I was re-acquainted with how bad the terrain was around inskip point and It was quite fun (mrs said not fun) to get back to the manta ray. the A/T did heat up enough at this point to set off my alarm (set to 110) but that was no great issue. back on to the mainland, tires up, under body wash at rainbow and the dream was over... till next time..
I have some more photo's but this is a good start.
Cheers,
Ross
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