Eye of the storm

Trip Start Apr 23, 2007
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Trip End Mar 13, 2008


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Flag of Australia  ,
Sunday, August 19, 2007

Whilst we were packing our gear on the 4x4 we were warned of an imminent storm approaching Fraser island.  The coast guard didn't want us to go as they were already evacuating the beach, but we weren't going to be put of by a storm so we set off regardless.  The storm could not be further from our minds as the sun shone down, our 4x4 group consisted of 4 English guys (myself, Preston, and the two guys we were traveling down on the oz bus with - tom and jimmy) and 7 Irish. We had 4 designated drivers who took it in turns driving us up and down the island.  The first days drive was extremely fun, hurtling up the beach in perfect conditions whilst running over huge jellyfish, perfect.  Our first stop was the ship wreck (sorry but I cant remember its name), a few photos later we all jumped back in the 4x4 and headed up to Eli Creek.  We then had to make it up to camp as the tide started to come in.

The following day we made our way to lake MacKenzie, as we did so we could see the storm brewing in the distance
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.  Lake MacKenzie was breathtaking, the crystal clear freshwater lake was situated in the middle of the island.   After an hour or so at the lake it began to rain, so we made our way back to the truck.  By the time we were driving back the rain was torrential and seeing lake Wabby was out of the question.  Once at camp we were told that 2 of the 6 vans hadn't made it back as they had got stuck in the surge.  So we did what anyone else would of done in the situation and stole the stricken travellers alcohol.  One of the other members of the group contacted Mervin (the owner of the 4x4s) who told us that we needed to be at ferry point at 10am instead of 1pm the following day,. This meant that we wouldn't get to see Indian head, yet another kick in the teeth.  So we prepared ourselves for a turbulent night. 

We awoke to devastation,  two tents had been blown down, another 4 had been flooded.  the two hour journey up to the ferry was a complete nightmare.  The 4x4 was getting constantly pounded by the surging water, and we got stuck in the sand on numerous occasions.  We eventually made it back to our hostel in rainbow beach which became our home for the next 3 nights as no buses could make it in or out the area due to the severity of the flooding.  We found out a few days later that the flooding had broken Queensland's record, a staggering 713 mm had fallen in 24 hours. 
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