Our Monthly Wanderer for December is Carlos Mendes.

Carlos is the recent winner of our Facebook cover photo comp where his Jeep is awash with creek suds as he carefully crosses a gorge. Since that photo was taken, his JK has undergone some changes, encouraging him and his family to venture places so ‘post card’ like, and where photos do no justice for what beauty meets the eye.
We asked Carlos some questions and got hold of some great pics.

What far away destination have you and your Jeep travelled to?
Our Jeep has taken us to many destinations in the last 5 years! We have gone as far done as Forster (NSW), Gloucester (NSW) and up to Bundaberg (QLD). Recently we camped at Freshwater Camping Ground in the Cooloola Recreation Area, Great Sandy National Park.

What route did you take?
We took the Bruce Highway to Noosa – Tewantin and then caught the barge onto the beach where we drove on the beach for about 50 kms to Freshwater Camping. The other route we did was the beach drive to Rainbow Beach – about 10 kms north of Freshwater. When the tide is high, we were also able to take the inland route from Freshwater to Rainbow Beach – this route is filled with amazing forest trees and lots of shade – very scenic!

Did you get lost at all – if so, were there any new discoveries?
We didn’t get lost on this trip, but did take a drive off road to Rainbow Beach – that was amazing driving alongside the sand cliffs with different tones of oranges – it was truly breathtaking. It’s wonderful to see the contrast colours of the sand, rocks, trees and blue sky while driving on the beach – such amazing freedom!

The last time we came up to this spot in January 2016 we did got lost and after travelling on gravel and beach road for an hour we discovered a place called Harry’s Hut on the Noose River – this place was truly special and peaceful – making it a perfect spot for a picnic.