First Full Day on Fraser

First Full Day on Fraser

We woke up - struggled to get ready and were soon out the door again. We had decided to go to the Champagne Pools and then to Eli Creek on the way back. The Champagne Pools were at Indian Head - the farthest north we could go with our truck according to the terms of our rental agreement.

We set out. I must say - it was bizarre - it was like driving on a beach highway (only Toyota Landcruisers allowed - I guess we did see a few other types of truck). We were probably one of the slower trucks, there were a lot of tour trucks and buses and even planes landing on the beach. When you did walk on the beach, you did have to watch for trucks and planes. Odd that - look both ways on the beach before crossing.

At certain points we had to take the inland track to go around detours on the beach. The inland tracks were amazing - totally rough and scary.

By day two - dad had gotten the handle of beach driving and seemed a tad more relaxed - mom and I were tasked with reading every single sign on the beach.

Cathedral camping zone

no camping zone

do not discard offal or fish guts in this zone

refuse tip

(repeated every 500 meters - only change was the name of the camping zone)

Dad also got confident about driving through the creeks - all fine and dandy until we drove through Eli Creek at speed and we had our second shower of the day (must remember to roll up window before driving through creek). Actually - we had done this on day one too - but Eli Creek was bigger and I didn't have my window up enough. Rowan got awakened again.

We drove by a shipwreck on the beach and all hopped out for the photo opp and then we drove and drove and drove to Indian Head where we all piled out and had lunch.

At this point, we were asking everyone where the champagne pools were and no one knew (they were all tourists too). Finally we figured out that they were up the road a ways. We watched as truck after truck (and tourist bus too) attempted to get up the road which was essentially a very loose sand track. Dad watched for eons and then came back and said he wasn't driving up it. Fine with us - we did not want to get stuck.

For some reason, none of us were really remembering that we couldn't drive up it anyway as it went against our rental agreement (no driving past Indian Head). So I tied Ellis onto my back and Cyp took Rowan in the baby backpack and we started walking to the Champagne pools.

On the way, we passed the stuck trucks.

"you won't walk to the pools, they're too far" said one lady in stuck truck.

That is like throwing gas on my stubborn fire.

"It's at least two km and then you have to hike in - it's rather steep."

Sigh - I guess she was right, although I did wonder if she was just being a stick in the mud (or sand in this case).

We decided to hike up Indian Head - it was really amazing - could see for miles and there were thousands of beautiful butterflies flitting about. We could see the people walking to the pools - it was far.

We hiked down and headed back down the 75 mile beach to Eli Creek where our travel book had said you can hike up two miles and then float down. We stripped down to our suits and I strapped Rowan on to hike in. Mom carried his float ring.

After 300 meters we came to some stairs down into the creek.

"That's as far as we go." I said.

"What?????" said mom

Yup - they've closed the creek down above that point to help in bank regeneration.

So we floated down the 300 metres - or walked - it was about mid calf. Ellis loved it - it was perfect for him. Rowan was not happy. He'd been woken from a sound nap only to be plunged into a cold river. Ellis and I went again while Cyp stayed with Rowan - he wanted to practice walking on the boardwalk.

We went down one more time and then headed back home. It was fun - not exactly what we had all envisioned, but then I've come to realize that totally hyped tourist things never are quite what one expects.

After we got home, it started to pour. Dinner got a tad delayed as we couldn't get to the barbecue. Hmm - hope it would let up for the next day.