Day 7 - 30th April 2012
Today we awoke to clear starry skies but by sunrise it was raining heavily. After changing our minds at least 4 times, we decided to leave Fraser and head up the coast to stay at Agnes Waters or somewhere around there.  The weather forecasts for Fraser over the next few days was for heavy rain. 
This persuaded us to decide our destiny.  Besides, we pretty much covered all of what we we wanted of
Fraser from a photography perspective.  We'd travelled about 450km on the Island and taken about 750
photos and some video in four big days.  Our trip home will be a slow and relaxing one from here on.
On the way today, we dropped in and had lunch with Uncle Cyril and Aunty Dot and later caught up with
some neighbours from our past at Hervey Bay.  We haven't see them for 24 years.
We are camped up at Granite Ck rest area for tonight about 60km north of Gin Gin.
Just a few photos for today.

 Some more pictures at https://picasaweb.google.com/106361511620108780730/Day7FraserIsland

Day 6 - 29th April 2012
We had an early start today to catch a sunrise on the beach.  After the crappy weather yesterday, today turned out to be perfect.  Fine all day with a shower when we got back at around 4:30.  At the moment, we are experiencing some gusty conditions - no rain though.
We ventured up north as far as we could get today to Orchid Beach and Waddy Point.  Caught spectacular views from Indian Heads. 
Trip home was a bit greasy so we pulled up and chilled at Eli Creek for an hour or so to let the tide recede a bit.
Haven't seen many dingoes - only three in fact. 
Ian, we found your Oz flag.
























See more pictures at... https://picasaweb.google.com/106361511620108780730/Day6FraserIsland

Day 5 - 28th April 2012
The weather turned nasty today. I just saw on the news that we had the wetest April day in 14 years. We picked it!!! Probably for the best though. We just lazed around all day. I had a killer headache so probably wouldn't have been too wise to do too much driving anyway. We did venture out onto the beach to have a look but it was too risky as it was about an hour and a half before high tide. The heavy rain does pack the sand a bit but just makes it greasy. Driving on it is a bit like driving on wet black soil. Nothing packs the sand to a hard surface like the partial weight of the Pacific ocean. So no piccies today. I did however, take the opportunity to do a little maintenance on my camera equipment. Let's see what tomorrow brings with the weather. Looking on the radar, it says the current patch of rain has moved south so hopefully it's out of the system. On Monday, we are planned to move further north and set up base but if the rain sets in, we've decided, we'll either stay here at Dilli Village or head back to the mainland and have a slow trip home. We'll play by ear for now.

Day 4 - 27th April 2012
Late posting here.  This is what I wrote last night but didn't get to post as it (pardon the french) pissed down all night and only signal I can get is outside the van.  Yesterday, we did a run up the East coast as far north as Cathedral Beach including another inland track to Lake Allom.  Turtles inhabit the lake.  They're very curious - they come right up to surface within a metre of you but quickly duck away as soon as the shutter on the camera fires.
We stopped at the Maheno wreck a couple of times - the second time there were no tourists swarming around so grabbed the opportunity.  Bloody tourists! Oh wait...
The Maheno was a NZ passenger liner that was blown ashore by a cyclone in 1935 while being towed to a Japanese scrap yard.  It's been busy rusting away ever since and is now a popular tourist attraction.
We visited the mouth of Eli Creek along with about 100 other people.  It's amusing to see 3 or 4 Troop carriers pull up and when you take a second look a minute or so later, there's a multitude of people pouring out.  Suddenly there are people everywhere.  How many backpackers can you fit in a troopie?  Hundreds, I think!!!

Some more pictures at... https://picasaweb.google.com/106361511620108780730/Day4FraserIsland

Day 3 - 26th April 2012
Well it happened...twice!
We got stuck on the way across Inskip Point to the barge.  Luckily we were there with time to spare so we still made it onto the first barge of the day at 0600.  Another bloke in front of us in the queue pulled us out.  The next saga was when we tried to exit the beach into Dilli Village where we were to setup house for the next four nights.  Dilli Village is an enclosed facility owned and run by the Sunshine Coast University.  It's fully fenced to keep the dingoes out.  We have the whole camping ground to ourselves. 
Anyway, we got to setup and then went touring for the day.  The driving on the inland tracks is challenging but fun.  Our target destination was Lake McKenzie but made many stops along the way for some small photographic diversions.  We've picked a good time to visit Fraser Island.  Pretty quiet with not too many people around.   It's great to stop, get out of the car and soak up the serenity of this place.  The weather was perfect today - cool all day.  I think the forecast for the coming days is not so flash but we'll see what unfolds.  I don't normally take too much notice of the weatherman.

Lake McKenzie is gob smackingly beautiful.
Some more pictures at https://picasaweb.google.com/106361511620108780730/Day3FraserIsland

Day 2 - 25th April 2012
Today, we set off from Boyne River rest area at 0700.  Arrived at Inskip Point around 1400.  This is a popular spot - 'gazillion' campers but all very considerate following the campers' code of ethics.
We took a drive down to where we catch the barge tomorrow just to see what to expect.  The barge starts running at 0600 so we'll be catching the first one across.  I have reservations about pulling our van across the fairly loose sand to where the barge launches but I guess we won't know until we try.  The area we pulled up at Inskip is on the north facing beach so it is quite sheltered from the wind.  Pleasantly cool!

 Some more pictures at https://picasaweb.google.com/106361511620108780730/Day2InskipPoint

Day 1 - 24th April 2012
Started the day off on the wrong foot with a minor technical hitch. Brake lights on the van wouldn't work. After rewiring the plug and not finding anything other than a dicky pin on the moulding of the plug. That was fun in the dark! All was good and got away at around 0600 about an hour later than we intended.
Had a good run. Happy with fuel consumption - averaging 14.5 litres / 100 km fully laden.
Pulled up stumps at the rest area on the banks of the Boyne River. Rocked up at 1745. We covered around 900 km in the day.
This trip is a dry run for us in preparation for our trip to The Kimberley and NT later this year, so we timed ourselves from stop to build the house to feeding our faces. I laid the foundations and wired it while Judy built the roof gave it a lick of paint while putting dinner on.  Within 30 mins, we were eating.
Looking forward to a solid night's kip.

In the Beginning...

This is my first serious attempt at a 'WEBlog'.  Yep for those of you who didn't know, that's where the name comes from Blog is short for Web Log.  Anyway that's enough trivia.
"Sleepin' Around" will be my attempt to journal some of our travels as grey nomads in training.  We've got the grey bit down pat (I was talking about the car) so it's time to get out there and do the nomad thing.  My other obsession, as you are aware, is portraying this beautiful and unique landscape we call Australia.  Land of plenty - of images.  I hope I can do it justice.
Come along for the ride, there'll be lots of pictures to see!
This is the first one which is a picture of our 'rig'.
This has been a progression from our first camping experience as a family of three in our Great Outdoors 5 man tent at Girraween National Park Q.  Two tents and two camper trailers later, we bought the Goldstream Crown ST last Oct.  We may or may not progress to a bigger van after retirement from the every day slog at Ergon and JCU so we'll see how this formula goes for now.

Come on ! Get in, strap up - Oh and don't forget your toothbrush and more importantly, your camera.
Robert