Fraser Island

Fraser Island is the biggest sand island in the world and is virtually untouched by humans. It has a 12 km beach with unswimmable waters due to dangerous sharks but also offers a few fresh water lakes in the center of the island. There is bush covering most of the land with rainforests and plenty of wildlife.

Friday morning bright and early we got our tiny day packs all ready to head to Fraser Island. When I say day pack, I'm talking a bag smaller than I carried my school books in ... for 3 days! Yeah, it was tough but I roughed it fabulously.

Meagan and I had heard from previous Fraser visitors that this trip could be amazing or it could suck based on who was in your 10 person group. Well, that comment was spot-on because we had a group of people that couldn't be any different from us and to make it worse, they were all travelling together so Meagan and I had no say in anything... thus the trip had much to desire.

Don't get me wrong, the island itself offered some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen, but the bickering that went on in the vehicle concerning directions and decisions was not my cup of tea.

We learned how to pack the roof of our 4x4 truck with our eskies (ice chests) of beer and food for 3 days, tents, bags, and crates of dishware. We were taught how to drive in sand and what to do when we saw dingos (wild dogs that roam the island... i.e. "Maybe the Dingo took your baby" from Seinfeld), what to cook for each meal, where to go on the island, and not to get in the ocean or risk getting eaten by sharks.

So the adventure began... no supervision, just 10 people in a 4x4. Hesitantly the driver got us squared away on a barge to the island and we drove about an hour to Lake Wobby. This is a fresh water lake with the biggest pure sand dune I have ever seen in my life! I was like a fat kid in a candy store... I started doing flips in the sand (since I didn't think I'd get hurt in sand!) and convinced Meagan and a few others to roll down the side of the steep sand dune into the water (yeah, that makes you really dizzy and sandy!)

This is at the top of the sand dune... it's so high and spreads out as far as the eye can see.

That night we camped along the dunes and ate steak, salad, and garlic mash potatoes (a la Jenna and Meagan) with tunes playing from our 4x4 and tiki torches set up around our camp.

Saturday morning we had a cereal breakfast and then waited for the high tides to recede so we could start the trip to Lake McKenzie. We stopped at a campsite to do dishes and eat lunch... but finally arrived at Lake McKenzie. Never in my life have a seen a more beautiful oasis. Literally after driving 30 minutes through brush and sand, you come across this white sand beach with a HUGE fresh water lake with the bluest water I've ever seen. I couldn't help but stare!

The craziest thing that happened was when we were driving about 50 mph down the beach and we saw an oncoming car to our right splashing through the waves. We were all calling them morons because we knew we weren't allowed to go through the water... well just as we looked back at the sand road, we realized why they were diverting through the waves... there was a HUGE drop off (called Eli Creek) running perpendicular to us. It was literally like a movie, the driver slammed the brakes and we stopped virtually at the very edge of the ledge! haha we had to back up and go through the waves too!!

That night we met up at the "shipwreck" at the northern part of the island called the Maheno. I wish it had a better story but it was built in Scotland and used for luxury travel but was sold to the Japanese. While being towed to Japan, a storm caused it to break loose and the ship was "lost at sea." The Japanese didn't know where it went but it landed on Fraser Island. It was later used as target practice for the Australian Army.... Needless to say, it's my first shipwreck.

Dinner that night was an Asian stir fry and we tried to make a night mission to the wreck but the tides were too high. Dingos visited our camp and scared a few members of our group but no harm was done. We had an early rise (5:00am) to watch the sunrise and get our bags packed up to beat high tide and head up the island to Indian Head and the Champagne Pools. The tide was our biggest issue on the island because it's not safe to drive 2.5 hours before or after high tide which comes at both 9:30am and 9:30 pm ... AND we weren't allowed to drive in the dark... so no later than 5:30pm. That left a small window of time during the day to travel up and down the island.

Dingo at sunrise running along the beach. How cute! :)

Indian Head is the only rock formations on the island and were formed by volcanos before the island even existed. It offers a lookout sickeningly high up where you might see dolphins, manta rays, and sharks swimming below. We saw the dolphins and manta rays, but disappointingly no sharks.

A quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and we headed on a 40 min walk to the Champagne Pools which are where large rocks formed a pool which waves violently crashed into... allowing a "safe" place to play in the water and the white foam from the waves gave a champagne effect.