Welcome to the lucky last instalment of our Moreton Island holiday! Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, but we still had some exploring to do before calling it a day!
We headed down to the southern point of the island, to check out the small township there. Our original plan was to loop around the bottom tip of the island, and come up the western beach, to get to the Big Sandhills. Unfortunately, our plan came unstuck as we got ourselves quite lost on a sloppy, swampy track.
After admitting defeat and turning around, we came across a fellow explorer who ensured us that the track we were on was the right one, it just doesn't get much use. Although, from what we can gather, the western bottom tip of the island is pretty rough, with the beach frequently blocked by debris washed up by storms. In the end, I don't think we missed much by turning around.
It did, however, give us a good excuse to have a spot of lunch right down the southern end of the island!
We headed back up the beach, and then across the island on Middle Rd. We were heading for the Tangalooma Bypass track - a track that starts along Middle Rd, and runs around the back of Tangalooma resort, eventually meeting up with the western beach just south of the resort. However, we weren't planning on going all the way there - we turned off before the beach exit, and headed towards the Desert.
Grant & Sam and Nate & Mel had gone on ahead of us, as we had raced back up to camp to drop all the windows on the tents and camper, fearing a storm. As we were driving down the track to the Desert, it was the first time I was thankful that we'd put the new suspension in the truck before coming. Everywhere else, the Pathfinder had eaten it up no worries at all. This track, however, wasn't as well used, and had foot-high banks either side of the track. It was slow going, but wasn't exactly challenging.
So imagine my surprise when as we were about to crest a hill, we encountered a brand new, stock-standard Forrester coming the other way down the track! He was having a hard time of it, but seemed to be enjoying himself. Large gobfulls of right-boot saw him moving forward, but the car was being thrown around by the bumps, and the low front bumper was scooping up sand and spraying it forward and all over his bonnet. Of course, given the large banks on the sides of the track, he had no hope of being able to climb up them and let us past, so it fell to us to reverse back to find one. Thankfully, we didn't need to go far, and he then continued on past us, engine racing and sand flying everywhere. I really wouldn't like to see his repair bill when he got back home.
Despite the fun (and the trip back to camp), we arrived at the Desert only minutes after the others. Nate had been having an increasingly hard time with the Jeep, as the solid front axle was making hard work of the bumpy sand tracks. We suspected that his steering damper was shot and providing no assistance, as every time the front would hit a hole, it would wrench the wheel from his hands, and both him and Mel would be bounced into the roof, windscreen or window. As the sand dried out through the week and the track condition degraded, the issues only became worse. Needless to say, they had had a slow drive in.
The Desert is a huge, open sand bowl, surprisingly different to the huge dunes of the Little Sandhills. That said, there's still some good steep dunes for sliding down!
The remainder of the week went far too quickly. We did some more driving, some more exploring, some more sitting around camp, and some more swimming.
One of the best things about the trip was being able to give our brand new fridge a good workout.
It spent the whole week in the back of the car, going wherever we went. It was great to be able to have a cold drink at hand, or to make some lunch wherever we were. Really, really happy with it - I don't know how we'd survive if we needed to go back to ice in an esky!
Before we knew it, however, our time was up. It was time to pack up the camp sites, and head back to Tangalooma to catch the barge.
Sam & Grant had packed up early, run over the the barge pickup point, and set up some shade to wait out the afternoon. J & I went for a swim, then packed up after lunch. We headed over to Tangalooma with Nate & Mel, and went for one last drink in the resort bar. Whilst there, we got a strange txt message from Grant, something about a surprise waiting for us when we got back to the barge point?
Well, he was right - it was a bit of a surprise to turn up and see this...
.. parked up on the beach! Rewind a couple of hours, to much hilarity (and the annoyance of everyone else who was still trying to get off the barge):
Apparently they had hired the Tarago, and decided to bring the entire family on a day trip to Moreton island! The fellow was telling Grant that the rental people had assured him it was a 4WD, but later admitted to Sam that they had been over to Stradbroke Island (which DOES have bitumen roads) the day before, and he assumed Moreton would be the same. Close on $500 worth of barge fees, plus whatever rental cost of the van, to end up sitting on the beach for 6hrs, waiting for the next boat home. I would have hated to have been in his shoes when we took it back to the rental people!
We were lucky to spend our last few hours on the island relaxing on the beach, waiting for the barge to come in. Due to a king tide earlier, the barge schedule had been pushed back an hour, so it ended up being around 9pm before the barge was loaded up and headed back towards Bris. We aired up the tyres on the barge, and re-filled our tanks at the petrol station at the Port of Brisbane. By the time we arrived back in Toowoomba, it made for a late night. We were all exhausted the next day, but relaxed and well rested. And all thankful for a nice, hot shower! What a trip!
Thanks to Grant & Sam for coming, and for Nate & Mel for coming at such late notice. It was a great week!
(Photo credit - Only half these photos are mine - the other half are Grant & Sam's. So that explains why some of the photos are considerably better than what I am usually able to manage!!!)
