After a hot and humid night, during which my three youngest girls did their usual camping thing and had to go to the toilet about 6 times each, we awoke to a hotter and more humid morning. The bush flies were out in droves and we were constantly swatting them away. The campsite was infested with ant nests, so whenever someone managed to stun a bush fly it was placed on an ant nest, and the ants took care of it. Thankfully these ants were not the biting variety, although they didn't mind getting really up-close and personal. At different times we were dislodging ants from our shoes, shirts and even our pants!
Originally a luxury sea-liner, built in 1904, the SS Maheno had been sold to a Japanese scrap metal company in 1935 and was being towed back to Japan by the Osaka. It had to be towed because, even though the engine still worked, the huge propellers had been removed and sold to fund the trip. This proved to be disastrous when the two ships encountered an unseasonal tropical cyclone. The Maheno broke free from the Osaka and, with no way of propelling itself, it eventually was grounded on Seventy-Five Mile Beach. It is now one of Fraser Island's most well-known landmarks.
HB and Possum, quite understandably, wanted to take lots of photos of the Maheno. The rest of the Half-dozen weren't quite so interested in the shipwreck, particularly after they discovered that climbing on it or exploring inside it was prohibited. Kitcat created a sand mermaid while she was waiting.
Eventually the snap-happy members of the family were satisfied and we made the short trip the rest of the way to Eli Creek. Here is the family standing in the mouth of the creek.
And here's Ducky doing one of her poses while we waited for HB to untie the boogie boards from the roof-racks. 
Possum went on a band tour with the school last June. They toured the Gympie area and on their 'free' day they went to Fraser Island. Possum had told us how beautiful Eli Creek was, but it is such a spectacular place it really is impossible to describe it and give it full justice with mere words.
On a hot day, I can't think of a better place to relax and keep cool. The water is crystal clear, fresh and cold, and there is plenty of shade from the overhanging vegetation.
We carried the boogie boards along the boardwalk, as we had been told that the current would gently carry us back toward the beach.
This is the view from the boardwalk back to the beach, and the ocean beyond. You can see it was a perfect summer day.
And this is the beautiful serenity of the upper part of Eli Creek. When it's packed with tourists it can be rather noisy but we were very lucky to have it to ourselves for a few half-hour stretches.
Here comes Possum on her boogie board. The creek was not much deeper than waist level for the whole stretch that was accessible to visitors. 
There was one deeper spot, just near the boardwalk bridge, where you could swim into the current and get absolutely nowhere! Good exercise, though. The current was strong enough to take the boogie boards away, so we moored them to the boardwalk support posts.
No one really wanted to leave Eli Creek, but as the afternoon advanced we had to turn our thoughts to getting back to the campsite. I imagined we would simply drive back up the beach but HB had other ideas. He decided we would take the Northern Forest Scenic Drive. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Well, the Northern Forest was very nice, and it was very scenic, but the 'drive' part wasn't quite so enjoyable ..... for me. HB reveled in taking the 4WD through the one-way track on this route. As can be seen by the width of the road and the high banks on either side, there was little room to pull over in the case of passing traffic.
Thankfully, we only encountered one other car. We had to wait for it to navigate its way through a deep mud puddle before we could go past. I was glad to see it got through without any trouble, which meant that we would too. I tried to distract myself from thinking about the state of the track by looking at the beautiful forest. Once, Possum jumped out of the car so I could take her photo standing beside this huge tree with its moss covered bark.
The canopy was very thick, which sheltered us from the heat of the late afternoon. I wouldn't like to be here during a bushfire, though!
As we gradually neared the beach once again the dense tropical forests gave way to scrub and the track turned from dirt/sand to pure, fine, slippery, soft sand.
We reached the beach just as the sun was setting over the other side of the island, it's rosy rays reflecting back upon the huge clouds forming along the horizon. We actually came out of Northern Forest Scenic Drive only a few kilometres from Eli Creek. In the far distance of this photo (left) you can just make out the Maheno wreck. What could have been a 5 min drive along the beach had turned into a 45 min drive through the inland but, despite the terrors of 4WD-ing, it was worth it.
We saw a large dingo on the beach as we drove the rest of the way back to the campsite. I think the younger girls considered that the best part of the whole day!
Everyone was quite tired after our day of sightseeing, swimming and driving. Just after we put the younger girls to bed a huge thunder and lightning storm swept through. HB went back down to the beach to try to get some lightning shots but just as he was setting up the camera and tripod it started to pour! It rained for a long time that night but we all stayed dry in the tent and slept well (even me! - the girls were so tired they only woke for a toilet trip 2 times that night).
Tomorrow we were going to Lake McKenzie.
The sun rises early during summer, so we were up early too, dressed, finished with breakfast, done with the chores and ready to go somewhere, all before 7am. The only problem was that it is recommended that no one drives on the beach for 2 hours either side of the high tide .... and the campsite - Fraser's @ Cathedral Beach - can only be accessed from the beach ..... and high tide was at 9am.
So, we were stuck at the campsite. After some discussion we decided to walk down to the beach so HB could do some fishing. We had the whole place to ourselves that morning. Looking north, in this photo, there wasn't anyone else in sight. The view south was equally deserted.
HB started fishing with high hopes of catching something for our lunch, while the Half-dozen either waded in the wave-wash or dug in the sand.
The bush flies had followed us down to the beach and we were kept busy swatting them, often getting 2 at a time! Rotten little vampires. After a while Mousie asked HB if she could have a go at fishing. It was becoming apparent that the fish were not going to bite this particular morning, (the only thing biting was the bush flies!), so HB let them all have a turn at holding the big beach-fishing rod.
I managed to get a nice photo of Dragon with the Coral Sea as a backdrop.
And here's a shot of Possum that same morning.
We headed back to the campsite for an early lunch and found these two large goannas searching for food. They were nearly 2 metres long. 
They obviously knew that humans = garbage = scraps and we saw them patrolling the camping ground regularly, along with quite a few others. They even knew how to climb up into the garbage bins (which were set up high on pedestals to keep the dingoes out), get the lids off and knock the bins to the ground for easier access.
After a yummy early lunch of salad and BBQed sausages we put on our swimmers and sunscreen, piled into the 4WD and headed south along the beach to go swimming at Eli Creek. Along the way we stopped for a look at the coloured, sculpted sands of The Pinnacles.
Apparently, Fraser Island is the central meeting place of many ocean currents and as such has sand deposited on its shores from as far away as Sydney NSW. These many-coloured sands build up in drifts, become cemented together by rainwater, and then start to erode into these strange and beautiful sculptures. There are many such formations along the coast between this spot and Indian Head further north. Another name for them is The Cathedrals, due to their height and sculpted shapes, which is why this stretch of Seventy-Five Mile Beach is called Cathedral Beach.
It was very hot and the Half-dozen wanted to swim, so back into the 4WD we got, only to stop once again a couple minutes later ... this time at the famous wreck, the Maheno.
Originally a luxury sea-liner, built in 1904, the SS Maheno had been sold to a Japanese scrap metal company in 1935 and was being towed back to Japan by the Osaka. It had to be towed because, even though the engine still worked, the huge propellers had been removed and sold to fund the trip. This proved to be disastrous when the two ships encountered an unseasonal tropical cyclone. The Maheno broke free from the Osaka and, with no way of propelling itself, it eventually was grounded on Seventy-Five Mile Beach. It is now one of Fraser Island's most well-known landmarks.HB and Possum, quite understandably, wanted to take lots of photos of the Maheno. The rest of the Half-dozen weren't quite so interested in the shipwreck, particularly after they discovered that climbing on it or exploring inside it was prohibited. Kitcat created a sand mermaid while she was waiting.
Eventually the snap-happy members of the family were satisfied and we made the short trip the rest of the way to Eli Creek. Here is the family standing in the mouth of the creek.
And here's Ducky doing one of her poses while we waited for HB to untie the boogie boards from the roof-racks. 
Possum went on a band tour with the school last June. They toured the Gympie area and on their 'free' day they went to Fraser Island. Possum had told us how beautiful Eli Creek was, but it is such a spectacular place it really is impossible to describe it and give it full justice with mere words.
On a hot day, I can't think of a better place to relax and keep cool. The water is crystal clear, fresh and cold, and there is plenty of shade from the overhanging vegetation.
We carried the boogie boards along the boardwalk, as we had been told that the current would gently carry us back toward the beach.
This is the view from the boardwalk back to the beach, and the ocean beyond. You can see it was a perfect summer day.
And this is the beautiful serenity of the upper part of Eli Creek. When it's packed with tourists it can be rather noisy but we were very lucky to have it to ourselves for a few half-hour stretches.
Here comes Possum on her boogie board. The creek was not much deeper than waist level for the whole stretch that was accessible to visitors. 
There was one deeper spot, just near the boardwalk bridge, where you could swim into the current and get absolutely nowhere! Good exercise, though. The current was strong enough to take the boogie boards away, so we moored them to the boardwalk support posts.
No one really wanted to leave Eli Creek, but as the afternoon advanced we had to turn our thoughts to getting back to the campsite. I imagined we would simply drive back up the beach but HB had other ideas. He decided we would take the Northern Forest Scenic Drive. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Well, the Northern Forest was very nice, and it was very scenic, but the 'drive' part wasn't quite so enjoyable ..... for me. HB reveled in taking the 4WD through the one-way track on this route. As can be seen by the width of the road and the high banks on either side, there was little room to pull over in the case of passing traffic.
Thankfully, we only encountered one other car. We had to wait for it to navigate its way through a deep mud puddle before we could go past. I was glad to see it got through without any trouble, which meant that we would too. I tried to distract myself from thinking about the state of the track by looking at the beautiful forest. Once, Possum jumped out of the car so I could take her photo standing beside this huge tree with its moss covered bark.
The canopy was very thick, which sheltered us from the heat of the late afternoon. I wouldn't like to be here during a bushfire, though!
As we gradually neared the beach once again the dense tropical forests gave way to scrub and the track turned from dirt/sand to pure, fine, slippery, soft sand.
We reached the beach just as the sun was setting over the other side of the island, it's rosy rays reflecting back upon the huge clouds forming along the horizon. We actually came out of Northern Forest Scenic Drive only a few kilometres from Eli Creek. In the far distance of this photo (left) you can just make out the Maheno wreck. What could have been a 5 min drive along the beach had turned into a 45 min drive through the inland but, despite the terrors of 4WD-ing, it was worth it.
We saw a large dingo on the beach as we drove the rest of the way back to the campsite. I think the younger girls considered that the best part of the whole day!Everyone was quite tired after our day of sightseeing, swimming and driving. Just after we put the younger girls to bed a huge thunder and lightning storm swept through. HB went back down to the beach to try to get some lightning shots but just as he was setting up the camera and tripod it started to pour! It rained for a long time that night but we all stayed dry in the tent and slept well (even me! - the girls were so tired they only woke for a toilet trip 2 times that night).
Tomorrow we were going to Lake McKenzie.
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4 comments:
What a beautiful day...well other than that 4WDing!!
I think I would opted to walk the 5 miles of beach while my honey 4WDing!!
Do you ever find sea glass?
So, so beautiful! Thank you for sharing such a beautiful part of the world that I will most likely never see. I can't wait for more.
Oh so beautiful! I love how incredibly clear the water looks. What a terrific holiday you guys had.
Getting "stuck" here sounds like paradise to me!! I have got to go to Australia some day! Preferably in your summer!!
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