Inskip Point

August 27-28, 2005

With the weather forecast saying strong winds and coastal showers it was not the best conditions for a weekend for a beach trip. Still everything was still all go, I set off in the Brumby for the barge at Tewantin. At about the Pine River Bridge I got a call from Greg Bryant travelling in his Navara towing the camping trailer with young Alex, Kathy’s sister Cherie and boy friend Paul on board, saying they were back a bit at Nudgee. Then at about 7.45 am when I was near Caboolture [Greg] Curlie rang to say he had already arrived at the barge - he was a bit early.

I stopped for a quick top up of fuel at Tewantin, before arriving at the barge just before 9 am. Greg was not far behind. Curlie was there in his lifted L 89 wagon, as was Joan O’Shea and Kelly from the Sunshine Coast in her 02 Forester X, and Will and Lisa Spelta and their son Daniel and young baby in their L88 wagon with 14’’ wheels. We also had to meet new Hervey Bay member Darren Woods in his well set-up lifted Brumby in Rainbow Beach.  Curlie had all the good ideas and latest beach condition info, he said we all should pay our camping fees at the National Parks office nearby, which we all did except for Will who was only day tripping. Also the rocks at Rainbow were impassable even at low tide, so the Freshwater track was our planned route. We then let our tyres down and lined up for the barge.

We all made it on to the beach without a problem. The forecast was right, the wind was strong. The first part of the beach was narrow and soft but as we travelled north it became better. We made a quick stop at the coloured sand cliffs and soon made it to the Freshwater access track. I made it through ok; it was a bit soft in places. Joan was next in the Forester, but just before the last bit ran out puff without enough speed. So I backed back to do a tow, but in the process took it too easily and bellied out on the high centre. As I was digging myself out, a kind Hilux driver did Joan’s tow, and then he hooked up to me and did the same. The track was clear again and Curlie and Will had more pace and made it through, but Greg towing the trailer bogged down, a Pajero rescued him. Then we all stopped for a short break at the day use area, before setting off again on the Freshwater track, which was in good condition. We soon came upon an on coming NSW registered Impreza. We all wondered what his plan was because he did not have the clearance to get all the way to the beach.

Once in Rainbow Beach Darren soon found us, first he went and paid his camping fee, and then we all set off via the bitumen to Inskip Point to find a good camping spot out of the wind, which we soon found. We had a mixture of camps from Greg’s camper, Joan, Kelly and Darren were camping in their cars, Curlie and myself had tents. Darren’s Brumby had one of the classic tonneau covers that followed the roofline with a perspex rear window; it gives you a lot more headroom for sleeping. After having lunch we took it easy, waiting for the tide to go out so we could go for a drive down to the point. By the time we hit the beach the tide was still going out so it was still pretty soft. Parking at the point where the barges load for Fraser Island, Greg realised he was not in 4WD oops, you can get away with that in rear wheel drives for a while. Also just metres off the point there were a group of dolphins bobbing up and down. On the way back to camp we drove through some of the camp area tracks; there are some great spots to be found.

By now it was late afternoon so Will set off for the drive home via the bitumen, while the rest of us settled in for the night. Greg was cooking stir-fry and had too much, so he kindly invited me to join them. The deal was I would do the wash up and Paul helped do the drying, a good deal I thought, it was delicious. During the night there was some light rain enough to wet things. Sunday dawned cool and overcast, the plan was we would first set off for Double Island Point while the tide was low, so we all packed up except for Greg, who left his camper set up. That plan did not work as the rocks at Rainbow were impassable, and to our surprise there was an abandoned early model Landcruiser Ute that had been caught there. The story that we were told was that on Saturday night, the driver had clutch problems and also the electrics got wet. It just shows you what can happen.

From here we split in two groups, Greg decided his crew would head back to camp and leisurely pack up and take the inland dirt track the Cooloola Way home. On the way they took the Harry’s Hut turn off for a quick look. The rest of us decided to take another inland track to Kings Bore, and if the tide was still right back on to the beach down to the barge. I over shot the first turn off, but once we were on the right track with the light rain, it was good going. We all had to keep an eye out as a group of trail bikes that was using the tracks weaved their way past us. At the top of the Kings Bore track, before the steep descent to the beach we all stopped and checked to make sure the tide was still out enough as it was now incoming to continue south. There was plenty of beach left so we set off, it was good going until the last soft bit before the bottom barge exit. We all made it off the beach without a problem and stopped at a parking area with a bit of protection from the wind for lunch. From here we pumped our tyres back up, caught the barge and headed our separate ways home. Even though the weather was not the best it still turned to be a great weekend.                 

Dave Martin SC180