BACK ON IT! Camping Again....

 I have to admit, after unpacking after our camping trip to Moreton Island (shaking sand out of sleeping bags, sand out of coolers, sand out of pillowcases...beach camping is unavoidably SANDY!!!!).  I was not exactly racing to get our permits the VERY NEXT WEEKEND to go camping again.  And I do love our beach camping, but I was feeling a bit worn out thinking that in just 4 short days we'd be unrolling the sleeping bags all over again.  But in Australia Easter weekend happened and then Anzac weekend happened and this year they were back to back.  We had to jump on the public holidays (days off for Lex).  Soooo off to Fraser Island we went!

As much as I was dragging my feet-- it didn't take me long to fall absolutely in love with this island.  The drive to the ferry was about 3.5 hours but it was a beautiful one up the Sunshine Coast.  The ferry was only about 15 minutes.  Fraser Island is considered the largest all sand island in the world.  It's pretty big and the beaches are wide open.  Perfect for our 4 wheel driving Pajero!  We have come to just love some beach driving!  Look at these tracks on this huge stretch of beach.  Just gorgeous.  And locals like to have some fun with their 4 wheel driving on these beaches.  Crazy!!!

 The kids love driving on the beach.  There's just something about feeling the ocean spray on your face and going fast through the puddles and inlets made by the tides.  We were going through huge dips and getting major sprays covering our car.  It was a blast.

checking out the view

  Fraser is known to be the last strong hold for pure bread dingoes.  Yes...dingoes.  And this is one here in the picture.  They very present on the island.  When I first saw this, Lex said, "Look there's a dingo."  I said, "No that's just their family dog.  He's right there with them."  Then I saw them shooing him away and sure enough.  It was a wild dingo.  Crazy!  We even found dingo tracks around our tent the second morning we woke up.  I'm glad I didn't know that until the morning we were leaving!  Honestly, they just look like dogs.  They warn people not to feed them.  It's illegal.  One guy we met was telling us all about them.

He said, "You can't feed them or they become to comfortable around humans.  When you see one you're going to really want to toss him a sausage because they look like they really need a feed ("a feed" is Aussie talk) because they're scrawny lookin.  But don't do it."  They do look like they could use a feed hey?  Skinny little things.

Don't worry, we didn't feed them.  Lex shooed one away one night when he woke up in the night and was watching the moon on the ocean.  He said he saw one padding around on the beach.  And shooed him off.  Again, glad I slept through that! 

As we drive along the beach, it's hard to take the "roads" (just sandy beaches) seriously.  So we do tend to get a little lax on our seat belt rules.  The kids love to spread out and enjoy the ride.  

 (ps another great shot of the Old Pajero! Yep, that ceiling really is just barely hanging on but oh boy he did not let us down on this trip.  He did some awesome off-roading up to some island lakes that were WELL-WORTH the 4 wheel drive detours).  Love that Pajero! 

Umm, like I said-- "a little lax on the seat belt rules" while beach driving.  I suppose every 4 year old dreams of 4 wheeling on an island with Dad! 

  As par for us on these island camp trips, we stayed our first night at a designated campground.  It was all the way at the top tip of the island.  We got off our ferry at the bottom tip so we really got to drive the whole length of the beach to get to our camp.  It was awesome.  Our camp site was nice.  Fenced in so no dingoes could come sniffing around.  We found some fun little inlets on the beach to splash around in as we were watching the sunset.  

Silhouettes at the beach

 Nothing like a little light reading on top of the Pajero as we are getting the sausage sizzle ready for dinner.  

 These little guys are everywhere here.  They are huge.  I am captivated by them every time we see them.  This one came scuttling through our camp (about 5 or 6 feet long tip to tip) just lazily heading to another campsite scavenging for food most likely.  They are called goannas and they are harmless but man-- they are huge.

Check him out!  Crazy as!

  And they are super fast climbers.  He went right up this huge tree no problem in just a couple seconds.

The next morning we headed to the sites of the island.  Our first stop was a place called The Champagne Pools.  They were these gorgeous natural rock pools along the beach.  It was really great to play in them because you aren't actually allowed to really swim in the ocean on Fraser.  They have too many sharks and get this...crocodiles there.  Some people shake their heads about the crocs, but the guides and ferry drivers said they've heard it's truth and would never take any chances.  So these pools are a fun alternative, because obviously the sharks and crocs would never come in this shallow and up over the rocks.   

Because the water is so shallow (comes in and out with the tides) it stays pretty warm, and the water is totally clear.   It's awesome because the tide brings in lots of fish.  So these little pools are great for snorkeling!  We threw on our goggles and saw all kinds of fish, tons of colors!  Some parts of the pools are actually deep, over my head in spots.  But mostly they are just about 6 inches.  So we had a blast snorkeling around in the deeper parts and seeing all kinds of little nemos and some awesome growths on the rocks.  

Goggles make everyone's face look so precious!  Love these little goggly faces! I've grown accustomed to seeing them. They are always so smiley in their goggles!

 I love hanging with these girls.  They are so brave and adventurous.  Always up for trying new things!

 The boys were full of adventure too.  They threw the footy and saw all kinds of sea life in the pools.  It was an awesome day.

We LOVE Fraser!  We really really do!

Oaks found the perfect place to stay warm on the beach.  (Remember it is late fall during this trip--we were there in late April.  The first day of winter is June).  It was warm there but it felt really good to lay on the hot rocks and in Oaklee's case...just have a little sleep.  

True beach bum!

Beautiful Champagne Pools--Word of Wisdom Approved!

When we first started swimming, Birdy looked confused.  When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "Well, what if when I'm swimming I get some of it in my mouth?"  I was so befuddled.  We've swum in the ocean so much I could not imagine her worrying about salt water.  Then she added, "Mom, I don't want to break the word of wisdom just because it gets on my lips while we snorkel."  Oh--got it.  "champagne" pools.  She was so relieved when I explained it was just a name and that the pools were just full of good old fashioned ocean salt water.  Pheewww!  Let the snorkeling begin! Love that Birdy!

The Allens were here!

Up over the rocks from the pools we found this amazing secluded beach.  Honestly it looked like something out of a movie.  We all hiked over and enjoyed our own private beach for awhile.  We only got in the water about to our knees, but we really just enjoyed the beach.  So much sand and space.  We did cartwheels and handstands.  It was absolutely gorgeous. 

As usual, my cartwheels left much to be desired but it was fun having our own beach to cartwheel on.  Even if I never have been able to keep my legs straight!

Oh Fraser Island! LOVE!

Our second night we camped on unplanned beach zone camping.  This always ends up being our preferred spots.  We set up camp on a little dune and had a pretty amazing view of the ocean with this little inlet coming all the way to the dune.  It was awesome.  There's nothing cooler than hearing the ocean waves as you fall asleep.  It's super loud... but so peaceful.  I love it and will miss it so much.  I guess I'll have to buy a relaxation CD when we get home.  Those always seem to have sounds of the ocean on them.  I really get it now.  So relaxing!  

My monkeys found a tree and dangled off the dune for hours while the sun set.  Check out that sky.  Gorge.  

 The next morning we hit the island fresh water lakes.  It was awesome.  We visited a malaleuca lake called Lake Allum.  We've seen a malaleuca lake before on Stradbroke Island.  They are really cool.  The leaves from the malaleuca trees fall into the lake and the oils from them color it brown.  Not dirty brown but clear brown like tea water.  You can actually see the oils glistening on the top of the water.  It's really beautiful. And it feels so good on your skin. The water is so clear but it's brown.  Weird.  And cool as.  This lake is famous for it's turtles.  We sat on the steps and fed the turtles.  And yah-- we caught a couple!  

We didn't bring food to feed them because there was a sign saying not to, but when we got there a family was there tossing bread in and said everyone feeds them bread.  Just not junk food and garbage...apparently processed white flour is absolutely fine though :)  Well, we jumped right in with the feeding.  We tried to be as quiet as possible and worked hard to grab one as they came right up to our feet to get the bread pieces.  But they are fast little buggers.  They have webbed feet so they can really haul.  It's cute to watch them because as they swim, their little heads poke up all across the lake.  We finally snagged a couple.  Oaks thought we should take them home.  Uh--nope, just a quick pic then say g'bye.  Fun lake though.  And people were swimming in it, right with the turtles!  Fun!

Oh how these dingoes hang around!  Not afraid of us, or our Pajero.  Lex can shoo them away though!  Good thing we brought him along! Lex is also excellent on the 4 wheel driving bit.  He was tearing up and down the sand dunes like a champ.  We let the air out of our tires a heap so that we wouldn't get bogged down, and off we went!  Lex has earned his stripes on beach driving!  He's a pro now!

We had to use all the 4 wheel drive we could muster to get up to this amazing lake.  It's called Lake McKenzie and it's famous for its crystal clear water.  I mean, it was really quite amazing.  White sandy beaches and clear, fresh water.  Like being on a beach without the salt water.  Awesome.  We had a blast at Lake McKenzie it was pretty much breathtaking.

Park and I swam out a ways and every time I looked down, I could still see the bottom.  It was over my head by quite a bit and still-- crystal clear. I've never imagined a clear lake.  It was like some of the beautiful beaches here with water clear as, but no salt.  So it was so fun to swim in.  So awesome!  I wish I could explain it better.  My words and these pix really do not do it justice.   

On our way to the ferry we nearly didn't make it on the beach before the tide came in.  We were driving through water most of the way.  The ferry driver said it gets a little tight an hour before and after high tide.  We pushed our luck, definitely.  But it was so fun driving through water super super fast to make it to the ferry on time.  Secretly, I was wishing the whole time we'd get stuck and have to pitch the tent for one more night!  I loved this island.  It was such a paradise.  Even though we couldn't get into the ocean much, the lakes, the pools and the beaches were just take-your-breath-away awesome.  Sandy--shmandy, beach camping is just the best.  It's worth every grain you find in your hair for the next 2 weeks.  We certainly LOVED our weekend on Fraser Island!