What a fantastic way to spend a few days of the school holidays! I have to say I had a few trepidations about camping on the beach - I have never been a fan of getting sand in each and every nook and cranny! Thankfully all the benefits of beach camping out weigh a little bit of sand in uncomfortable places.
We had to do a fair bit of prep work, making sure we had all the camping gear and sundry equipment to make our three nights a little bit comfortable.
Booking the camp site, beach permit and ferry trip couldn't be easier, a quick visit to
Straddie Camping to book a site and beach permit, then to book the
Big Red Cat. We camped with our dog Charlie and wanted the convenience of a camp toilet so
Flinders Beach was the obvious choice. Main Beach is also dog friendly but without toilets it was crossed off the list at the ladies request. A permit is required to drive on the beaches and the camp sites and Flinders and Main Beach can only be accessed by 4wd via the beach.
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| Charlie enjoyed the Ferry ride. |
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| On our way to Straddie! |
The ferry ride across was uneventful and the 12km journey is usually completed in just under an hour.
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| Plenty of room this trip |
Once on Straddie we made straight for Flinders Beach to grab a mint camp site. Before entering the beach the tyre pressures were lowered to 22psi to make beach travel a little easier on the Hilux. There are nine camp areas on Flinders, with composting toilets provided at areas three, five and seven. We travelled along the beach to area three and after a couple of minutes selected a quiet site in area two just a short stroll from the toilet, but far enough so there were no issues with wafting aromas from said toilet facility.
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| Our camp at area two. |
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| View towards the beach from camp. |
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| Sunset on Flinders Beach. |
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| The creek next to our camp at the entrance to area two. |
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| Sunset from my seat next to the campfire. |
Once camp was set up we headed to Point Lookout to get some supplies that we had forgotten to pack. Our first night was spent around the fire roasting marshmallows and cooking camp oven damper. The damper was beautiful when eaten hot from the oven with copious amounts of strawberry jam! After stuffing ourselves with damper we told each other scary campfire stories, thankfully the girls did not have nightmares that night.
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| Camp oven damper. |
An early morning walk along the beach the following morning was required so that Karren could get her coffee fix from the nearest Cafe, and the walk was lovely! Made even more so by the wildlife along the beach, particularly Pelicans and Dolphins.
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| Mr Percival? |
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| Rosie loved to explore and do some beach combing. |
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| That is close enough thanks Rosie. |
In the afternoon we did some 4wding and had a good look around the accessible parts of the island. A 4wd track traverses the island from the junction of Beehive road and the East Coast road, this track heads in a southerly direction and ends at Tazi road not far from the car park for the Blue Lakes walk. A couple of kilometres along the track is Tripod lookout which gives panoramic views of the island including Moreton Island to the North and Brisbane to the west.
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| Tripod Lookout |
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| Views towards Brisbane. |
Once we reached Tazi road we made our way to Main beach then drove south down the beach as far as I was game without having a travel buddy, the sand towards the southern end becomes very soft, particularly as the tide gets closer to its peak. You are not allowed to drive on Main Beach two hours either side of high tide and one hour either side of high tide on Flinders Beach.
We turned and drove north again to drive Fishermans track which heads North towards Point Lookout from Tazi road, parallel with the beach. After crossing six rather large water holes, the deepest a little too deep for my liking, I stopped at the start of the seventh water hole. Something just didn't look right, so I got out and walked into the waterhole, after a few short but cold metres the water was at that nasty height where water reaches the nether regions. Whilst this is uncomfortable for blokes, it is certain death for a 4wd with a safe wading depth of only 700mm. I am so thankful I stopped to check the depth as to go further would have drowned the Hilux. We turned and went back to Main Beach then travelled the beach back to Point Lookout.
Timing was certainly everything, after a kilometre or so we saw two Hump Back Whales traveling north about 300m off shore. We drove to Point Lookout and headed to North Gorge to get a better view of the whales as they passed. We saw numerous whales, and a dozen or so Dolphin hunting bait fish.
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| There is a whale there somewhere! |
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| Dolphins |
Once back at camp we settled around the fire and enjoyed old fashioned jaffles cooked on the open fire. It was a brisk night and the girls wrapped themselves in blankets to keep the cold at bay.
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| Only small cooking fires allowed. |
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| Cold enough for Charlie to sit by the fire. |
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| All wrapped up and warm |
The third morning we went to the amenities block at Adder Rock camp ground and enjoyed a warm shower. The next thing on the agenda was to do the walk to Blue Lake for a look around. The quickest route from Adder Rock was to take Main Beach south to Tazi road then head west to the Blue Lake car park. I wasn't concentrating when I turned off the beach towards the exit onto Tazi road, lost momentum and got bogged. I let more air out of the tyres, dug out around the tyres and the underbelly of the Hilux but couldn't get out. Thankfully I was able to get a snatch from another 4wd and in about 10 minutes we were out. Not before however, the obligatory smart arse know it all prick offered his f#@k-wittery on all things 4wd to Karren while I was trying to get the Hilux unstuck. Oh you should drop your tyre pressure, you should dig it out, etc. etc. etc.
Once the Hilux was out he started on me, your tyres should be at 18psi and you would have got out, he says in a smug smart arse, know it all, old prick sort of way. I gruffly replied the tyres are at 18psi. He then chirped back that they don't look like it to me. At this stage I was over him and his opinions on all things 4wd and asked him to use my F#@KING tyre pressure gauge and F#@KING check them him self. Prick!
Moral of the story, don't lose concentration, maintain momentum when on sand and just cause you have done a particular track a few times already, doesn't mean you can do it again. On sand tracks conditions change all the time. Oh and don't offer unwanted advice unless you are prepared to get your hands dirty or abused, one or the other, sometimes both!
I then regained a little composure and we headed off to Blue Lake for a walk, things didn't get better when we saw a sign saying dogs weren't allowed to do the walk to Blue Lake so, disappointed, we headed north along the 4wd track back to Beehive road then on to camp.
In the afternoon we went to Amity Point to try our luck and catch some fish off the pier. I didn't hold high hopes of success, but the fun of fishing is trying right? We were each armed with a rod, the same rigs and some Pippies for bait. We weren't there long when Karren landed a small Bream, this heightened the girls level of enthusiasm. It is far more interesting when you think you might have a chance of actually catching something. A few moments later Rosie landed her first ever fish. A
Slimy Mackerel, to say she was excited would be a massive understatement. Emily was not quite so lucky, she had numerous bites, even had a few hooked but couldn't keep them on the line long enough to land one. I also landed a small Slimy Mackerel, that we gave to a guy catching Gar for bait.
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| Rosie and her first fish. |
We had planned to cook a camp oven roast lamb, however the wind had other ideas. A strong northerly ruined any chance of the roast, we couldn't risk a fire so we had to settle for sausages on our last night. We sat in the tent and told silly stories before retiring at about 7.30pm. Party on!
Our last day meant the unenviable task of packing up, thankfully it didn't take long and the kids chipped in to help. Funnily enough as we were packing up the Park Ranger called in on us and asked what we were up to. Dogs are meant to be on leash at all times and for the vast majority of the time Charlie was on a lead. Of course as we were packing it was impossible to have a dog tied on a leash to either a tent, car or nearby tree, especially one as interested in the action as Charlie. Of course as the Ranger pulled up next to the Hilux - Charlie untethered - marched on over to say hello, doh! As the Ranger drove off he reminded me to have the dog on a lead!
We left camp, headed to the roadhouse, pumped up the tyres and headed to Point Lookout to do the North Gorge walk and spot some whales. We were not disappointed, spotting another six or so whales, some more dolphins and some school and bait fish as we walked.
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| North Gorge |
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| Whale Rock |
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| Main Beach looking south. |
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| On the North Gorge Walk. |
Our holiday was all but done so we headed back to Dunwich for the ferry ride back to the mainland however, Straddie was to throw us one last surprise! As we headed into Dunwich a Koala crossed the road in front of us, as we stopped to check him out he sought refuge, by climbing a small tree in front of the Primary School.
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| What are you doing up there? |
We had a wonderful time and would recommend it to anyone.
