Fraser Island

On the way towards Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island is Bundaberg, a town known for it's Bundaberg rum and among backpackers for it's working hostels. We didn't go to Bundaberg to work, but we dropped by the distillery. We hoped that the distillery shop had a broad selection of the various non alcoholic drinks that they produce in addition to the liquor, but the shop turned out to be a big disappointment. We also arrived to late in the afternoon for a tour of the distillery. We ended up with a few photos from the outside and a bottle of apple cider.

South of Bundaberg just of the freeway was another large fruit, a huge pineapple. The large pineapple was hollow inside and a staircase went around the inside up to the top. On the inside was a mini museum about the pineapple industry in Australia which was located in the area where we were. At the top was a nice little lookout and you could see pineapple fields to the northeast. Of all the big fruits, animals and other weird things we have seen, the pineapple was the best.

Our next stop was Brisbane. Technically Brisbane is south of Fraser Island and a detour, but we drove the extra 100km south so we could watch the World Cup third place game and final. I was in Brisbane before during my second month in Australia so I am not going to go into details about the city now. What I can say is that I showed Annina around so she could see the city as well. Like I mentioned the main reason we were in Brisbane was because of the World Cup and we watched both games in the Brisbane casino. The casino has free entry, is open 24 hours and has lots of big screens so it was a easy choice. Germany secured the third place and Spain beat the Netherlands, but I am sure you all know that already. After the final was finished and we beat our car getting towed away by like 10 minutes, we drove straight to Rainbow Beach.

Rainbow Beach is a small village next to the south tip of Fraser Island. It is the main gateway to Fraser together with Harvey Bay. While waiting for our Fraser trip's information and safety briefing we walked down to the beach that the town is named after. The name Rainbow Beach comes from the color of the sand on the banks of the beach, from light yellow to dark red. The tour company that we were going with was called Dingo's and was also a hostel. They were very friendly and let us sleep in our car in their parking lot for free. We could also use all of their facilities.

The next morning we got up at 6:30 AM and got ready for Fraser Island. By 7:45 we were all waiting in the parking lot where our rental cars were already waiting. It was no surprise that we were driving Toyota Landcruisers, reputedly the best 4x4 car in Australia. After going through the normal procedures when renting a car and packing all the gear, we got in the cars (8 people in each) and headed for Fraser Island. The type of tour we had booked was a tag along tour which meant that we drove our own car, but had to follow a lead car. Since 7/8 people in our car could drive we had to take turns.

Fraser Island

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world at 1840 square kilometers and is among the many World Heritage listed places in Australia. There are over 100 freshwater lakes on Fraser and they are among the cleanest on the planet. The beach that runs along the east coast of Fraser Island is over 120km long. Fraser Island is famous for it's dingo population which is regarded as the purest in Australia due to the isolation from the mainland. Dogs are prohibited on the island to prevent cross-breeding. Dingo's are smart animals and they tried to steal our food several times while we were there. One was hiding under our car just waiting for us to turn our backs to the food.

To get to Fraser Island we had to take a barge (kind of boat) across. It wasn't very far and the whole trip took less than 15 minutes. While waiting for the barge we saw dolphins jumping in the waves. There are no real roads on Fraser Island, you drive on the beach most of the time. Driving on the beach is a bit harder than on normal roads, but is not overly complicated. The main things to remember is to stay close to the ocean where the sand is hardest and to look out for freshwater streams that flow across the sand from the forest edge. It is also important to remember that normal road rules apply.

The first thing we did was to drive to our campsite and set up our tents. Then we headed towards Lake McKenzie, the most famous freshwater lake on Fraser Island. The road to Lake McKenzie went inland through the rainforest and was not much more than a dirt track. The 11 kilometers to get there took over an hour to drive. Lake McKenzie was really beautiful, clear blue water in the middle of the rainforest with white sandy beaches around. In fact it was weird to see such a nice beach next to a freshwater lake, normally the beaches are next to the ocean? Me and Annina went for a short walk next to the lake and enjoyed the view. After Lake McKenzie we drove back to the campsite, made dinner and partied until late.

Our first stop the next morning was a place called Eli Creek. Here a freshwater spring cuts through the forest out to the ocean. A boardwalk is available next to the creek and you can follow that inwards a few hundred meters. Then you can wade back out to the ocean through the creek. The deepest the water gets is just over the knees and the bottom is covered with sand, making it a nice little walk. After Eli Creek we drove further north along the sand on the east coast of Fraser Island until we came to Indian Head. Here we climbed up and had an amazing view both north and south. Out in the ocean we could see dolphins surfing the waves and really far in the horizon a whale was jumping and blowing water.

Between Eli Creek and Indian Head is a shipwreck stuck on the beach called the Maheno wreck. Depending on the tide it is either half way underwater or all the way above. It must have been fairly low tide when we stopped because most of the wreck was above water. I am not sure how old it is, but it was very rusty. However, there was still a good portion of the boat left especially in the front where everyone stood to get a good photo. Since the whole thing was rusting away it was dangerous to go inside. Technically it was illegal to go closer than 3 meters, but nobody cared about that.

The last day we packed up our camp, put everything back into our now sand filled cars and headed for our last destination, Lake Wabby. To get there we had to walk a 2.4km track through the rainforest. In the end the woods opened up into a huge sandblow (the Hammerstone Sandblow) and at the one end was Lake Wabby. It was like a desert surrounded by forest. The bank down to the lake was really steep and the water was freezing. We could see fish swimming around and I also saw a turtle sticking it's head up to get some air. The whole place was very unique. At one place in the sandblow the color of the sand changed from yellow to white for no apparent reason. It was an almost perfect line.

Everyone was pretty exhausted and tired after the hike to and from the lake and because of the party the night before. It was therefore with not to much sadness that we climbed into our cars and headed back for the barge to the mainland. Me and Annina had shared our car with a group of six Irish people, four guys and two girls. They turned out to be incredibly friendly and nice and we had a great time with them. When we got back to Rainbow Beach they even let us use the shower in their hostel room. Thanks Neil, Angela, Shanet, Berry, Paul and Brandon for a wonderful trip!

Fraser Island: 13. July 2010 - 15. July 2010

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