Humbled in Hervery and Freewheelin' on Fraser

After the most epically horrifying travel experience we had encountered Mark and I were more than happy to see something flat that we could lay on and sleep. Unfortunately it was only 4pm so we had to stay awake for a bit longer to keep ourselves from falling into an odd sleep pattern. Luckily Mark lost his towel at the previous hostel so we went on a little hunt to go find him a new one. For those of you who don’t know Hervey Bay it’s simply a little beach town mostly used by backpackers as a gateway to get to Fraser Island. Considering it was a beach town we had a remarkably difficult time trying to find a towel. We ended up walking 30 minutes to a grocery store to find one! This was alright because we needed to get some food anyways. The bad news was that our terrible luck wasn’t over yet. On the way home it started to get dark and we noticed quite a large bird having trouble flying against the wind. Mark quickly noticed that it wasn’t bird, it was a giant bat and there wasn’t just one but HUNDREDS. In literally 30 seconds it went from one bat in the sky to hundreds of bats flocking over us, swooping down, and threatening our lives with their rabid fangs! We quickly walked out of the danger zone back to the hostel. As you could imagine we were both exhausted after the train and bat experience so we passed out pretty quick.

The next morning I woke up and went for a beautiful run along a path that followed the ocean. The fun thing about Australia is that in almost every city there is a running path with workout stations along the way. You can do cardio and a quick circuit routine all in one go! After the run and a quick bite to eat it was time for the beach! I finally got to go lay on the beach after 2 weeks of being in Australia and it was glorious. There’s always a slight breeze off the ocean which made the heat bearable and when it got too hot you could always dip your feet into the water (as long as you look out for jellies). Mark went for a walk and returned a while later with our friend Wayne who we met in Sydney. Wayne had just landed a job at a nice fish and chip restaurant so we went for a walk to go check it out and have a bite to eat. He was a very friendly and talkative guy which was great because sometimes when you hang out with new people it gets awkward. After the early dinner Mark and I had to make our way back to the hostel which was about an hour walk away. We walked a bit faster than usual because we didn’t want to get trapped by the bats again!

 We spent one more full glorious relaxing day in Hervey Bay before it was time to head out for our biggest adventure yet to Fraser Island! We woke up early the next morning to catch a cab to the Fraser Magic 4x4 rental place. It was the end of school holidays when we were planning on heading to Fraser Island so we were lucky to even get a car! The adventure started right away once I got behind the wheel. Driving on the other side of the car and on the other side of the road was definitely difficult for the first bit. Getting onto the ferry was the first of a few major difficulties we experienced during this 48 hour adventure. When it was time to board they directed the cars into a line so that they could speed onto the ferry. Why do you ask did we need to speed on? Because the ferry never actually docks. The current is too strong for the ferry to dock and stay in one spot so all of the cars can board at the same time so instead the ferry drives in on an angle, foot passengers hop on, then when the ramp is close enough to the boat launch they direct 2-3 cars onto the ferry at a time until the boat drifts too far away to get any other cars on. When it was our time to board we were directed by one person to continue so we were halfway onto the ferry when we hear someone on a megaphone yell “STOP!! GO BACK!!” All I felt was me trying to break but the car moving forward as the ferry tried to pull away. BUT thanks to my impeccable driving skills and quick thinking I threw the car into reverse and got safely back onto solid ground. The man who directed us to continue onto the ferry casually walked by and said “sorry about that mate” as I was having a mini panic attack. The second attempt was a lot better but still rough. I rammed that car onto the ferry in one quick jolt because I was determined that the same thing was not going to happen again. That was the start to a very bumpy ride for the next couple of days.

 

Thankfully Fraser Island doesn’t have many rules of the road. It’s more of a free-for-all out there with a couple of speed limits that you’re supposed to follow. Once we got off the ferry (which we had to back off of by the way) it took us about 10 minutes to get stuck in the sand paths they call “roads”. Thankfully we had a convoy of new drivers behind and a couple experienced guys who helped us get unstuck. I would like to add that we wouldn’t have gotten stuck if the people in front of us hadn’t stopped in the softest sand you can find. Fortunately that was the only time we got stuck but unfortunately it wasn’t the only time we had an issue. We made it to Lake McKenzie without any other major interruptions and got to go for a beautiful swim in a crystal clear lake. The best part about this lake was that there was nothing living in it! Apparently the pH levels in the lake are a bit off of what is normal for fish and other creatures to live in so it’s completely empty except for humans! It was very exciting getting to swim without worrying that I was going to die.

After the refreshing swim Mark and I really kicked into adventure gear and took off on a long drive towards Eurong station which is a little town on the opposite side of the island. The drive was especially long because I missed the turn and we ended up driving around Lake McKenzie again. Just to be clear I was avoiding stopping and Mark was supposed to tell me when to turn so this was obviously his fault. My screw up comes later on and it was MUCH worse. Unfortunately, even though we avoided stopping for quite a while there came a time when we had to come to a halt because a car got stuck in front of us! Of course my first reaction was “WOOO SOMEONE ELSE GOT STUCK!!!” followed quickly by, “oh god, now we have to get them out”. Thankfully, when we got stuck the nice man that helped us gave me some pointers on how to not be stuck, so I simply applied those tips to the situation and then I was the hero of the day! My favorite part was that there were all these guys trying to get the truck out, but then I came along and just yanked em out and emasculated them all.

Thankfully that was the only hiccup we came across on our way to the big beach highway! Here’s the thing about the highways on Fraser island…you’re going 80k/hr speeding though streams and flying over sand dunes while keeping one eye on the ocean to make sure the waves don’t come up too far and get you stuck while trying to remember that you’re supposed to be on the other side of the road. Sound challenging? Thankfully though it was actually a lot easier to drive on the sand highway than on the inland roads. Along the highway there are many scenic stops including the famous Mahoney Wreck! It’s pretty decayed but you can still tell that it once was a ship.

This next point was where I made my big mistake of the trip. I must admit that I was getting a bit bored of the sand highway and wanted to get back inland for the fun driving so we made a turn to head to another random lake. Disaster struck about 5 minutes into the inland journey. There was this giant ledge that was just packed sand and giant roots that you’re supposed to get your car up. Me, being the clever girl I am and being raised for the past 5 years by a men’s team, forgot the slogan we were taught “slow is safe” decided to just giver’ and drove with a lot of force over the ledge which in turn bent the axle. I knew right away that something was wrong and started freaking out. But what is done is done! So we continued on to the random lake in hopes that it would be something really exciting! It wasn’t. The “beach” area was so small you could barely stand on the sand and the trees covered the view so you couldn’t see anything. We quickly turned around and made our way back down the bumpy root and rock filled sand path to the highway. To make things more exciting on the drive I had my music on and while listening to some hard core Christina Aguilera and doing my best impression of her unique voice I felt a large BAM and then heard “Pssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss”. Yes folks, the sound of my incredible voice popped the tire of a 4x4 Land Rover. Now those are some vocal cords! I’m joking, I ran over a root and the tire was having nothing of that. I was a little shocked at how all this turned out. I assumed when one gets a flat tire it slowly deflates, but not this baby! It was flatter than a pancake in about 10 seconds and there was nothing we could do to stop it! Thankfully some people came soon after we got the flat and were able to help us get the spare off the back of our car, but that was all the help they were willing to offer. After that we were on our own! Thankfully Mark and I had both changed a tire before but in saying that we still had a LOT of trouble with this one. In short, as we tried to raise the car the jack kept sinking into the sand, but eventually we got it! And it was perfect timing to slowly make our way back down the beach so mark could take sweet photos of the Mahoney wreck at sunset.

 

 
We tried to drive as little as possible after that to find a camp site so we literally drove up the beach behind one of the giant sand dunes and parked it right there. It made for a great view! It got dark pretty quick once we parked so we watched a movie after the sun set and ate a delicious and nutritious meal of canned spaghetti, bread and Doritos. I feel my love handles expending as I write this…After that meal it was time to sleep. We had a tent that we could have set up and slept normally in with sleeping bags and little mattresses and everything but Mark and I were far too paranoid to even consider stepping foot outside at night in fear that we would be attacked by spiders, snakes or dingo’s. Needless to say we awkwardly slept in the car. But I did gain the courage at one point to step outside and take a look at the stars. They were absolutely gorgeous! The sky was so clear and the stars were brighter than I’ve ever seen before. I understand how corny this sounds, but I know everyone loves to see some twinkling lights in the sky and search for shooting starts! I’m not the only star nerd out there.

The next morning I was expecting to wake up to the car covered in poisonous snakes and spiders just waiting for me to open the door so they could attack! Fortunately that didn’t happen. We had another nutritious breakfast of bread with peanut butter then continued on to tour the island a bit more. We tried to find a nice scenic hike at the top of the island called Indian Head but when we got there we couldn’t find the hike and were less than willing to make our own path to try and get to the top. Thus the adventure continued while we roamed up and down the sand highway until we decided to stop for a bit to take a break. While Mark was off doing something I stumbled across a sheet of paper and started reading it. It clearly labelled how to change the tire on the car and we did it very wrong. Well not that wrong, but we put the wrong nuts on so we had to change that.

Near the end of the day we had to make our way back to the ferry which took us through the island on the soft sand! We didn’t get stuck on the way back but we did again rescue some more people! The best part was when we had to get through this one particularly soft patch and just floored it to force good ol’ Brucey through the pathway getting some air on the way. After that it was smooth(ish) sailing all the way to the ferry. It was funny how we would always make a connection with the people we saved and as we drove through rough patches Mark would constantly look back and make sure they were okay. Once we got to the ferries we had a good laugh about the last 10 minutes of driving because it was pretty terrible, but we all made it safe so everyone was happy and glad to be on solid ground! After a short ferry ride we were back on the mainland and happy to be there. We got dropped off at our hostel by the car rental guy which was nice. He didn’t even say anything about the bent axle! I tried really hard to keep conversation going so maybe he wouldn’t notice.

The next day we had quite a while to kill before heading off to our next destination…AIRLIE BEACH!