Features

Australia - G'day from Fraser Island

by John Mayston

Situated just off mainland Queensland, Australia, Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island, and has been present on the World Heritage List since December 1992.

There are two main ways to see this island: the safe option of a holiday resort, or the far more adventurous off-road option, where you hire big bad four wheelers and go off on your own. I took the more rugged latter option (in keeping with my Australian journey) and embarked on a three day expedition, booked earlier at our mainland youth hostel. After picking up our vehicle on the mainland, and dutifully sitting through the health and safety chat ("don't go too fast, watch out for snakes, spiders, crocs, sharks, other people, bugs, scorpions, dingoes etc. etc.) we finally hit the road/beach and felt the wind in our hair.

What we were here to see, other than just experience the joy of riding a big car, was Fraser Island’s main attractions: the many incredible lakes, with their colourful names like Lake McKenzie (pictured), Lake Wabby and Lake Boomanjin. The island also offers Eli Creek that can easily be explored, the Maheno shipwreck (pictured) located on 75 Mile Beach, and the Champagne Pools that run along the same beach (so called because of the foaming effect of the water that appears to look like bubbly Champagne).

The camping sites are extremely basic, especially if you intend on camping at Indian Head which has no toilet facilites. A spade can be of use here, but let's leave it at that!

Dingoes and other native wildlife are common on this island, so leaving food lying around is a definite no-no - Dingoes have a very keen sense of smell and are not shy creatures. It is also common to spot large lizards and if you are very lucky, you may see Tiger Sharks out at sea. And as for the large spiders, again, let's just leave it at that!!

The main highlights of the trip for me were Lake McKenzie and Lake Wabby. Lake McKenzie is surrounded by beautiful white sand and is reckoned to be one of the top ten beaches in the world. It also has the bluest water that I have ever seen which fades to a spectacular turquoise colour as the water becomes shallower.

Lake Wabby is the deepest lake on the island and is quite difficult to get to as it is surrounded by sand dunes. The lake itself contains many large Catfish and is a stunning emerald green colour. There are many more lakes to explore on the island which all have their own remarkable features.

A note to the adventurous: it is worth considering the times of high and low tide as the 4-by-4 vehicles run along the 75 Mile Beach, and if the tide is in, you can get stuck at one end or the other. There is a shop on the island when food/beer stocks run low, but this can be unreachable at times if the tide is in depending on where you are on the island. I cannot emphasise enough to take plenty of bottled water/beer/food with you!

Fraser Island is a beautiful island with some amazing scenery and some incredible flora and fauna. The final highlight of the trip arrived during a cloud-free night time. If you're lucky enough to get out there, just look up at the sky and you will see exactly what I mean. Priceless!