Moving on to Inskip Point

Monday 3rd August. Chris and Katrina came over to visit in the afternoon, and the boys sat down at the river to fish while us girls sat in the sun and chatted. To his surprise, Mark did manage to catch a fish…and with a big smile on his face, reeled it in. I think his ego was hoping for a great big fat one! Yes, it was a fish, although a rather small Bream. Nonetheless he had caught one! Chris caught a slightly bigger one and showed Mark how to fillet it, not that there was a lot of ‘fillet’. Mark cooked it up and ate it, sharing the leftover skin with Millie who looked at it with disgust! She did eat it, although the amount of salt Mark had sprinkled on it made us laugh and say Millie would be parched and need a big drink! 



Help! I'm way too small! Throw me back!

Tuesday we headed down to Chris and Katrina’s, stopping at Mudjimba on the way for a walk on the beach. When we arrived at Chris and Katrina’s we laughed at the colour of Millie’s feet; it looked like she had light blue/green socks on! Obviously the grass she had walked on had been sprayed with herbicide that had colouring in it.  Little Smurfette! We all walked down to the Surf Club at Marcoola, which overlooks the beach, for a $10 lunch. We decided to walk back along the beach, which was just lovely. The water was quite pleasant, certainly warm enough for a swim if you didn't mind the slight chill. 

Katrina, Mark, Lil & Chris at Marcoola Surf Club

Walking back from the Surf Club to Mt Coolum

Hi Everyone!

The Boardwalk from the beach. Mt Coolum in the distance.

On Wednesday we did our washing before going into Maroochydore to grab some groceries before heading off to Inskip Point the next day. Our little washing machine is amazing; it does a fabulous wash and has already saved us quite a few dollars. The machines here at the caravan park are $5 per load!!! The shopping centre at Maroochydore is lovely, perched over the river and has all the shops you need. Coles was a bit of a minefield as it is a huge store, not quite what I’m used to back home at the smaller complex where I usually shop. Mark was amazed at all the seafood on display, huge fish (much bigger than the baby he caught, and I imagine that when he does catch a ‘biggie’ he will crap himself!) After that, we went over to Aldi, then went back to the van and did some packing up ready for tomorrow. As there is no water at Inskip itself, Mark filled both van water tanks and our drums and packed the car. We are really looking forward to setting up camp, rather than being in a caravan park; it just isn’t the same! Everything in our van runs off the battery, which is fantastic, as it means we don’t have to rely on 240 volt. The only electrical things we can’t run are the microwave, air conditioner and kettle but the Generator will take care of that if the need arises.  As we have normally camped in the past without power, and are totally self-sufficient, Mark has added a Solar Panel to the roof of the van, along with the portable one we use. This way he will rest comfortably knowing the battery is being topped up, and as boys will be boys, and they all love their toys, it gives him something to play with! With our prior camping trips, many times throughout the day he checks how many amps are being put into the battery, informs me of this (just the same as informing me of the price of Diesel!) and does the same with the Waeco fridge in the back of the car. He also added 12 volt points inside and out of the van so that we can have easy access to charging items. He has even put a light at the back of the van so that I don’t have to fumble with a torch when using the toilet, and put a light switch beside my bed! He has replaced all the lights with LED globes to conserve battery power too, as normal ones use way too much. 2 Inverters will also mean we can use certain electrical items, like the Laptop and kitchen appliances up to 1000 wattage. Real camping here we come!!

On Thursday morning we set off around 10am and made our way to Inskip, about a 1 & ½ hour drive north. Inskip Peninsula is a narrow sandy finger of land which has been built up by the wind and waves, and forms a natural breakwater at the entrance to Tin Can Bay Inlet and the Great Sandy Strait. Cooloola Recreation Area totals 61,750 hectares and has a fascinating sand mass which has been built up over the past 500,000 years. Cooloola itself lies between the coastal towns of Noosa Heads and Rainbow Beach. To the north of Cooloola is the Inskip Peninsula Recreation Area, which was declared in 1996, and has enabled Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to manage the increasing recreational use. It is a fragile area and the waters are rich in sea life; dolphins, dugong and marine turtles make their home here.  Inskip is extremely popular for camping and fishing and 4W driving along the beach. It is also the gateway to access the Fraser Island World Heritage Area by barge.

The drive up was easy and we stopped at Gympie at Lake Alford, a very pretty park with a huge lake filled with fountains, so many ducks, swans, herons and other assorted birdlife and we saw a couple of swans taking their 5 gorgeous babies for a swim. We stopped at Rainbow Beach to purchase our camping Permit and paid $76 per week. A very good deal! We plan on staying 2 weeks if not more.  Rainbow Beach is 10 kms from the 5 camping areas, 4 of which are named after Cooloola’s shipping history.

 As there are no water or dump point at the campsites, there is a free water filling facility and toilet dump point at Rainbow Beach. The camping areas have Hybrid Toilets which are composting, therefore so much better for the environment. And of course there is no dumping of portaloo waste into these, as any chemicals people may use will upset the balance of decomposition. Sounds totally gross, however we all need to ‘go’ and therefore also do the right thing. 

We are here!!! And WOW! This place is absolutely, amazingly beautiful! We drove through a few areas to see where we might like to camp and I said to Mark “I really want to have an ocean view!” Well, we were very lucky; as we drove through the last camping area, M.V. Sarawak, we found a gorgeous spot that overlooks the beach and Fraser Island. The guy next to us said it had been vacated that morning. How lucky was that!? We simply CANNOT believe what we are looking at! Talk about million dollar views! The waterfront is about 20 -30 metres front our van, depending on the tide. 

Looking out to Fraser Island

Prime Real Estate!

On the second day I awoke early at 5.45am and took Millie for a walk along the beach. There were a lot of other campers out walking also, plus more when I returned. Everyone was up waiting for the sunrise. I excitedly ran back to grab the camera and wake Mark up. And it was absolutely worth getting up so early, it was just spectacular watching the bright pink and orange glow come up over the horizon, and then the sun itself made an appearance. It’s amazing how fast it rises and the sunset is just as beautiful. 

Sunrise at 6.30am

Mark out with his Kayak

Mark has put up our solar fairy lights and they look lovely at night. A man camping near us said he thought it must have been Xmas in July and really likes them!