Fraser Island, Worlds Largest sand island.
For those who do not know, Sections of the Great Walk has been closed for the past year and a half due to water inundation from the heavy rains we have had a year and a half ago. To this day a year and a half later those sections of the Great Walk are still closed. Why? I have no idea. Parks & Wildlife Service are a bit slow with the track rebuilding.
Yesterday I returned from a 7 day hike followed by 2 relaxing nights at the Kingfisher Bay Resort on the western side of the island.
I chosen to use the services of Fraser Island Taxi Service, as the starting point and finishing points for this Great Walk is not very accessible from the main land of Australia on the easter coast. The sections closed due to water inundation I chosen to hike on the 4wd tracks. In total I walked 83km's (51.6 Miles) over the 7 days, 6 nights.
I carried all my supplies in my Gossamer Gear Mariposa 2012 Backpack, a brand new pack for myself and a new pack design, only released a matter of weeks before my trip. I can report that this pack is the most comfortable pack I've ever worn. I thought the Aarn packs where great till I tried this pack. The pack only weighs 750grams (26 ounces). I've had a lot of new gear with me on this trip, a new Esbit cooking kit at only 120 grams (4.2 ounces), and my GoPro Adventure Camera.
Day one was a nice warm day, Warmer than expected. Total distance covered was 6.6km
Day two a long day as the camp grounds where closed in the southern section of the great walk, so I chosen to hike to Central Station.
Woke up to find the temp was only 2C (35.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Much colder than expected, but my Hammock Gear 20F Burrow Top Quilt and Warbonnet Blackbird 25F Yeti under quilt kept me very warm inside my Hammock Gear Blackbird Hammock and Warbonnet Superfly. The superfly is soon to be replaced for a Hammock Gear 4-Season Cuben Tarp, this new tarp setup will save a further 400 grams of my pack weight.
Day three, a short stretch from Central to Lake McKenzie. At Lake McKenzie I tested out my Camera underwater. Most of the footage taken with my GoPro Camera was in HD video, in the following images I've captured a screen shot of Video Footages.
Day four, a very nice stretch from Lake McKenzie to Lake Wabby.
Day five, Lake Wabby to Valley of the Giants, and this is when the heaven opened for the first time, I could hear dingoes howling in the near distance.
Day six, was a day I battles with leeches, 13 leech bites on my feet by the end of the day.
Day seven, into Happy Valley, waited for taxi ride to Resort and relaxed for 2 nights at the resort.
I will be posting a video report in the near distance future, I have a lot of footage to go through.
A fellow Hammock forum member joined me on this 7 day trek. More to come in video report.
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