Oz Vacation.

"I come from a land down under,
Where women glow and men plunder,
Can't you hear, Can't you hear the thunder?
You'd better run, You'd better take cover!"

Oh yeah, I went home baby! The sunshine, the beaches, the babes (and the friends and family)!!!

This may sound a bit weird, but I sometimes forget how much I love my country. Thankfully I get reminded every so often.

Ok, so mid December, and I'm on a (free) flight back to Oz. At first, I didn't really feel much like going home. I'd only been away 9 months! But then as the time approaced, I was getting excited.

After some hastles with getting my ticket, I was finally booked on a flight. A little worrying was the fact that it went via Japan. As some of you may or may not know, Japan and I have a little history and I may not get such a friendly welcoming if I go back there. But all's well, as I only transfered in the airport and didn't have to go through customs.

So I left Korea and the snow to arrive back in Oz to a beautiful 30 degrees C. I love it!

I was planning to cut down on the drinking when I got back home, but alas, the first night back, they decide to have a cocktail party. So much for the no drinking. Thanks Joe!

For the first week or so, I hung out with the family and caught up with the happenings of big town Kingaroy (my home town). Then I headed back to Brisbane and spent a few days catching up with friends. It was wonderful to see everyone again. I just wish my friends weren't spread over so much of Australia... makes it very difficult to see everyone.

After this the real fun began. I went back home for a day, packed up some camping gear and stole Dad's 4WD for a week of fun and camping in the most beautiful place in the world.... Fraser Island.

I had 3 Canadian friends come over from Korea during the break and so we decided to meet up and go camping on Fraser. I met Nancy, Christa, Brent & Brent's friend Bret in the nice little town of Rainbow Beach.


The crew

We spent a fun night at the backpackers catching up on each of our Oz adventures, then got up early the next day and headed over to Fraser.

A bit about the Island. It is the largest sand island in the world. 120Km's long and 28km's wide (at it's widest point) it has lots of room for some fun sand 4X4ing. The main road (and airport) on the island is the beach, stretching 70 miles without a break.


Main highway

None of the other roads (except for about 3kms around the resorts) are paved. There are only three rocks on the whole island... the three that started creating the island billions of years ago. These are Indian Head, Middle Rocks and Waddy Point. The island has the most diverse flora in such a small area compared to anywhere else in Australia (some say the world) and it ranges from barren sand dunes, to open forrest, to rainforrest. It has the most pure dingo's (Native wild dogs)


Dingo... "no babies to eat here"
Originally uploaded by knowledgepimp

in Australia and some of the best fishing... also a high number of sharks! In my oppinion, it is the most beautiful place on earth.

So the first day we spent some time driving up the coast and trying to find a camping spot. At last we found a beautiful little spot and set up our tents. After this, a quick trip up to Eli Creek to fill the water bottles and have a quick paddle in the fresh water, then on to the Maheno ship wreck.


Maheno now.

This is a ship that was built in 1904 as a luxury cruise liner. It was used in WWI as a hospital ship and finially sold to the Japanese in 1935 to be scrapped. On it's way to Japan it was caught in a storm and washed up on the beach. Then durring WWII she was used for bombing practice by the Australian Air Force. Fortunately these guys weren't so good back then and only scored two direct hits after many runs.


The poor ship has had a hard life.

After this it was a quick run up to look at the Cathedral Coloured Sands (or Pinicles)


Nice colours

and it was back to camp for dinner.


The next day was even more adventurous. We jumped back in the 4WD and headed inland. The inland tracks are usually soft and bumpy, but I'd never seen them as bad as this. No rain for so long has left them extremely soft and difficult to navigate. This and the fact that my fathers new 4WD is turbo charged and takes a very different style of driving when in these conditions, meant that I had a difficult (but fun) time getting around.

First we went to Lake Wabby. This is a smaller lake that is slowly being swallowed up by a massive sand-dune. Thankfully this will probably take hundreds (hopefully many hundreds) of years and for now, means that it is a very fun place to go swimming as you can run full pelt down the dune & into the water. Lotsa fun!
My friends were very impressed with the colour of the water. Apparently none of them had ever seen (clean) water that green before.

After this we headed over to Lake McKenzie. On the way, I was driving in between some backpackers who had rented 4WD's to drive around the island. The backpacers organise these tours and they cram up to 11 people into one 4WD! To get some idea of how this would feel, think about sitting on a narrow bench, shoulder to shoulder with the person next to you. Then put a second bench across from you so that you are knocking knees with the person sitting across from you. Add backpacks for 11 people, put a low roof on top and lock you all in. Then drive on some of the roughest roads in the world with in-experienced drivers, often breathing in deisel fumes from the car in front of you (or often your own car). Not the best reciepy for a fun holiday.
As I was driving along, I looked in the rear-view mirror to see one of these vehicles hit a hole so hard that its front wheels went almost verticaly in the air. I am not exagerating. I saw the full underbody of the vehicle! Exhaust, suspension, engine sump & diff! It bounced twice when it landed. Amazing!

So finally after bouncing our way along these roads, we made it to Lake McKenzie. This is a perch lake, which means it is basically a bowl shap in the ground, where leaf matter has built up over thousands of years and hardened enough to become waterproof... then this bowl fills with water and you have a lake. This doesn't sound too appealing. It brings to mind some sort of slushy bottomed swampy, stagnant waterhole. This couldn't be further from the truth. It is surrounded by a white sand shore and is crystal clear down to a depth that I couldn't reach with one breath. The water reflects the colour of the sky, so that on a sunny, blue-sky day, you feel you are looking into the largest saphire in the world.


Lake Mcenkie
Originally uploaded by Brent Poole

In my mind it truely is the most beautiful place in the world.
From here, we headed back out to the beach via Central Station, the old forrestry station that was used when Fraser was logged.

Next day it was on to Indian Head & the Champeign Rocks. As mentioned before, Indian Head is one of the founding rocks of this island. It is a large headland that has a nice sloping back and ends in a cliff over looking the sea. This is the first time I have ever climbed up to the top of Indian Head, and it made me wonder why I didn't do it many years before.


"Shark infested waters"

When we first arrived on Fraser, I'd mentioned to my friends that the waters were suppose to be "shark infested" but in all the years I'd been coming there, I'd never seen one. Well, this was about to change. As I was climbing up, I looked down into the crystal clear surf and saw a dark shape cruising through the water. It was massive! Here was a shark gliding through water that would only have come up to my chest. I'd swum much deeper in these waters before.
It seemed a bit strange to me as on the way up the other side of the rock, I'd seen some dolphins surfing in the waves. I'd heard that if there were dolphins in the area, you could be sure there would be no sharks, as dolphins are the only animals that will attack a shark. I decided it must be that they were on either side of this headland & thus far enough away from each other to not be bothered.
So I finally reached the top and looked down into the waters. It was teaming with fish. A massive school of them. I'm not sure what kind they were, but swiming in amongs them were larger fish trying to catch their daily quota of breakfast, lunch and dinner... all in one go it seemed. Then in cruised the Shark. He was just one of three I saw while I was there (about an hour in total). But what really surprised me was when the dolphin came in and started playing in circles around the shark and catching it's own lunch. Here were two animals that I'd always thought of as mortal enimies, swimming around each other quite peacefully. In fact, as though the other didn't exist at all. Then in comes the turtle. A loggerhead turtle comes cruising by, probably also catching some lunch. I couldn't believe my eyes. Below me, in a circle of about 100m's was a Grey Nurse shark, a dolphin, two types of large fish and a loggerhead turtle! Where else on earth can you see this? After the turtle went on his way, a stingray came cruising through. All we needed now was for a whale to turn up and we'd have all my favourite creatures of the sea in one place. Alas it wasn't to be. Maybe if I come back in whale-watching season I may have more luck.

After Indian head, I wanted to take my friends over to the Champeign rocks. Easier said than done. To get over there, you have to get through some of the softest sand on the whole island. Virtually every vehicle was getting bogged trying to get across. I saw some backpackers in a bit of distress (and a lot of deep sand) and decided to go help. I went and helped dig them out, so they could revers back and have another go at getting through. After giving the driver some advice, he just looked at me and said "do you want to drive?". I gave it a go, but didn't follow my own advice the first time, so got stuck again. But on a second attempt, made it through easily. And what was my advice I hear you asking? Easy, as it's a rental, "put it in first gear, low range four-wheel-drive, and rev the guts out of it." This along with a lower tyre pressure and these vehicles will go almost anywhere.

Unfortunately not so for my fathers 4WD. It is lower than most 4X4's on the island and so on two wheel tracks, where most other vehicles have a high enough clearance to avoid bottoming out, my fathers vehicle has to plow its way through like a bulldozer. I tried to get through using my own advice, but got bogged. Usually when you get bogged, it's fairly easy to reverse out, but the low ground clearance meant that the body of the car was just sitting on the sand. Impossible to get out. Luckily there was a 4WD club parked close by and they were more than happy to pull me out. It was obvious these guys had far more experience than I did in this situation, so I asked them for some advice. It was very similar to mine earlier on: "Lower your tyre pressure even more, but put it in mid-range four-wheel-drive, as this vehicle can't keep the momentum in low range." After doing this, the car virtually floated across the sand.
Lesson learned: never be affraid to get advice, even when you think you know how to do something.

So we made it to the Champeign rocks. These are a part of the Middle Rocks where they meet the water. They form pools that are perfect for swimming in as the rock is black and warms the water to a perfect temperature for swimming. They get their name, because when the tide is comming in, the pressure of the rising water forces air bubbles out of the sand and rocks, making the water look like champeign. A great little spot.


The Champaign Pools
Originally uploaded by Brent Poole.

So this was my Fraser Island experience. My friends asked me a few times, if I came from such a place as this, how could I possibly leave... I was starting to wonder the same thing myself.

The next few days I spent saying goodbye to my family and headed back down to Brisbane once again. I hired a BMW F650 Dakar motorcycle for two days and had a bit of last minute fun to end my vacation.


Great ride.

This is the motorcycle I wanted to buy when I got back to Korea. I thought this would be a good test to see if it is the right bike for me... Yes! Yes it is!
The first day I took it for a short ride over to my friends place, just to get use to riding on the road on a different type of bike. I use to own a road bike, so I had to get use to riding a different style of bike, but the amazing engineering of BMW made this very, very easy.
The next day was the real ride. Up over my favourite mountain, Mt Glorious. This is a motorcycle mecca. Every Sunday, people get on their bikes and head up the mountain, stop at a little cafe to admire everyone elses ride, then down the other side of the mountain, turn around and head back.


Lotsa money lined up here.

All up it's about 250km's of pure, lean right over, hard on the breaks, up and down the gears, twisties. So much fun.

What a great way to finish a holiday!!!

To see more photos, go to my flickr site here or Brents flickr page here (pages 7 & 8 have Fraser Island). Brent has more photos than me.

(Thanks to Brent & Brett for use of some of their photos)