I have always enjoyed the road less travelled and chose to purchase a 2008 WH Grand Cherokee CRD 3.0 for my daily driver/weekend escape vehicle. While the wallet was open I was so impressed by Paul's write-up that I decided to see CRD STU for a set of his shocks, lift kit and his snorkle. Stu also recommended a guard to protect the power steering lines. The result is fantastic - a far better vehicle on the road (where it will spend most of its time) but with the extra clearance to allow me to go anywhere.
To try it out I last week went camping on the Bunya Mountains (and froze but luckily the rain and hail did not get into my tent) and after a few days each at Hervey Bay and Tin Can Bay ended up at Rainbow Beach.
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Bigger tyres to come. It was my intention to take the Inskip Point ferry across to Fraser Island but having spent enough time camping in the rain the weather forecast persuded me to leave that for another day.
I did drive the 13kms north to Inskip Point for a look though, and be warned that where the seal ends there is a narrow track and heed the "Warning, Soft Sand Ahead" sign. The beach itself is soft sand which needs plenty of go to keep moving but the 100 metres transition from road to beach is a trap for young players. As an old dirt biker used to "walking it first" I would recommend this to any first time visitor.
Most of these vehicles are bogged. The "exit" is towards the left of the pic.
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...and turn to the right for a look at the ferry. Two ferries operate a continuous service.
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While walking past one Patrol + camper bogged hub deep in the sand with he at the wheel telling his other half, with their kids in the back, to sit there and shut up, and why did you tell me to "go now" when you did. The angry dad was the second of two vehicles, camper trailer attached, to attack the narrow access track only to have the first vehicle bauk and almost bog, but manage to carry on and clear the track. This caused the second, with the now angry dad at the wheel, to have to take his foot off with the predictable result.
After a look around Rainbow Beach and a visit to the park office for a permit it was on to the beach and heading south towards Double Island Point, so called because Capt Cook first thought that he was looking at two islands.
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And then the clouds rolled in.
First a sand storm, followed by a looong thunderstorm. Followed by more rain.
I had difficulty finding the Leisha Track which cuts across behind Double Island Point. At the other end of the track was a traffic jam with half bogged vehicles waiting for others to move on.
From here you will have to forgive the lack of pics. I stopped a few times - the Teewah Beach camping zone was like a main road with vehicles travelling both ways, all with lights on in the gloom as the thunder and lightning continued. All along the beach vehicles and tents camped above the high tide line at the edge of the dunes. I crossed a hundred patches of water flowing into the sea. Most were rain water I think. In the end I decided that camping in the rain again was not on the agenda and continued south into the non camping area towards the end of the beach. I found the way out onto the road which was easy compared to earlier challenges and stopped off at the car wash. Across the road was a facility to pump up the tyres (I had dropped the pressures to 25psi) and a short drive on to the ferry to Tewantin near Noosa.
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The biggest challenge was getting onto and off of the Leisha Track to avoid Double Island Point. Otherwise it was reasonably easy going but as it was the weekend there were a surprisingly large number of vehicles and people on the beach.
The Jeep performed flawlessly and I would have probably been in big trouble without Stu's 2 1/2 inch lift kit. Certainly I used the sump guard on more than a few occasions.
Rainbow Beach QLD + CRD-STU lift
The Jeep
Trailhawk
