Fraser Island Great Walk - Australia

**Phillipsart** · 07-09-2012, 23:36

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.

**Phillipsart** · 07-09-2012, 23:38

More images

**Phillipsart** · 07-09-2012, 23:41

More images from fraser Island

**Phillipsart** · 07-09-2012, 23:45

For those interested, I thought I might go through some of my gear I had taken with me.

My pack weight at day one including 3.1kg (6.83 pounds) of food for the week and 2 litres of water was 14kg (30.86 pounds).
By the end of my trip, my pack weight dropped down to 10kg (22 pounds).

Having the lighter pack weight made the hike so much easier, I was able to complete each day's hikes before lunch, allowing me plenty of time to explore the area around camp and relaxation before the next days hike.

**MedicineMan** · 07-10-2012, 00:06

ConSpeedy-beautiful photos and excellent trip report. I also enjoyed the pack breakdown. Interesting that almost 30% of your pack weight was gadgets and clothing.
Keep sharing your world with us please! Reminds, haven't seen anything from Brucie for a while ????
Should we send the authorities looking?

**Phillipsart** · 07-10-2012, 00:22

Resort Accommodation.

What a way to finnish a 7 day hike. With the most comfortable sleep in my Warbonnet Blackbird hammock and a 2 night stay in a classy Eco Resort.

**Phillipsart** · 07-10-2012, 00:24

Originally Posted by MedicineMan

ConSpeedy-beautiful photos and excellent trip report. I also enjoyed the pack breakdown. Interesting that almost 30% of your pack weight was gadgets and clothing.
Keep sharing your world with us please! Reminds, haven't seen anything from Brucie for a while ????
Should we send the authorities looking?

Thanks MedicineMan:
Don't worry Brucie is still lurking about, authorities not required thus far, I've heard from him as late as yesterday.

You know the ironic thing is that, those weights I posted above, is no way considered very light by your standards in the US.
Here in Australia, those weights posted above is considered extremely light. It's amazing how many hikers you encounter carrying in excess of 50 pounds over here in Australia.

I don't think Australia has yet to embrace the lightweight philosophy thus far. I blame this on importers to Australia, they tend to import heavy crap over here and sell for big money. I used to own a so called Ultra lightweight cooking kit that weighed over 2 pounds, it was advertised as ultralight over here.

**born2roam** · 07-10-2012, 00:39

Thanks for the report so far mate.

Looking forward to the vid.

Ultralight in Oz... you mean a swag that weighs less then 5 kg's (10 lbs) right!

Grtz Johan

**MedicineMan** · 07-10-2012, 01:36

SpeedyCon, on weight looks like you and Brucie are starting a revolution.
I used to be much heavier packing clothes--you've heard it said we pack for our fears
and getting cold was/is one of mine-but I've done better.
Tell Brucie he's missed!