All
Just before I left for Fraser someone posted wanting to know what the mobile phone coverage was like.
Well after being there for a week with several different phones in the group, here are my thought:
1. Southern part of the island (below
Eurong): GSM and CDMA reasonable. Large dead spots though.
2. Middle Part (
Eurong to
Indian Head): Really strange here. CDMA generally outperformed GSM (especially if you we lucky enough to have an in car kit and high gain aerial). At
our camp (~4km south of Happy Valley) it seemed to depend on how you stood, the weather, the proximity of the closest
dingo and numerous other indeterminate factors. Sometimes a GSM phone with no in car kit or anything had a signal, where CDMA did not (even with a car kit). Very strange!
3. Upper part (
Indian Head to
Sandy Cape). Generally forget it. Once rounded the cape one of the CDMA phones had a weak signal.
4. Inland: Very patchy, better closer to the western side.
Summary
In general you could get a signal if you drove around a bit on the eastern beach, provided you were not too far north. Would recommend taking a CDMA phone as the coverage is much more reliable and if you MUST keep in touch with the mainland, an in car kit is a good idea. But there is always the old fashioned public phones at the townships.
More important stuff - the FISHING!!
Was generally good - a lot of weed though which was brought in on the NW winds. Does anyone know where this comes from and if so can you ask them to keep it as it is a pain in the backside. Whiting were fairly plentiful (caught enough for 3 feeds for 6 people by fishing 1-2h/day).
Tailor were on the chew in a deep gutter just north of Cathedral Beach. At one stage I reckon they would have taken a ham sandwich if you could have cast it out there!
Sharks also feeding on baitfish in a shallow gutter in front of Happy Valley and one nutter wading waist deep casting
tailor skeletons with a big overhead reel and game rod. Lets just say one hook up, 5 minutes of fun, shark wins.
The island was not too busy, the prerequisite backpackers jammed into troopies. These people never learn. Saw one troopy with backpackers sitting on top of the luggage that was piled on the top of the truck driving down the beach at about 60k's - bloody stupid. Where are the
police when you need them!
All and all a good week away - but remember that you cannot
camp between Dilli Village to Poyungan Rocks. Asked the
Ranger and he said it was temporary because of some
dingo problems, but I get the feeling it will be permanently, temporarily closed. Shame because there are some great campsites just north of
Eurong.
Tim