With trepidation, I found the marker on the beach and crept inland behind the dunes. Wandering along the beach, our fears turned to the food cache - a ranger at Dundubara had virtually assured us that, despite the attention we took to packing etc, a dingo would be bound to dig it up and scatter its contents to the four winds. Eventually, we briefly revisited the swampy area, before heading back into the forest to emerge at Hook Point and the broad sandy beach on the southern tip of Fraser Island. The sun disappeared behind the clouds again and the chorus ceased almost immediately, and so it went for another several kilometres. Not long after entering the woodland, the sun broke through and with it a ullulating chorus of cicadas serenaded our passing. Here the path undulated and meandered across low sandy rises and depressions. Pushing on, the firetrail seemed to open up and, after another four kilometres, we abandoned our views across the sedge and banksia filled open swamplands for the drier eucalypt woodland. The camp site at Jabiru Swamp, set back amongst the grass trees and scrubby eucalypts provided a welcome opportunity for a rest. Old firetrail through acacia / banksia heath According to the manager at Dilli Village, we were the first walkers to pass this way in three months our impression was that in another 3 months sections of this track might soon become impassable. For several kilometres, we shared the track with the fresh footprints of a lone dingo in the wet sand, but then it went its way.įor the first 10 km, the firetrail stayed close to the edge of the swamp, passing through dense thickets of acacia, banksia, casuarina, paperbark and other shrubs at times the wet shrubs encroached almost completely across the trail, while bracken and small woody shrubs and trees were germinating en masse in its sandy trace. However, soon we were following an old, overgrown fire trail along the flat and swampy eastern verge of the dunes. It was with regret that we left the peaceful green oasis of Dilli Village, with its cool dark waterhole, the lilting call of the butcherbird and song thrush, and the opalescent flashes of the bee-eaters hawking for dragonflies.
Taking only water and food, we planned on a quick push through to the southern tip of the island. We decided to take advantage of the island taxi service and sent our packs down to the barge with him.
#TIDAL SURGE TORMENT PLUS#
However, it was to be a long transit day - 26km across the flat south-eastern corner of Fraser Island to the barge landing area at Hook Point, plus a bit more on the mainland. The air was cool and the sky overcast as we set out - it was 5.45 am, the earliest that we have ever started a walk.
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