Fraser Island - Valley of the Giants trip - Advice?

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

Hi Guys, We're heading up to Fraser for another short trip 20-23 Jan. We've been plenty of times before so have most of the popular areas covered. We'll hit some of them again of course because they are just that good but we want to have a crack at getting out to Valley of the Giants for a look this time as we've never made it there yet. I've got the Hema maps on the ipad that work pretty well so I'm not worried about the directions but I'm after some track condition advice if anyone has done the trek out there recently. What the tracks are like and also which track they took in.

I've been searching online as well as google searching pradopoint and very few people seem to go in there by car. It's mentioned a bit as a hiker's camp but very little about driving there. From my map it basically looks like you can come at it from the north (Poyungan Valley) and circle down to it, or you can come at it from the south (Cornwells Break road or duck across from lake mackenzie).

Any advice from people who have been there recently (or even not so recently) about which track to take and what they are like would be appreciated and if anyone is on the island and wants to join up either on the 21st or 22nd Jan and come along, you're more than welcome to.

Tiny

[Mattfunk 120 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mattfunk 120]

I'm heading up with the family from the 22nd till the 27th with the 4wd club. I'll look out for that ostrich passing by and sticker of course.
Cheers Matt

[jamieprado Member Find all posts View Profile Close jamieprado]

When i last visited Fraser, in 2007, in my 1st Prado we covered almost every track. Valley of the Giants was one of the places we went and were the only ones there. It's a beautiful spot and well worth the trip. I can't remember what track we used to get in but remember coming to a T - intersection and circling around it then coming back out. Bellots old hut rings a bell, not sure if it was near there or not.

Another thing, i vividly remember part of the track being very over grown, still a nice easy going track just very over grown from the sides, so recommend a good waxing before heading out.

Cheers,
Jamie

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Hey mr tiny,

Cornwells break is a bit chopped up & bumpy for some, but with the correct pressures it's a piece of cake.
That was in nov.

You know Fraser is all pretty easy if you know what your doing & in a Prado. Have fun

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

I'm heading up with the family from the 22nd till the 27th with the 4wd club. I'll look out for that ostrich passing by and sticker of course.
Cheers Matt

I'll keep an eye out for you Matt. I'm usually easy to spot as there aren't many light blue ones around with the orange maxtrax hanging off one side.

Another thing, i vividly remember part of the track being very over grown, still a nice easy going track just very over grown from the sides, so recommend a good waxing before heading out.

Thanks Jamie. Waxing's not really my thing. I've already got bush pinstriping up both sides. I put the first ones on the first trip out with the local pradopointers up here and my wife just said at least now she doesn't have to worry about trolley dings. I've added a few more since as well so a few more will just give it extra character. Thanks for the heads up though, I might at least drive it a bit slower.

Hey mr tiny,

Cornwells break is a bit chopped up & bumpy for some, but with the correct pressures it's a piece of cake.
That was in nov.

Thanks ####, I've done the first segment of Cornwells Break before and you're right, it was a bit choppy but easily doable. Last time though I turned off it towards lake mackenzie before it changed into Smith-Poyungan Road. Did you guys go any further along that one in Nov? Hema shows that bit of the road as a smaller dotted line which usually indicates a worse track. I'll check in with the locals when I get to the resort but that's probably the road I'll take. Seems like not many actually go in there though so I'll try and get a mini trip report and maybe a few pics and videos to post up when I get back.

[BiLLz0r Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close BiLLz0r]

Any maps I have only show Valley of the Giants to be accessible by walking track.
Earlier this year we headed out from Lake Garawongera through Yidney Scrub and some of the tracks on the western side were very over grown. We gathered dozens of extra pin strips that day. It just got narrower and narrower. Luckily the bull bar and snorkel pushed a lot of back. Didn't look like anyone had been down that way for weeks.

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

Any maps I have only show Valley of the Giants to be accessible by walking track.
Earlier this year we headed out from Lake Garawongera through Yidney Scrub and some of the tracks on the western side were very over grown. We gathered dozens of extra pin strips that day. It just got narrower and narrower. Luckily the bull bar and snorkel pushed a lot of back. Didn't look like anyone had been down that way for weeks.

Valley of the giants is just south of that. The Hema map shows a couple of vehicle tracks to get in there as well as the walking track so hopefully it'll be ok but it probably will be overgrown a fair bit. The last section of vehicle track is in the smallest dots which the legend on the Hema maps says "Track is very rough, becoming overgrown or is difficult to follow". In contrast the Yidney Scrub road is marked in bigger dots. Oh well, I guess I'll find out and give it a try. I'm pretty sensible though so if it looks impassable, I'll turn back (especially with the family in the car). Just seems like it might be a nice place to look at and something different for the kids. I'll post up the results (success or failure) when I get back.

Tiny

[BiLLz0r Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close BiLLz0r]

Also note when we were at Lake Garawongera we were "rounded up" by a couple of dingos and they were very aggressive. They seem to be getting worse as they become more and more used to humans and the tourists think they're not dangerous.

[djnapkin Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close djnapkin]

I went in there March 2013.

At that point it was a rather overgrown track, mostly 1 vehicle wide max. Had to use the hema maps to find it. Don't see why it would be different now. If it would bother you if you got a few pin stripes, I would give it a miss. Plenty of sticks on the ground that will attach your undercarriage. Had to stop a couple of times with sticks lodged in the side steps.

You drive in a circuit (I think it is marked one way?) and it is quite an interesting drive. Beautiful timber forest with some big trees. About half way you should see the track to the hikers camp. I didn't bother to have a look at that. There's hardly anywhere to park without blocking the track.

Although it is nice, and I'm glad I went there, there are plenty of more interesting places to go on Fraser. I won't bother going there when I go back to Fraser.

Here is a screen shot from the hema map showing the route. You can see the loop leading to the 'Hikers Campsite'.



After the Valley of the Giants loop, I thought I would take a shortcut via that Smith Road at the bottom of the pic to get back to Beach. I came across a massive felled tree blocking the track. Someone had carved a track around it up a bit of a bank, and down a very steep bank on the other side (so once I went around the tree, I couldn't turn back). I went though and the track kept getting more and more overgrown. There was no turning back. I got heaps of pinstripes. A stick lodged in the heatshield above the exhause and ripped a pretty big chunk out of that. Lots of stopping for sticks lodged underneath. My friend lost a flare to a stick. When we finally got through it all, there was a Road Closed sign at the other end. NO wonder it was overgrown! How about a sign at the other end of the track too!!! So maybe be prepared for another route in/out.

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

Thanks djnapkin, that's pretty helpful. I was actually planning to go in Smith road where you reckon it was closed so maybe we'll tackle it from central station instead. Not fussed about the pinstriping, it'll just go with the others. I'm not expecting this to be a regular feature of our Fraser trips but since we've covered most of the main stuff a few times over, I just wanted something a bit different and a nice drive so sounds like this fits the bill nicely. I reckon we'll give it a go.


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[Tin175 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tin175]

I'm planning a trip for later this year. I was watching some youtube clips and came across this.

Its a Creek to Coast episode and they drive to the Valley of the Giants. They go to Central station first and then a Guide from the resort takes them through Pile Valley on the way to the Valley. They quote 18km from Central.

Not a lot of detail of which track they took but it was posted in Jun 2014 so pretty recent.

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

I'm planning a trip for later this year. I was watching some youtube clips and came across this.

Its a Creek to Coast episode and they drive to the Valley of the Giants. They go to Central station first and then a Guide from the resort takes them through Pile Valley on the way to the Valley. They quote 18km from Central.

Not a lot of detail of which track they took but it was posted in Jun 2014 so pretty recent.

Thanks, that makes it look pretty good really. And he drives a prado and doesn't have too many scratches up the side so we should be ok.

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

Went for a run in today. Went in cornwells break road and it was pretty good. Mind you, all the roads over here are good at the moment. Until you turn off to the loop run towards valley of the Giants, the road is fine. After that it gets pretty skinny and there's fallen branches and trees that have just been moved or cut off far enough to squeeze a car through. Not your typical national parks maintained track. Nothing spectacularly difficult though and although I think a lot of dirt got swept off the sides by the trees, nothing sounded serious enough to leave a permanent mark. I guess I'll find out if there's any new ones when I clean it.

There was a neat little log bridge on the way in that was nice for a photo shoot.



When we get to the marker though (M11 for those playing at home), we parked ready to walk in to the hikers camp and found this national parks sign



In case it doesn't come out, it basically says, no public access, too dangerous to enter. After a short debate, we sent my brother-in-law in with a hand held walkie to check it out and report back as we knew it was only about 500m in. After about 10 minutes, we heard nothing so grabbed the other hand held, some water and the first aid kit in case we were going on a rescue mission. Turns out he just kept walking when he got to the camp and got out of range over the next ridge. Nothing dangerous.

The camp is a hikers camp with a spider infested dunny, a few random wooden platforms with lockable steel toolboxes on them (presumably to keep the dingoes out) and a couple of big trees. Interesting but probably not worth the effort. What we were looking for though was the big stump. Apparently there is the stump of this massive tree in there somewhere that after they chopped it down became the focal point for logging protesters and was big enough to hold 30 of them or something. You'd think it would be easy to spot but we searched and couldn't see the thing anywhere. So, a little disappointed, we trudged back out wondering where it could be. No life threatening injuries by the way so not sure what the National Parks sign was about.

We drove on a bit more and then there was another marker M10, saying 3.7 k walk to satiny forest. I can only assume the big stump was down this track but given it was already 5:45pm by then, we decided to push on or we'd miss the sunset at kingfisher.

We toddled over to the western side, all the while watching the sun through the gaps to see if we were going to make it in time and it was looking more and more like we would. Finally pulled up at the jetty and walked out to find that the sun had gne behind the clouds and we weren't seeing any spectacular sunsets today. It probably would have been pretty special about 20 mins earlier as it went behind the clouds. Oh well, at least I had a good parmy at the sand bar.

Plus I got to use my new light bars on the night run back across the island (photos on my build thread). All in all, a pleasant drive with a few disappointments on the way (at least for those who don't get to sit behind the wheel). Probably won't have valley of the Giants high on my re-visit list though.





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