As I just said Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and located off the east coast of Australia. It is World Heritage listed and has rainforests, mineral streams and over two hundred freshwater lakes. We had three great days there which I have written about below, I feel I should apologise as this entry is pretty long!!!
Day 1
We had a really early start and not even the sun was up so I knew it would be a long day but I was looking forward to it. We all congregated by the vans with our bags and were given a load of instructions about how to drive the 4x4s and what to do in various scenarios. We then got all our kit which we had to count and check that it was all in working order. We thought it was a bit of joke making you go through everything yourself but then we did have a deposit down so if they count wrong we would lose out. Annoyingly all the cutlery and plates etc were still covered in sand! Still, all the kit was present and correct, we received our meat pack from the butcher and packed the wagon as instructed by the guys running the show. It all fitted in no problem really and was pretty comfortable considering there were ten of us in the one vehicle!
So off we set to catch the ferry over to Fraser Island. When we arrived we were under instructions to lock out the differential on the front wheels so we would be ready to drive on the sand... only our 4x4 did not have the locking mechanism on the front wheels which the 4x4 in the demonstration had! We asked one of the ferry crew about it and they said we would be fine as it would be a self locking mechanism if we didn't have one so we stopped panicking!
It was a short trip over, about thirty minutes or so, for which I slept lying on the steel floor on the top deck of the ferry! There were quite a few other 4x4s on the ferry including two other teams of ten people from our hostel. We had been given an itinerary for the three days which included some of the best places to go. We were free to change our plans though if we liked someone a lot or vice versa.
Our first port of call was Central Station where we did a small walk around the forest there and saw a fresh water stream which was so clear and some kookaburra birds too. We got moving quickly though as we all wanted to get to the fresh water lakes as the weather was good and we fancied a dip.
The first lake we visited was Lake McKenzie which was so beautiful. The lake was a lot bigger than I expected, for some reason I was imagining small lagoon type lakes. The water was crystal clear and around the edge where it was shallow you could see perfectly down to the bed of the lake. The sand was really white and the lake was surrounded by rainforest on all sides. It looked like a scene out the book/film The Beach. We went for a swim straight away and it was weird swimming without the taste of salt. After fooling around with the Frisbee, Aussie rules ball and football I had brought with me we headed to the next lake.
Lake Birrabeen was much like Lake McKenzie only not as busy which was good. We did much the same as we had done at Lake McKenzie however I realised I had left he Frisbee, football, Aussie Rules football and flip flops at Lake McKenzie! It was too late and too far to go back so we moved on depressed that there would be no more games on our trip(or so we though...)!
Our final visit for the day and where we would set up to camp was Lake Boomanji or "The Tea Coloured Lake"! Not surprisingly it is tea coloured because of the tea tree leaves in the water! We did not go swimming here as there was quite a lot of vegetation around the edge and not really a beach to lie on. Instead we just paddled about looking at fish for a few minutes before getting back to set up camp and cook dinner as were all starving after the long day! The campsite had a fence surrounding it to keep out Dingoes which inhabit the island and come out looking for food at night! Team B were already at the camp site when we arrived and had began setting up for the evening. This was the start of a rivalry between us Team A and them Team B, although they did not really know it! We managed to set up our tents and cooking stove before them and were all joking about how much better we were than them!
The butcher had given us the wrong meat pack so we had some vegetarian food in our pack. We asked Team B if they had our pack but unfortunately not, it was Team C, who we had been informed had broken down and were not going to be at the campsite with us tonight! We had a big BBQ and ate all the steaks, sausages and burgers (including the vegetarian ones) leaving only 2kg of mince for spaghetti bolognese the next night. We used the headlights of the 4x4 when we were eating as we had been told the battery would be fine if we did this for a short period of time. Team B advised against it, then duly followed suit and turned their 4x4 headlights on half an hour later!
Afterwards we drank quite a lot of wine and beer and had a karaoke session on the table, drinking games and a really good night! I went to bed about midnight and we had to get up at half four as we had to get completely packed up and travel to Maheno beach on the east coast of Fraser Island by six am so we could drive all the way on the beach up to Indian Head avoiding high tide.
Day 2
We were all up before 5am and got the wagon packed up no problems. We had been advised not to drive in the dark but we stood no chance at all of being on the beach at 6am if we didn't... so we did. Team B said we shouldn't, then followed five minutes later! We had headlights on and it soon got clearer anyway. We were on the beach just after 6 and began the long drive up to Indians head.
We encountered a few washouts along the way, where water from inland runs to the sea and makes the sand collapse either side of it meaning we have to drive down and up some bumps in water. Most of them were tiny but not even the larger ones were a problem for the 4x4.s
All the beaches on the east coast have planes taking off and landing on them. We spotted a few along the way. I had the idea to leave Team B a message in the sand on the way up to Indians head so we stopped after about 30 minutes to write one. After a long discussion we settled on "TEAM B SUCKS" and wrote it in 6 foot letters across the beach. We were almost made to look very stupid as we couldn't get the 4x4 moving in time as they rapidly approached behind us. We just got moving in front of them and they drove around the message for some reason! On our way up we went past the Maheno wreck which was surrounded by mist, we visited it on our way back from Indian head.
We got to Indian head no problems and walked up to the cliffs. There were amazing views north and south of the long sandy beaches. We saw humpback whales in the distance which jumped and breached the sea! We also saw some sting rays and sea eagles. Tiger Sharks and dolphins can also be spotted from Indian head but we didn't see any dolphins and at this time of year the water was too cold for the Tiger sharks.
Next we headed back down the beach to the Maheno wreck. The Maheno was a passenger liner that was blown ashore by a cyclone in 1935 while being towed to a Japanese scrapyard. It was an amazing sight and looks like it is sinking into the sand. Just as we were about to leave someone spotted some more humpback whales. They were closer up this time (but sadly still too far for a good photo) and again they were fully breaching out of the sea. It was a truly awesome sight. After all the excitement we wandered back to the 4x4. Sam went to get in wrong jeep and I went to say it was next one along and then I spotted my football! The fact it is neon orange with flowers on helped! I then saw the plastic bag with the Aussie Rules ball and Frisbee in, so I asked some guys if it was there jeep and asked for all my stuff back! One guy had been wearing my flip flops! They were good about it and handed it all back, in return we gave them a pair of abandoned flip flops we found at Indian Head!
Our next stop was Eli Creek, a small stream of crystal-clear water which we strolled down before heading straight to Lake Wabby. We bypassed Rainbow Gorge which was a walk to see some coloured sands in favour of longer at Lake Wabby as the weather was so good!
We parked up and embarked on the walking trail to Lake Wabby. It turned out to be a near 3km trek which took a lot longer than we realised! Still, it was worth while as Lake Wabby was beautiful and will disappear in five years due to a massive sand dune (or sandblow as the Australian's say) which occupies one side of the lake and is encroaching on the lake at a rate of about 3m a year. The other three sides are eucalypt forest and full of birds. The water was green and the lake was full of catfish. I rolled down the dune into the lake only o feel pretty dizzy and sick! So afterwards I decided to run down and then into the lake. It was really steep and you got some serious pace up, Ric another lad on the trip, did the same but lost his footing two meters from the bottom and slid on his face down to the lake edge! It was pretty amusing after we realised he was ok! After all th excitement we just relaxed at the lake side chatting before starting the trek back to the 4x4.
We camped at Cornwell which was right by the beach. After a game of beach football we had dinner which the girls cooked thankfully! We all stuffed our faces and had a few drinks before getting a pretty early night as everyone was shattered from the long day. I star gazed on the beach for a short time but when I started to shut my eyes I realised I had to get to bed too!
Day 3
We had a bit of a lie in today and got up about seven and packed everything up before heading straight to Lake McKenzie. There we had breakfast and made sandwiches for when we returned to save getting everything out again from the awkward storage unit in the top of the 4x4. We played loads of Frisbee in the lake, swam about, sunbathed and enjoyed the marvelous weather. We have been so lucky with it, the sun just hasn't stopped shining! A guy on our trip, the aptly named Fraser, made sand sculptures at all the beaches we went too and his final final sand sculpture was of the 4x4! We took a group picture by it then departed for the ferry back to the mainland.
We all ate together in the evening and laughed about all the events of the trip. It was an amazing place and with great people it is definitely a highlight of my travels so far!
