Bonz (Vic) replied:

Saw plenty of them there George, it will be fine. Some of the inland tracks may be interesting but just take your time and look out for the turnouts etc for the times that you have to get off the track to let someone else go past.

Have a great time, its a great place.

Swerv replied:

Gidday George

You have any problem getting your subi onto Frazer. Just take all the normal precautions and just be wary of all the people that do not observe the old fashion beach ettiquete. By that I mean people who don't indicate their intentions when travelling towards you and the people who park in the middle of the beach and cause others to deviate around them instead of pulling off as far to the left as practical.

Otherwise you should have a good time.

Merv.....

Dave from Fraser Coast 4WD Club replied:

I'm not going to be as positive I'm afraid...

Most of the time, you'll be fine, but if the centre hump is prominent you may have trouble on the inland tracks.

Approach angle may catch you out in a few places too, so be careful.

Ensure that you have recovery points front and rear.

On the beach, you'll have no trouble, at some of the cuttings you may have to make your own tracks (not a bad thing anyway), but around the island itself, you may find the centre hump, collecting your spoiler (and other things)

I've seen plenty of 'soft' 4bys getting around on the island, and the owners obviously having a ball, be aware of your limitations.

In case your wondering, in the last 18 months I have been to Fraser 22 times (not that I'm counting)

Sparkie replied:

Maaaaaate, Youll be fine. Fraser Island is not so bad you have to have a top of the food chain 4wd to go there. There are some soft sections but mostly the biggest problem is those damn 4WD tour buses running around. You will probably be better of in your Forester than a big 4wd you are not familiar with.

Sparkie(IE not Y) ;-)

Utemad replied:

I have seen the Suburu 4WD club at Double Island Point with caravans!!!

I think you will be fine so long as you drive within your and your vehicles limits. No different to any 4WD.

Last time I went to Fraser though it rained all week and on the inland tracks with the humps there where big water holes. Some where over the front tyres of the Rodeo. That was an awful lot of rain though. I remember one track that got washed out badly and going down a hill I came across a tree root across a track that had all the sand washed away after it. Had the Rodeo teetering on 2 diagonal wheels but that's not hard :-)

The only vehicle I saw stuck that trip was a rented Troopy full of backpackers. Inexperience I'd say.

You'll have a ball.

Utemad

time waster replied:

Fraser is a great place, you will have little trouble just lower tyres,watch tide times and soft sand on western beaches plus all the troopies full of crazy backpackers.

Have a good trip

GeorgeQLD replied:

Thanks Mate, all advice is appreciated. Look out for my report after the trip.

GeorgeQLD

Muddy 'doe (SA) replied:

George,

A top piece of advice I saw on here concerned recovery gear. Make sure that you have your recovery points set up correctly and also the correct strap/shackles. If/when you get stuck, get the strap connected and set up.

The point of the tip was that there are plenty of vehicles buzzing around on the island but you have a much better chance of scoring a quick and cheerful recovery if you are standing there with the strap in hand and ready to go than if you are standing there scratching your noggin and depending on a passerby to "rescue" you with their equipment.

Probably good etiquette at all times but is especially relevent in such a place as Fraser.

Have a great trip.

Steven

Member - Brian B (QLD) replied:

Hey George,

It's a great spot and you will have a blast. We go there regularly so here goes for me.

If you are going accross from Inskip Point make sure you pick your run to the barge as there is an expanse of sand to cross which at times is a bit soft and can be chewed up. We have snatched a lot of people here over the years. Once you get on the island you won't have any dramas with the beach and it is a great drive. Check the tides and you will be OK.

The inland tracks vary and can be chewed up a bit by large tour buses etc. Just keep a watchful eye on the height of the ridge in the centre of the road as you could risk a bit of damage if it got too extreme. The National Parks rangers can give you some good info on the state of the tracks when you are there as well.

I think your Forester does not have low range but you will be surprised where you can get to if you keep your engine revs up and lower your tyre pressures a bit.

When you are on the beach you will notice a couple of spots where light aircraft land so just be mindful of that. It isn't a drama but just something to be aware of.

We often cut in off the beach at Eurong and then drive through to Central Station and camp. This gives us easy access to the beautiful lakes suck as McKenzie and Birabeen. The new Central Station campground is excellent.

There are a number of Troopies moving around the island and these are commonly hired out to groups of backpackers.

All in all I am sure you will have a great time and there never seems to be a shortage of people on the island who will help out if required.

I don't know if you have one but a UHF radio is a great thing to have and is well monitored in the local area.

Have a good trip.

Cheers

Member - Brian B (QLD) replied:

Sparkie and George,

Sorry for the one reply guys but I made a boo boo while using my computer.

Sparkie, Rainbow Beach and Double Island Point are great areas and you would get around on the good variety of tracks and the beach in the area with no problems in your Jack.

As far as tracks go, some of the better ones are the Freshwater track which links from the beach through to the Rainbow Beach road and it is about 14klm in length. Another good drive is the Kings Bore track which also joins the Rainbow Beach road to the beach however the last section is one way only from the track to the beach.

If you were on Teewah Beach and you wanted to go to Rainbow Beach you can cross at the Leisha Track and head on to rainbow beach. You will pass a section of rock called Mudlo Rocks on this trip and you need to have a good look at these before attemting to cross. Sometimes after rough weather they can be exposed. Standard rules apply and always drive at the right stage of the tide. Last time we wre there the rocks were easy to get around.

That's a very brief account but you would find the area most enjoyable.

George you guys enjoy your trip.

Cheers

Member Colin - NSW Bungendore replied:

As has been said - Fraser Is is a Subaru 'Haven' ! The NSW Club have regular trips there. Subarus love sand - let the tyres down to low 20's PSI or lower.

My little bit of advise would be to remove the plastic trim from under the sump - if you encounter any 'high centres' this will get damaged or ripped off. Replace it with a 'modified' steel sump guard from an older Liberty or 'L' series etc.

We have just returned from a 2 week trip to the Calvert Ra (off the Canning Stock Route) in 4 Foresters- an XT auto, XS auto, X manual, 2000 and a '82 MY. Had no major problems - needed to take care on some sections that had high centres, but the sand dunes were no trouble at all.

Also if you intend doing any long trips with a heavy load (ie we carried 60L of fuel and 40 L of water up the CSR to Calvert Ra) you need to fit HD rear springs the XS relies on the self level to carry the weight and this system WILL fail if 'stressed'.

May I suggest you contact the Subaru Club in either NSW or Qld. They both run great trips.
QLD SUBARU
NSW SUBARU

Enjoy your trip

Andrew replied:

Hi George

Took our 98 forester around Fraser a couple of years back.
The local hire people said it would struggle however we declined the offer to hire a toyota and spent 5 enjoyable days on the east coast and up through the center.
We found that we didn't even need to lower the tyres much below 25psi. This seemed to be because the subie is so much lighter than "proper" 4x4's that we just didn't sink in to the sand as far as the bigger vehicles.

We also found that if cruisers or patrols had been through they graded the centre ridge with their axle housing so that we hardly ever touched down.

Where you weren't confined to the wheel ruts we seemed to float over the top fairly easily.

On the beach access points we drove around the bogged hire vehicles.

Keep your weight down seems to be important.

The self leveling suspension previously mentioned is worth a comment. For our heavily loaded trips we run heavy duty rear springs to keep the bum off the ground. However you must not use them with the self leveling suspension because the spring seats are not strong enough and they will fail.
I run a spare set of pedders rear struts with the heavy springs and save the self levelers for light duty and highway work.

regards

A

Jimbo replied:

George,

You're making a big mistake.

2-3 days is not long enough. Do whatever you can to make it longer. My only trip there was for 6 days and I left wanting more, much more. Not long after that trip I had to get rid of the GQ, and now some eight years later and I've got a 4by again, I can't wait to get back to the place.

Good luck with your projects,

Jim.

MrMagoo replied:

George,

Just go.

Magoo