Fraser Island Clean Up 2021 (Part 2)

We left off last month with Yours Truly being totally unaware that the bride had nicked off with the cruiser to go for a run up to Champagne Pools.

I woke up bright and early on the Saturday morning keen to explore the Island again. We met everyone down on the beach – including our Orchid Beach chapter – and we headed down towards Eurong – people needed coffee apparently – and the inland track to take us too Lake Mackenzie. Because of all the rain that the island had had over the last week, the tracks were compacted to the point that Lucy’s Santa-Fe could have easily negotiated the various tracks.

I have to admit that having a HEMA – that I bought for Tasmania – definitely made navigating the maze of inland tracks super easy. For those that have never been to Fraser Island for such a narrow strip of sand – only 22km at its widest point – there is a huge difference in plant life as you drive across. On each coast you have dense sub-tropical rain forest and in the centre you have this dry arid plain that is packed full of banksia and grass trees. 

We got to Lack Mac and the rainy weather beat us there. It was still a good walk down to the beach where the resident Mad Pommy couldn’t resist and went for a dip. After we had checked out the lake we headed back to the coast and up to Eli Creek where we set up along the back of the creek, cracked a can of ale for the fridge and then proceeded to wonder why the hell Lucy was handing me a deflated Flamingo.

10 minutes with the trusty air compressor and the stupid thing was inflated and Lucy proceeded to tick off one of the items on her bucket list. That being to float down Eli Creek with a drink in hand and not a care in the world.

Mission accomplished.

Lucy eventually let the kids have a go and we spent an enjoyable few hours relaxing in the cool water before heading back to camp for happy hour and dinner.

Sunday morning saw us leaving camp not so bright and way to early for the trek up to Orchid beach to pickup the rest of the club and then head North towards Sandy Cape for the clean-up.

We made excellent time and after the driver briefing, we headed through Ngala Rocks and up the beach. There was one hiccup where one of the cars bellied out due to their new suspension and tyres being on back order – thanks COVID – but a quick reverse snatch had them sorted, however they were unable to participate in the clean-up.

We found the marker for the start of our area and started to play a game of leap-frog slowly making our way up the beach. Cavin, Kym, Leanne & Pete caught up with us just as we were kicking off – Cavin had some serious electrical issues to sort out in the GQ which put them almost 40 minutes behind, however the boys got it sorted and as far as I know, there was no more problems for the Patrol for the rest of the trip.

Eventually we made it around Sandy Cape and up to our finishing spot where we weighed all of the collected rubbish. Just from our club alone there was approximately 300kg in the back of the two utes and this included an old school bed frame – complete – and a chest freezer.

Overall the clean-up collected just over 6.1 tons of rubbish from the Island.

After we finished we headed for Orchid Beach shops and a sausage sizzle – my first one since covid trashed the Bunnings ones, so I had a second one.

And I put the onions on the top!

We headed back to camp to chill out and get showered and changed before we headed to the dinner and raffle that was at Cathedrals. The dinner was a bit of a shambles – and this is in no way the fault of the clean-up committee – the caterer failed on what he said he could deliver so dinner ended up taking over two hours to be served and it was the greatest food ever.

Lucy and I ended up getting a couple of pies and a sausage roll from the shops instead.

I managed to do pretty well for myself overall with three prizes so I was quietly stoked.

The weather tried its hardest to wreck the evening with a decent rain shower that lasted about 20 minutes. It wasn’t heavy, but it was that constant annoying drizzle that manages to get every where and totally saturate you .

However we persevered an eventually the rain buggered off and we had a great night before pulling the pin about 2230.   

Monday was a day off and we pretty much just chillaxed at camp for the day and socialised and caught up on some maintenance / trying to charge my camper batteries.

Monday night, Lucy and I went for a drive back down to Cathedrals to check our emails and possibly get something to eat from the shop – we failed there as the shop shut an hour before we got there – however on the way down the beach we saw a light coming towards us so we slowed down and it turned out that it was some random bloke going for a run along the beach way after dark.

We both made a comment on that…

About 50m after we past the runner, we saw a dingo in the beam of the lights that was actively tracking old mate – he was walking in the runners footsteps with his nose down – so more words were spoken, reverse was grabbed and we hammered back towards the guy. Words to the effect of “get in the car” were spoken.

It turns out that he was coming back from his run as about 20 mins earlier he had come face to face with three dingos and decided to call it quits. The problem was that his camp site was behind the dunes and he couldn’t remember where it was in the dark. So we drove up and down the beach a few times until he pointed out where him and his mate were camped.

He was very thankful…

Tuesday morning we were up and on the beach ready to go by 0900 as we were heading to the west coast for the day. Lucy had never been to that side of the Island before and was super keen to see the western beach.

The sand was still super compacted so once again it was an easy drive. We eventually got to the West Coast where we caught up Pete, Leanne, Cavin and Kim and we circled the wagons, set up the awnings and proceeded to have a relaxing final day on the beach.

The weather was brilliant – actually with the exception of the Sunday night, had great weather the entire week we were on the island. After lunch we packed up and started making our way back to camp.

Wednesday was pack up day. Because of the tyre issue, Lucy and I decided to cut our trip a few days short to give me more time to source a new set of rubber for the cruiser. Andy and Michelle were also going home that day so we figured that there would be safety in numbers and after saying goodbye to everyone we headed off down the beach for the final time.

We made good time to Happy Valley and called in for the compulsory hamburger and chips.

Eventually we made it to the barge and due to brilliant timing, we didn’t have to wait, just drove straight onto it for the trip back to Rainbow and the car wash.

Bring on next year……..