64th-69th Day 18.11. - 23.11. Fraser Island

Sunday, 18.11.

This morning I had a good breakfast again and then headed towards Agnes Water. During the last week, Daniel wrote to me and suggested that we could drive to Fraser Island together. Fraser Island is an island that can only be driven on with 4x4 cars. There is almost no civilization there except for a minimal number of tourists, and you can experience the "almost" untouched nature and beauty. For Daniel and me, it was a very good idea to conquer this adventure together, because I wouldn't have done Fraser Island alone for safety reasons. And Daniel would have only experienced it with a guided tour, which does not offer the same freedom and spontaneity.

So I made my way to Agnes Water to pick up Daniel. Since it was several hundred kilometers from Mackay to Agnes Water, we decided to have a BBQ evening on the beach of "Town of 1770" with Daniel's friends in the evening. In the afternoon, we went shopping for groceries for our trip to Fraser Island.

The evening was super fun, culinary and simply enjoyable. There I also met Carina, a girl from Mühldorf, who is on a short trip through Australia and New Zealand.

Since it rained a little in the evening, Daniel and I decided to stay overnight at the Cool Bananas hostel to be fit and strengthened for the trip the next morning.

Monday, 19.11.

In the morning, we got up early, had a bit of breakfast and said goodbye to Carina, who continued her journey along the east coast by bus. We also made our way to Hervey Bay, from where the ferry to Fraser Island departs. On the way, we stopped in a place called Childers and there I found a suitable wetsuit for $10 in an op shop (second-hand or thrift shop), a real bargain. To book the tour, we went to a tourist information center, where the entire booking was done online. The service of the staff was almost nonexistent and also quite unfriendly. After we had booked the ferry, nights on the island, and a rough plan of our trip, we went straight to the port. We were surprised by how intensive the planning was and how much time it took. The ferry was quite small with about 10 cars and 3 buses, and we set off to the sea at 3:00 PM. The buses were all specially converted because on Fraser Island, you can only drive forward with 4WD, i.e., all-wheel drive cars. When we arrived on the island, we went straight inland because the sights and campsites were all on the east coast. So we went up a small mountain, and then came the moment when the bitumen road ends and it continues steeply downhill in the sand. At that moment, we immediately deflated the tires to 24psi (1.5bar) so that we would have more traction on the fine sand. It was so much fun driving here and also a real challenge. With a little oncoming traffic, we arrived at Lake McKenzie, spent some time there, and enjoyed the peace and the fine sand on the beautiful lake.

We noticed the approaching dusk and made our way to our first campground, the Central Station. María worked great today, and I am very proud of her. We cooked a little bit and then went to bed. Here we could hear many animals buzzing, humming, whistling, and occasionally howling. During the night, I noticed that my air mattress had a hole because a few hours later, I woke up on the ground.

Tuesday, 20.11.

We woke up early in the morning and went straight to the beach. We continued along the roads across the island, and had a lot of fun off-roading. As soon as you cross a small tourist town and a bridge with protection against dingoes, you arrive at a sandy beach, and the first view is simply INDISTINCTLY BEAUTIFUL!! WOW!! The police approached us, and we briefly had an uneasy feeling if we might have done something wrong when driving on the beach with the car. But that feeling quickly went away, and we continued driving along the waves on the beach and enjoyed the wonderful view of the sea. Driving in the sand is not easy because it is very difficult to steer on the existing tracks. The car goes in the direction it wants, and as the driver, you can only intervene slightly. After a few kilometers, we decided to stop in the middle of the beach, right in the middle of the highway, set up the awning, and have a nice cozy day.

Since we were right in the middle of the way, and it didn't matter much, the other cars passed by María. We were both very hungry, so we prepared burritos with lettuce, cucumber, tomato, rice, and good minced meat.

What a feast in the camping chair at the beach. Here on the island, we have big horse flies that also bite, so our second activity besides sunbathing was to kill the flies. After enjoying the sun for a while, I grabbed the surfboard and had my first surfing session in Australia.

Although the waves were not good for surfing, I managed to ride a few waves to the shore. With a bodyboard, a small swimming board, you can have a lot of fun in these waves too, so we both had a very nice afternoon. In the evening, we parked with María behind an artificial dam because you have to be very careful with the tides on the island. In the evening, we went into the tent, and once again, we had the stars above our heads. In the evening, Daniel saw dingoes, but I could only recognize them out of the corner of my eye.

Wednesday, 21.11.

I woke up very early this day and sat on the beach with my chair before the flies woke up.

You could admire the sunrise directly opposite on the sea, and it immediately became pleasantly warm, although the night had not lost much temperature either. It was such an incredibly beautiful moment to sit here and simply enjoy the peace. After breakfast, Daniel, María, and I drove along the coast to the north and reached Eli Creek. This is a freshwater creek that flows into the sea. To get to the river, you have to cross it, and with 80cm deep water, it is a very nice adventure. We waited a bit and watched other SUVs driving through, and then we drove through at the same spot. In the tourist information center, we took a tip from an Australian and bought swimming noodles. With these noodles and the bodyboard, we leisurely paddled along the cool river and more or less let ourselves drift. Before all the tourist groups arrived, we decided to continue driving and admire the next attraction, the Maheno shipwreck.

This is a very old ship that washed ashore and is now rusting away. Overall, this ship looks very impressive and is very popular. The next spot was the Pinnacles, a sand-formed landscape of hills that you could only look at. Climbing it was too dangerous. In the afternoon, we drove to a camping spot with toilets and sinks to be able to cook well and clean the dishes. There, a kookaburra, a very beautiful bird, visited us during lunch.

Our path then led us to Indian Head and the Champagne Pools, a rock formation resembling a pool landscape that fills up when the waves splash over the rocks. It is called Champagne Pools because with the spray and the splashed waves, it looks like champagne water.

We spent some moments here but decided to come back the next day and bring our underwater cameras. So we made our way to our next camping spot and set up our tent just in time for sunset.

Thursday, 22.11.

After a very pleasant night, we drove to the Champagne Pools again in the morning. There we took some beautiful pictures with our Go-Pros (action cameras) until the big tourist groups arrived with their buses.

We made our way back along 75 Mile Beach (120 kilometers), which we only really noticed now. We drove past the shipwreck again, crossed Eli Creek once more, and made a video with the Go-Pro mounted on the roof. That was another nice highlight through 80cm deep water. Then we continued to our last camping spot on the island.

There, Daniel and I went surfing again, sunbathed, played cards, and set up our tent. But suddenly, the sky darkened, and a storm with lightning and rain hit us. Locked in the tent, we had fun with it, but because the tent had a few holes, everything inside got wet too. So we packed up everything important and took refuge in the car on the two front seats. There, we watched videos and, at the same time, looked out of the window at the storm. Suddenly, a dingo appeared in front of us, and another one sneaked up as well. One of them must have smelled something because suddenly it had a coconut in its mouth that I had disposed of in the grass before.

We watched the beautiful but dangerous animals with excitement and had a little chat. After the storm, we both took a longer walk, saw a dingo walking along the beach, and made a light dinner. We both slept in the car on the seats, but Daniel found it too uncomfortable, so he went into the tent. I spent the night in the car.

Friday, 23.11.

This night was not comfortable on the driver's seat or passenger seat. We made our way back, with Daniel still being able to drive on the sand with María. He also had a lot of fun and enjoyed off-road driving. For the demanding roads across the island, I took over the steering again, and so we drove back to the ferry port. When I pumped up the tires, my compressor broke, so I borrowed a compressor from others. Once back at 40psi, we boarded the ferry. Finally, we had mobile phone reception again, but somehow, I didn't miss it on the island at all, and that was really nice. But I was glad to have received messages and caught up on the latest news. Carina Duwe landed in Melbourne, Barbara is having her birthday, everything is fine at home too. After washing the car and filling up the tank, I drove with Daniel to his booked hostel.

There, we settled the bill, and we said goodbye to each other. This time it felt much more like a farewell because Daniel went to Sydney to travel with his father. But we will definitely see each other again, whether in Australia, Spain, or Bavaria. Then I continued on to Bundaberg because I wanted to meet Anthony Bonney, a good friend of Monika, in Agnes Water.