Fraser in november

[geoffd40]

hi all
heading up to fraser island on novemebr 6 for a week. staying near kingfisher in a house. planning on driving up teewah beach to rainbow beach or through the fresh water track on the 5th. it will be my first time on fraser, although i have done a fair amount of beach driving on stockton, couple of questions, What is the best way to go from tewantin to rainbow beach, straight up the beach or the inland tracks? only staying on fraser for 5 days, what are the must see things on the island? is there anything special we should take for this time of the year? we plan on doing a bit of fishing, will the tailor still be on, what else can i expect to catch, any fishing tips would be appreciated? they say only drive 2hrs each side of low tide, can this generally be stretchedout a little bit?
cheers
geoff

 

[Bryce]

Fraser island is great.
I have been there a few times but have never been to into fishing. I would say that as long as they aren't king tides you should be fine most places to around 1hr each side of high tide. But it depends on how much sand is there, erosion, recent storms and what not.
If youve got a good map the good things to see are marked. depending on how much time you spend fishing a week (of good weather) should be enough to see heaps and you wont miss out on too much.

 

[180degrees]

I always go up through Gympie and into rainbow beach along the highway, saves heaps of time since theres not much to see at DI and I think you need a permit for it now to or something.

Best places obviously:

-Lake McKenzie (busy at 10-3ish) make sure you go in the right track to, I had a blonde moment once and went the wrong way after not really reading the map properly

-Lake Birrabeen if you don't want the crowds, pretty much exactly like McKenzie but like 1/10 the people but I almost got my stock navara stuck getting up there on all the massive holes between tree roots cause of erosion I guess.

-Lake wabby, bit of a walk in, the track (southern route) is longer but shaddy the whole way or the way over the sandblow is about 2/3 the distance but out in the sun most of the way.

-eli creek, can be really shallow or really deep so don't go charging in just follow someone as you get close to it and see how deep it is.

-rock pools, most the times I go to fraser these are full of seaweed but can be pretty cool on a high tide.

lots of other things to check out though just be wary on the tracks because there are alot of people who can't read a speed limit sign and go round blind corners doing in excess of 50km/h, I have had a few close calls but lucky for me I was doing the speed limit so had enough distance to slow down, another thing don't be the first car following a tour bus cause they push the sand into where the tracks of a normal car would be making it twice as hard to get through really soft tracks this is probably more common sense though. be careful around the indian head bypass track lest you want to feature in a lets shame person x youtube video.

tides, I always plan go when there is the small high tide in the afternoon since the beach is so wide in most places its still driveable on a 1.4m high tide.

I am not a fisherman but I have seen most go north but last I checked a few months ago the ngkala rocks bypass track had been so erroded some landcruiser rolled over or something? forcing the closure of it and the way to the lighthouse I guess the island is so large though you can pull up anywhere and be the only ones around.

take plenty of fuel to my 2.5 D22 used about 70L for the week I was over there but diesel was about $2.40L at kingfisher but don't forget you can get it (relatively) cheap at rainbow beach.

have fun

 

[geoffd40]

thanks for all the info, picked up some good maps this morning from local shop, will have to do abit of studying. when you say be careful on the indian head bypass track, is that because it is rough/soft or because of tides.
cheers
geoff

 

[realtucker]

Hi Gents, I'm staying at Eurong right now and can give you some current info.
Taylor are on the chew now all along the East Coast, most are small but the odd 450mm can be caught. I'd expect it to be a lot better come October/November. Jewies are around at night around high tide. Bycatch will be dart, whiting, flathead and sharks at night. Use pillies or pippies/worms for bait (both are plentiful - ask a local if you have trouble finding them) however taylor are good fun on metal slugs/raiders/twisters. A Baitrunner combo is sufficient.
I recommend you drive down from indian head along the beach one day - that way you'll see Eli Creek, the Maheno wreck, Red Canyon, and the Champagne Pools at Indian Head. Not much to see any further north (and yes 180degrees was right about ngkala rocks bypass being closed). Also what 180degrees said about the Lakes, all 3 are good to have a look at. Crystal clear water at McKenzie and Birrabeen, cool sand dunes at Wabby.
Be careful at Indian Head getting up through soft sand from the beach and for blind corners. A lot of the track has been covered with timber though. 5 days is ample to see and do most stuff on the Island. That said, i've been back heaps of times and never get sick of it all. Hope this helps,
Tucker

 

[justdrinkbeer]

Hey mate, I was there a couple of years ago, in October, was awesome, we were there for 5 days and in my opinion you need a bit more to truly wind down.
We copped some crazy winds, don't know if its to do with the time of year or just shit luck, the water was plenty warm enough to swim all day.
Some of the inland tracks (and the Indian Head track everyone is mentioning) were very soft, although we didn't have any dramas at all.
Take a compressor with you & a couple of snatch straps, you'll no doubt have to use them, I ended up getting cought a dozen times by this kiwi nut job in a jeep cherokee who just wouldn't listen to anything I had to say and kept screaming off only to get stuck a couple hundred metres down the track.
Next time i'll be going straight to the north, away from the crowds, having a couple of days there then working back south doing the tourist bit.
Pack a heavy rod, the sharks are big

Can't wait