Ok those that have been....whats worth seeing and where are the best offroad places to go....
Anyone got any pics or ideas..
Thanks Graham

well at this time of year it is great to sit on the headland and watch the whales, great beaches to swim and surf around point lookout. fishing along the beaches and you can drive along flinders and main beach down to the bottom end. A few fresh water lakes you can swim in but have to walk to blue lake now as they have closed the road in. snorkelling around the headland is great. Hope this helps.

Cool, I'm heading over on the 22nd July for the weekend.
So how long are the whales around?

Hope you post some pics of your trip on here.

It would be good if we had something like that over here in WA.

here you go. large scale.. but, it'll get you started.

set your new GPS fandangled thing to UTM and WSG 84 datum and then go for it..

its an island after all. follow a track to the east coast, follow a track to the west coast, see what you find. do not accept $200 for passing closed gates or ignoring closed track signs.... otherwise, have a beer...

there'd be better maps avail (free) on the net somewhere.. just a matter of finding them.....

The whales are around until late september early October.
There is a track on the right hand side of the main east west road just where the Amity turn off is and this takes you up to a great lookout but it also used to go down the middle of the island. last i heard it was closed but you may be able to drive around the blockage and have some fun. best to go with someone else as you may need a tow to get up some hills.
Head down to the key holes and ou can drive down that road all the way to the causeway then back up the beach.
Also and not many people know about this there is a cave under the headland. at low tide you can rock hope from Frenchmans beach to the cave. or come down the rocks from near the kiosk.

love the straddie..
sweet sets rolling around deadmans beach n cyclinders..
c'mon summer..
ive had enuff winter surfin at anglesea in vic recently.. brrr

Stradie is good we had a blast but if we got fined for every time we when past the blocked tracks over rocks and stuff i would be very poor but it had to be done i think there is some photos on here some where of that trip

Thanks for the Map Helterskelter400, I'm picking up my GPS on Friday so I'll have a play with it before we head over.
I'll be the only vehicle in my group....(big group huh) so I'll have to take it easy....although I've never had the Kombi stuck in the sand where I couldnt drive it out.

11cab has u2u.

I have photos but would prefer not to post...............have been informed that where MUD BASHING and some of us had lots of fun is actually worth an on the spot fine of a very large amount.............we were on Mining land!!!

So be careful.

K

Marc, can you email them to me....I wont post them
vwnuts@bigpond.com
Thanks Graham

Put them up if you want i don't care and those people in charge of stradie should be shot they close off all tracks and then they go and dig 2km wide holes and about 300m deep for minning all over the place no wonder they close of the tracks they don't want people seeing what there doing to the island but just for the record i have not seen these with my own eyes as i would not go past, around or over any gate open or shut or around, over or through any blocked entrances to tracks and no bush bashing my way on to a track just cause it looks hard to get to the top its just not me

Yeah let post some photos. I'd love to see the parts of straddie that are now blocked off.

You used to be able to drive all over the damn thing.

you will find that is is not the mining company that has closed most of the tracks. it is a local group called FOSI. Freinds of stradbroke island. they are closing everything stopped 4wd going into blie lake stopped boats on brown and the key holes, closed the inland and surrronding trackes. they are a real pain in the but.. then to top it i believe they helped to get Flat rock closed to fishing to help protect the grey nurse shark but they didn't stop the scuba divers who go and swim inamongst the sharks while the sharks are trying to breed. Go figgure.

Another spot worth trying to find is the old fishermans village down along main beach.Up behind the dunes near where the tree line comes close to the dunes. I could tell you the appro kms from the causeway but half the fun is in the finding and discovering the tracks behind the dunes.
Whatch out for an old guy in a white mitsubishi trition ute. thats my dad as he hates watching tourist getting stuck on the beach and asking for help when they are in bbrand new cars tyre pressure rock hard and still in 2wd. mind you he always laughs at the site of a vw on the beach tried to get him a manx once but his reply was he was not cool enough for that

What bunch of wankers the tracks are still there and always will be so whats wrong with letting people drive on them grrrrr. There is a guy that works at the servo just off the barge and i was talking to him and askied him about the tracks and he said they still go everywhere and if theres a gate just tie a rope around it and snap it in half he said it would save him from doing later that day funny guy there wasn't any gate snaping buy us that day but, you can see were he likes to go theres weld marks around most gates on the island

Whether track closures are right or wrong, damaging property IS wrong, and will only give them more reason to block the area off to traffic.

Had a great time over on Straddie, but unfortunately broke reverse gear about two hours after we got there up on the Tripod Lookout turning around in the soft sand. So then had to spend the rest of the weekend without reverse.......oh well now I have something to do before the Kombi Club cruise next weekend.....



Check out the pics at
http://www.netspot4u.com/~manxclub/gallery/album245 

great pix man.

hows that annex work, it looks good
& what pound in the tyres do you use for:
- sand tracks (xtrail/rav 4 standard)
-deep sand (hilux/cruiser/patrol type ruts)

has it been stopped in sand and what stopped it. the deepness of the ruts or the powderyness of the sand??

The annex was bought from "The Warehouse" which is one of those $2 shops. It is meant for a house, but is the perfect size for a kombi. It is self supporting which is great for just pulling up and having the awning out in seconds.


Generally, when we go camping up the beach at Rainbow I run 10-12psi in the rear tyres, but when I broke reverse on the weekend I was still running about 35psi which I guess is my own fault, but up until it broke I hadnt even looked like getting stuck.

As far as getting stuck, I've never had it stuck in the sand where it couldnt be pushed out. No problems with deep wheel ruts as I have more ground clearance than a lot of 4wds. The only time I've had to be pulled out was on the Manx Club night nav when I got bogged in a mud hole, and was snatched out by a manx buggy would you believe......
The kombi is not a replacement of a 4wd, but it gets us wherever we want to go, and has surpirised a lot of 4wd's in the process.

GO THE DOG!!!!!