Bribie Island

Think sand driving in the region around Brisbane and you think of Fraser Island, or perhaps Moreton Island. There you can have some great sand driving, camping, see wildlife both in and out of the water and generally enjoy life - but to do that you need to get there, and that can be a problem in the peak season. Booking ahead helps, and being somewhat disorganised we'd left it a little late this time.

So we scanned around for alternatives, and found Bribie Island, a mere 70km north of Brisbane. Apparently it had 4WD tracks, so with no further encouragement needed, off we went. There are two tracks; a free-access, shortish one on the western side of the island starting from Mission Beach, and a longer one on the eastern side of the island for which a permit is needed.

There's no problem with booking ferries to Bribie, you just drive across the Bribie Bridge and you're onto the 34-km long island. Don't let your tyres down just yet, because the island has plenty of bitumen roads and is home to some 15,000 people who inhabit the southernmost 20% or so. The rest is largely a national park, home to 350 species of birds, and beaches.

Sorting out permission for the longer track was the first task (see sidebar). The regulations say they need to see your "registration papers", but we got away with just having a current registration sticker on the windscreen. Best to play safe with the papers though. Fill out the usual forms promising to be good and you're away.

With permit on windscreen, we headed north to carpark at the start of the beach access track and let the tyres down. The local blurb said that wasn't always necessary, but the Pajero was heavily loaded and why make more work for the engine that necessary with street pressures on a soft surface? The tyres went down to 17 psi all around.

The access track is sandy, a little rutted and bumpy but very easy going. At least, we thought so until we saw a Suzuki Samauri being recovered. We took a look at his hubs and noticed they were locked, so I'm not sure how they managed to get it stuck on that track. Even some softroaders managed it without incident.

After about 2km the access track meanders onto the beach, where we had to wait as the beach was closed to till 1.30. That's because no vehicle must drive within 5m of the sand dunes just above the high tide mark and we needed to wait for the tide to give us enough room to comply. There's a lot worse places to kill half a hour. We had a chat with some of the 4WDers waiting with us. No other Victorians, just locals (two hours away is local relative to Melbourne!). If you intend to camp further up the beach, this is where you'll find the self-registration camping booth.

Eventually 1.30pm came around, and we waited a little longer while the impatient hared off, then we followed at a more leisurely pace. The combination of some early rain, an overcast day and the receding tide meant the sand was hard packed and a very easy drive. We didn't see any washouts of the kind common on Fraser, or find any particularly soft sand although one of the locals told me boggings were not uncommon. There's enough traffic on the beach not to be too concerned about lack of help, but you'd want sand driving recovery kit to be on the safe side (see sidebar).

The eastern beach can be fairly rough and windy, but there are a number of lagoons in the first 10km or so of the track. These are just inland and above the high water mark, handy for a safe swim, BBQ or a picnic. Bribie's southern and western beaches are less exposed, calmer and in some places patrolled.

We cruised up the beach for 22km, to within 6km of Caloundra, where we found a sign forbidding further progress due to the beach being eroded by 3.7m a year. We also found some landyachters waiting for the wind to change before they could continue having fun.

Also towards the northern end are the fifty-odd campsites, spread along a 3km stretch of the beach designated by signs. These sites require permits (see sidebar), are fully accessible by vehicles and well protected from the wind by trees. There aren't any facilities, so remember that shovel and bring your own firewood. There are a few tracks that loop around the sites and come back to the beach, and a 1.5km walking track. A little further north of the camping area is a WWII fort, a reminder of the time when Bribie Island was set up to defend Brisbane.

On the way back we saw an emu strolling along the beach, completely unconcerned by the presence of our vehicle. Unlike its cousins in the outback. We eventually idled by the big bird, and that was it as far as the wildlife count went. Maybe the other 349 other species of bird life in the decided it wasn't a good day to fly (or stroll).

The hardest part of the drive is the exit from the beach onto the access track, but it's only hard if you don't stay in the ruts or haven't let your tyres down. Of about fifteen vehicles we saw attempt it about four had to have a second go; and an X-Trail with four people plus camping gear wasn't one of them, but a lightly-loaded Cherokee was! Low pressures, you have to love them in sand. Tip - if you don't make it, reverse back down along the beach, parallel to the ocean, as opposed to straight back down the beach into the waves. Or if you're going to do that, get an audience.

In summary, Bribie Island isn't ever going to compete with Fraser Island for sand-driving fun or scenery, but for a $20 24-hour permit it's an easy four-wheel drive with plenty of spots for a fairly isolated family picnic. When you're all done there's many more attractions on the island to explore such as golf, scuba diving, bike hire, tennis, surfing, bowling, fishing, birdwatching, bushwalking or boat hire. And best of all, you've got a pretty good chance of just turning up and getting going!

References

http://www.bribie.com.au/

Bribie Island Tourist Information Centre
Benabrow Ave
Bribie Island
QLD 4507
07 3408 9026

Permits

4WD Beach Access
Bonagree Caravan Park 07 3408 1054 Welsby ParadeBongaree(cash only)
Caboolture Shire Council 07 5420 0100 2 Hasking StCaboolture(variety of payments)

You will need your vehicle registration papers and driver's license.

Costs
24 hours $ 22
Weekly $ 32

Annual permits are available, starting from 31/1. Annual permits bought at other times are sold on a pro-rata basis till the next 31/1.

4WD beach permits are not available from the Rangers.

Camping

Information: Bribie Island National Parks Office
White Patch Esplanade
07 3408 8451

Costs
$4 per person per night, or $16 for a family (2 adults and 3+ kids)
Self-register at the point at which the access track meets the beach, and attach the notice to your tent.

Waypoints

Carpark at start of access track (no further without permit) : 51J 5 19 669 / 70 07 166
Access track ends, beach run begins: 56J 5 18 790 / 70 08 728
Northermost limit of beach run: 56J 5 12 863 / 70 09 703

All waypoints are in UTM and use the WGS84 (GDA94) datum.

Sand Driving Tips and Kit

Kit

Tyre pressures gauge
Recovery points front and rear.
Snatch strap and winch extension strap for extra length
Airjack (bullbag), and a flat plate for a normal jack.
Spade/shovel. Or lots of kids.

Quick Driving Tips

Respect the local laws (25kmph, 5m from dunes)
Lower tyre pressures to 15-20 psi (you can reinflate at a servo. Keep the speed down even when back on bitumen)
Don't turn sharply
Don't let the engine bog in too high a gear. And too low a gear increases the chance of wheelspin.
Consider using headlights, and pass other vehicles as you would on public roads (keep left)
Minimal braking to stop, then reverse a metre or so before moving off to utilise the sand compacted by the tyres.