Bribie Beach

Monday 11th March, the day that the next part of our big adventure begins!!!! After taking the girls to school we set to loading the car and trailer ready for our 4 and a half week road trip up the east coast of Australia. We had to wait before we could set off as we were heading for a campsite on Bribie Island which entailed driving along the beach and for that we had to wait for low tide. When we reached the car park before the drive along the sand we were pleased to see that there were plenty other people there about to do the same as us. Alan let down the tyres to the required pressure for driving along sand, and then spoke to a group of Ozzie men who were also about to set off. Having told them that this was our first attempt at driving on sand they very kindly offered to help us if necessary. Alan was brilliant at driving over the bumpy ground on the track leading to the beach and kept momentum going so that we didn't ground - until we hit the main beach!!! Then we ground to a halt stuck in the sand. Thankfully the group Alan had chatted to arrived soon after and set to in towing us out of the ruts. The 16kms along the beach was fairly easy driving as the sand was hard, but was not helped by the thunderstorm that accompanied us. Terrific flashes of lightning right overhead and torrential rain. Thankfully it all petered out by the time we reached our camping pitch, which we had booked and paid for in advance. Our faces fell when we saw the approach to the pitch, up a slight incline with no clearly defined track. We noticed the experienced group who had helped us having real difficulty reaching their pitch, which did not fill us with confidence. Alan tried several times and did a really good job, but it soon became apparent that we were not going to reach the pitch. Apparently the recent cyclone had redistributed sand, making it much harder to reach the bush at the top of the beach. We decided to cut our losses and head for a campsite. The drive back along the beach was great with kangaroos hopping about in the bush. On the ride along the track back to the car park we became well and truly stuck in the sand. We didn't have to wait long before someone arrived and offered to help us out. People here are all so friendly and willing to help and share their experience. We were towed back to the car park, from where we headed to the nearest garage to inflate the tyres again. By now it was late afternoon, and we were beginning to worry that we wouldn't get the tent up before dark!!!! The first campsite we went to did not have a big enough space for our trailer, so we ended up at the Big 4 site on the other side of the bridge to Bribie Island. We managed to put up the first part of the trailer before darkness fell, but decided to leave the rest until the next day. We cooked on our new stove using our camping lanterns to light the area, and enjoyed several cool beers and a glass of wine, beautifully chilled!!!! Not a great start to our camping adventure- but it will get better!!!!
The camp site we were on was fabulous - part of a hotel group and the swimming pool area superb. We decided to stay an additional two nights to make the most of it and to set up more of the tent.
We had two more stinking hot days - on the first one after our exertions with the tent we spent the afternoon lazing by the pool reading our books with an occasional swim. On the second we returned to Bribie beach in the morning to enjoy the peaceful beach and try our hand at fishing. Great fun but no catch. The afternoon was a repeat of the day beforeRead more