So I was writing the last blog entry when Cyp and dad were off watching the safety DVD on how to drive a 4 wheel drive on sand. They had to head off at 8 am to do this. I got a lot of writing done as Ellis slept in late and so did Rowan!
They came back with the Toyota Landcruiser we would have for the next 4 days. The big white monster truck. When we had asked if 4 adults, 2 kids, 2 carseats and all our crap would fit, they had said "no worries mate." I looked at the truck. I was a bit worried (and so was dad). Two bench seats - the front one had a big gear shift where the person's feet would go. Not to mention - this truck certainly did not have UAS for carseats. Cyp and I managed to get them installed and miracle of miracles our stuff all fit. In fact we all did - although a might squished.
We hit the road after talking to Nigel and Fiona - the managers of the place we stayed at in Rainbow Beach and were going to stay in on Fraser Island. Dad was getting final details on how to find things on the Island, how to drive etc. Everyone we passed that seemed to be coming from said Island, dad would flag down to get more info.
As we drove along, dad was repeating all the safety tips he had learned in the DVD - with Cyp piping in to clarify. Anxiety was slowly building. We drove down to Inskip point (where you catch the barge to Fraser). Just before the road became sand, dad pulled off and locked the hubs so we could drive in 4 wheel mode. He got back in the truck - tried to put it into low 4 - which is what you need in loose sand. Wouldn't go. The swearing began. He managed to get it into High 4 - good for packed sand and drove a little ways along the road. We came to wide open beach that looked like a monster truck derby had taken place there. Dad tried to put the car into low 4 again. More swearing. At this point, mom and Cyp hopped out of the truck to see if they could see what the road (beach) was like and to see if Cyp could get service on one of his phones. Dad backed up down the road to a flat spot to try again. Nope and no phone service either. I guess we were heading back to the truck rental place. We were not happy campers. As we were driving along, Cyp started to get service on his phone. Dad was too annoyed at this point to even consider calling the rental place, but I did anyway. I explained we couldn't get it into low 4. "You have to lift the lever - it says it on the lever." explained Michael. Dad pulled over and tried. It worked! Hooray!
We turned around and headed back to the point. Got to the beach again - could see three barges parked off in the distance. Which one? Again, mom and Cyp hopped out to find out which barge. They were to wave madly when it was ok for dad to drive straight on. They headed off - after about 2 minutes, dad decided to get out to check the conditions. He ran off - me and the boys were watching everything from the back. Anxiety continued to build. Dad came back.
"hold on - I'm going to gun it. - may be a bit bumpy." great.
I pointed out that mom and Cyp were madly waving from the middle barge.
"where where?" said dad who was gunning it and as we were bumping crazily over the sand. "THERE THERE!" I was yelling.
Oh ya.
We got on the barge safely - the barge man was the one waving to us frantically - that was his job. We got to take the Mantaray barge.
Dad then proceeded to spend the barge trip grilling all the barge workers about driving on the Island. They told us to drive along the beach - hard packed and smoother. The inland road was "rough as gout."
The beach was smoother where we got off and we followed the other two trucks that had been on the barge with us - Dad was tense, but it didn't seem too bad. He was more concerned with finding our place as there didn't seem to be a lot of signs on the beach highway. We drove through a couple of creeks. A little rough but not bad. Dad wasn't paying attention - but I was, we got up over 70km per hour. We were zooming along the beach - it was pretty fun.
Soon we got to the Fraser Island Beach houses - no sign to note it (illegal) but fortunately dad turned off as it was sort of where he thought it would be. As we were checking in, we were again warned about the dingos (it's mating season). "Don't take your eyes off your kids."
Our beach house was nice - it was basically a brand new 3 bedroom house. After scarfing down lunch we went to the pool (which had a slide) and played there for a while. After that we decided to go check out Eurong - the closest community to us - about 300 metres up the beach. As we were walking off the property onto the beach we had to go through the Dingo fence - it was a driveway with electrified wires laid across the slats of the driveway. Dad went first. "no problem" he said so we nervously followed. I was packing Rowan, so my balance wasn't the greatest - Each of the wires was on a bump up - kinda like walking along electrified railway ties. It was tricky, but we made it.
We hiked up to Eurong - saw a dingo on the way - checked out the beer prices ($6 per bottle in the store), did mental calculation about how much alcohol we had brought with us and decided we were ok. Cyp and dad checked out the restaurant (didn't look too bad and the prices seemed reasonable, we all checked out the bar) and then we headed back.
We splashed through the water along the beach and watched the crabs that were very fast at burying themselves in the sand - it didn't seem too rough but the thought of sharks scared us and we didn't go in. We saw repeated warnings everywhere - DO NOT SWIM AT 75 MILE BEACH
As we reentered our village we noted the pedestrian gate just to the left of the electrified driveway. Uh yah - we're dumb.
Dad barbecued pork tenderloin for dinner and we pretty much crashed after that.
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