Mozzies Around Australia

The final Entry of our adventure

Well, what an amazing adventure we have had.

Total distance traveled - 32,020ks

Nights away from home - 199 (183 in the van)

Best Parts - So Many but really just being able to do the trip.

Visited - Remote coasts in SA & WA, drove the Nullarbor (again), Karijini, Pilbara & Kimberley, Gibb River, Litchfield, Kakadu, Bungles, Horizontal Falls, Uluṟu, So many wonderful gorges, waterfalls, swimming holes, sunsets, and special places and that was just the first 1/2 of the trip.

For the Eastern 1/2 so many places in western QLD we grew up hearing about that we have now visited along with seeing that country so green and wet. 

A great catch up with family and friends while in Qld and then a week on K’Gari (Fraser) Island with a great bunch of friends to finish. 

What a trip, so many wonderful experiences and memories.

Would do it again in a heartbeat !

Day 92 Toowoomba to Bendigo (Tamworth and Gundagai )

Left Toowoomba around lunchtime as we spent the morning catching up with mum and our aim was to try to get to Tamworth along the New England Highway.

All went smoothly and we finally pulled up in a free camp just outside of town called Moonbi Lookout about 6pm.

The weather was not looking, and the forecast sounded quite foreboding, so we hunkered down and hoped for the best. That night there was huge storm that dumped about 80mm of rain around the area. Lots of wind and thunder which shook the van around a lot - a bit scary really.

The next morning, we headed off bright and early hoping to southwest around the back of Sydney.Well after a frustrating 1-2 hours of driving around in circles due to constant road closures due to flooding, we managed to just make it through Qurindi. By that time the only choice we really had was to head go through Sydney and down the M1. Luckily the ring road and tunnels does it make it a bit better, but it was still a very long day with our final stop being in Gundagai. The caravan park was a great park, but it was very close to the river which was rising rapidly at that stage. They were quite blasé about it all but we still set up everything so we could leave quickly in the middle of the night if need be. There was an SES car parked in the park so we thought we would be notified. Anyway, we made it through our last night in the van for the trip .

The drive home was amazing as we have never seen so much water over such a large distance along the Hume.

Plenty of flooding going on and it will continue as the flood waters move downstream. Turned off at Violet Town and across through Murchison where the damage was devastating and so many people of lost everything.

Day 91 K'Gari Island to Toowoomba

After saying goodbye to everyone, we left Hervey Bay and headed for Toowoomba for the night. We picked up the van and had the time to rearrange some things, do a bit of washing and catch up with Russ's mum.

Just an overnighter before we head off to head home for the final journey.

Day 84 Hervey to K'Gari Island (formally Fraser Island)

After the pouring rain of Hervey Bay, it was wonderful to wake up to a sunny Sunday morning It was a early start to finish getting everything packed into the car for our ferry ride to the island which departed from River Heads which was just outside of town. Everybody was excited but also a bit nervous for those who had never been over there.

Once we got to the ferry loading area, it was time to drop the tyre pressures for the sand driving that was happening for the next week. Luckily for us, the sand was weel packed down due to the rain so it was pretty easy going for most of the time.

We loaded on and it was off to the island landing at Woolgoolba Creek for our drive across the island.

After a relaxing 30min boat ride, it was on to the island for the drive across from the creek to Euromg which is the main town on the eastern side of the island. Most of the track is one way so there's no worries about meeting a car coming the other way. About halfway there is a place called Central station which was the base for the logging industry. this a lovely place and the creek you walk along has ferns that are around 1000 years old. really beautiful and the water is so clear.

After Central station, it was onto Eurong and then up the beach to where we were staying for the week.

Happy Valley is about halfway up the eastern coast and we had rented a place called "Beachbreak". We had rented this once before, so it suited us all very well

Happy Valley also has a hotel and a shop and fuel, so all the basics are covered if you need them.

We spent each day exploring the island based on the tides. You ahve to be very mindful of when high tide is happening as you can easily get caught out and stuck somewhere because of the rising water.

The eastern beach is a designated road with all the normal road rules, but the island has changed a lot since we first started going over there in the 1980's. The beach is much narrower and of course there are a lot more vehicles around as so many people have 4WD's now.

Our days were spent driving inland to explore places like Kingfisher Bay Resort and Lake McKenzie but also plenty of beach driving to head to places such as Eli Creek, which is one of the main swimming places, the "Maheno" which is a ship that was wrecked on the beach, Champagne Pools were the waves spill over a rock ledge into some pools and create bubblers.

Maheno

Other places included Orchid beach, which is another small township further up the island, Wabby point where we spent some wonderful beach time. There were so many other things to look at as we drove around - Indian Head, lake wabby and so many other iconic stops. Lots of driving on sandy tracks and so many varying landscapes to be amazed by as we explore the world's biggest sand island.

Eli Creek

Wobby Point

Lake McKenzie

Champagne Pools

Russ and Maurie spent some time fishing and managed to catch a couple of nice Taylor which were delicious just baked in the oven.

While they were on the beach, we had a spectacular summer storm come through - fantastic photos

Spectacular Storm

The only thing we didn't do this time was to head up to the lighthouse at the northernmost tip of the island. The tides have to be just right but the other challenge these days is N'Gala Rocks which has become a place where many people damage their vehicles trying to navigate through them.

We had some great times sharing our journey with good friends both out exploring and back at home sharing a glass or two, playing games and even having some fun with a Halloween Party.