Should I take the old hilux and camper to fraser?

Dont Worry... be happy...as long as the Hilux goes it will get you
there, either way. Reduce tyre pressure, travel on the low tide.
Relax & enjoy...its no big deal driving on Fraser if you use common
sense...& put the hubs in...:)))).....oldbaz.

Have a great time
Into central is very rough some times like most tracks in the centre of the Island ,Camp on the beach camp sites with the Camper & travel the Island, Drop your Tyre pressure to 18 Psi even lower & go via Rainbow Beach Inskip Point Travel on the beach @ Low Tide it is like a Hwy.But be aware of wash outs across the beach they can be very deep & hit them at Speed you can say goodbye to your front end Springs & all. My old Nissan has been on the Island so many Times I have Lost Count.my Truck is 3.75 Tonnes & I have no problems.
As I live on the Sunshine Coast,Inskip is a good area to camp to wait for the low tide as the barges leave from the Point ,
Regards

CLC50

The Inskip Point option is the best. The track from the Hervey Bay barge is the inland track and when we there about twelve months ago it was in really bad chewed up and we had difficulties towing the camper trailer in the boggy sand.

Inskip or the bay ? More a question of where you are coming from ,north or south ? If from the south inskip is the go ,, tyre pressure on all 6 wheels is the most important factor , just before you hit the sand, dropem down to 18/20 psi and see how you go , if needed you can always go a bit lower to 12 psi or so but its best to start a little high to give you the option ,,, would recomend that you carry a snatch strap as the bare minimum just incase you do become stuck , lots will pull you out using your gear ,, long handle shovel never goes astray on Fraser either ,, Driving on the sand at Fraser = magic.

if you time your trip so that you hit fraser island an hour before lowtide then you should have no problems. let your tyres down to 18 psi or even 16 psi if you have doubts, you can always pump them back up to 18 or 20psi (assuming you have a 12V pump) once your on the harder sand after getting off of the barge on the other side. an hour before lowtide should see you being able to drive up the beach in 2wd, i do this towing a caravan up the beach there all the time.
the only soft sand you should encounter will be getting onto the barge and off the beach to Eurong, low tyre pressure and abit of right foot will see you through. you may also get some soft patches just after leaving the bitumin at Eurong (remember to disengage 4wd when get on the bitumin here), but the hills are boarded so shouldn't be a big problem unless super soft, low tyre pressure will be the key once again.
only sand tracks on fraser (exception is hook point inland track which is a corrogated road base like track). if you can afford a set of Maxtrax, i'd highly recommend them.

Unless you've got a very good reason to camp at Central, I'd give it a miss and camp on the beach. Do Central as a day trip. Too many mossies and backpacker groups for my liking.

The Hilux will be fine on any of the tracks. As others have said, the secret is tyre pressures. 20psi is a good start, and be prepared to go lower if needed. Take a compressor....

hi Scott,
we spent 3 weeks on fraser in october in a 18 ft pop top.Used the manta ray barge from inskip point. I let all tyres down to 16 psi in the parking area beforethe beach.It was 2hrs before low tide when we got to Fraser. It was a bit soft getting around hook point but had no trouible.
As far as central Station goes, I agree with the others about it being crowded,mossies and backpackers. Give it a miss because the tracks are rough and when you want to go places you end up like a milk shake.
Best place to camp in MHO would be on the beach just north of cathedral shops.
cheers,
Geoff

Everyone - thankyou so much for your replies. This has given me the confidence to give it a go - thankyou for the great suggestions.

The main reason we wanted to go to Central is that we have a 5 yr old and as having not been to fraser before wanted a fenced location becuase of dingoes. Do you guys think this is wise? Are there any other fenced locations that might be better?

I am off today to go and get an air compressor and guage! I have a lend of recovery kit.

Thanks again.

Re: Dingos on Fraser

do this strange thing called supervising your child and you won't have a problem. this year we had in our group of campers on fraser, oldest kid was 5 years old X 2 of, 4 year old X 1 of, 2 yr olds X 2 of, 1 yr old X 1 of and our youngest child who was 9 months old aswell as friends with a 6 month old baby. we always camp on the beach up around cathedral shops somewhere.
we've all been taking our kids there since they were all babies and never had a problem with dingos. if your really that concerned then maybe look at camping at Dundaburra instead which is fully fenced just like central station is, also has toilets and showers. entry to this campsite can get soft in places, but once again 16 - 18 psi in your tyres will see you through no worries.

We are heading to Fraser tomorrow - I will let you know how we go!

We are back! We stayed for 7 nights. Brilliant time!

We ended up camping on the beach at Poyungan camping area near Rainbow Gorge.

Thanks for all your help - it really steered our trip in the right direction. We got stuck once - at inskip right before the barge !! But we got out ourselves and didnt have any more problems. Probably becasue I just wasnt used to driving in sand.

Couple of things,
We didnt have anyone in sight - except one night a troupe of backpackers pulled up and decided to camp right beside us !! we just politly said we are not interested in noise and there are heaps of secluded camp sites up the track - ha so they moved on and never saw them again!

re Dingoes - saw a tamish one in the carpark at Lake Makenzie and one on the beach at night with a tourch and one early morning hanging around our site.

We where goign to go to hervey bay barge on way home but i was not confident taking the trailer through inland. The first 3 klms from Eurong where very rough and soft!! So I decided to leave the trailer for the beach!

We stopped in at Central station and talked to some campers. It was very nice and hardly anyone there - the campers said it was very quite the whole trip - so i probably wouldnt mind staying there in the off peak if you like rainforest camping.

Yep backpackers everywhere.. but I suppose it keeps the shops going.

All in all - an amazing place - we will be going back!! Thanks to everyone for your ideas.

Here are a few photos.
View from our campsite


Kids at Lake Mackenzie


Campsite