A Month Back At Home

It is just a month since I returned from my cycling holiday and during that time Helen has been staying with me.  Apart from the usual shopping trips and a visit to our friends, Joan and Bill, we haven't done very much.  The first couple of weeks were spent quietly remembering Margaret and doing my normal things.  Helen and I have made several MOW runs and I have been out with my cycling club on Saturday mornings.  However the time had come to give Helen a better taste of what the area near Noosa is all about.

Yesterday Helen and I drove to the Noosaville pick up point for a day trip to Fraser Island (see http://www.fraserisland.net/ ).  This the world largest and island and about 70Km north of Noosa. The trip starts at 6.30am and returns at 5.00pm and is mainly over four wheel drive tracks.  Margaret dearly wanted to visit Fraser Island but she couldn't have coped with the rough roads so Helen and I made the trip on her behalf.

Normally the trip starts with a ride along the beach north of Noosa similar to the one we made earlier this year (see http://briedw02.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html ) but the tide was too high so we took a back roads trip to Rainbow Beach before continuing on to Inskip Point to catch the barge over to the island.

 On the barge

We drove a couple of kilometres along the beach before stopping for morning tea.

We drove up the beach and turned inland for a really rough ride through the forest.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2251127154369

About 10.45am we reached Lake MCKenzie a beautiful perched lake over 100m above sea level.  It is only filled by rain fall and is slightly acidic.

 Another couple of 4WD Buses

The lake is one of many but is set up for tourists with changing rooms, toilets and a fenced off barbecue area.  Fraser Island is home to about 200 pure bred dingos who have actually attacked and killed a young boy a few years back so it is illegal to feed them. We only saw one dingo from the 4WD but there were recent paw marks a the lake's edge.

We had lunch at the lake, grilled barramundi and salad with complimentary drinks, before driving back to Central Station the site of the centre of logging.  This was ended over 20 years ago and no trace remains.  There is a board walk by the creek with some original very old trees so we had look.

Afterwards it was back to the beach over more rough tracks, then over to Inskip Point and the barge back to Rainbow Beach.  From here we drove all along the beach to the Noosa River and back home.  The tide was coming in and the drive was quite exciting.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2251532244496

We got home just after 5.00pm.  It had been a tiring but great day.