Fraser Island

Fraser island, 30 Mins on a car ferry from mainland OZ, is the worlds largest sand island, an awesomely beautiful place, where endless white beaches are bordered by colourful sand cliffs. The island has over 100 freshwater lakes, some tea-coloured by tannin and others clear and blue and ringed by white sandy beaches. Rainforests grow in sand along the banks of fast-flowing, crystal-clear creeks. how could we not take a visit?

To navigate the island we needed a hardy 4x4 as all the roads are made of sand and our van wouldn't have got far! We hired a little Suzuki Jimny, loaded up all the camping gear from the van and headed for the ferry. Upon arriving at the island we drove straight onto sand tracks and engaged 4x4! We soon realised this was no ordinary driving experience and some parts could only be described as extreme offroad! Sequences of potholes up to a metre deep followed by raised tree roots which you bounce over and jump out straight into deep soft sand! The main highway on the island is the 75 Mile beach which stretches the whole West coast of the island.

On the first day we visited various lakes of differing temperatures and colour. The first lake, Birrabean, was crystal clear and sweet drinkable water. After a nice refreshing swim and a game or two of bat and ball we headed onward. The next stop was a dark tea coloured lake which was also close to tea temperature and not atall refreshing! Battling, sliding, bouncing, skidding and wheel-spinning our way through the inland sand tracks we finally arrived at the highway (the main beach!). We were given times, between which we could drive along the beach without getting stranded. We zoomed North towards our first nights campsite at 80kph. Only slowing to bounce and splash throught the regular creeks that carved deep trenches across the beach. Some creeks only become visible at the last minute and we bounced that Suzuki to the limits of it's capabilities (I'll be suprised if it lasts much longer!). We set up to camp right by the beach, cooked food and drank beer before settling down in our tent.

The next morning we were up at 5:30am to avoid the high tide and quickly headed along the beach to Indian Head. From the headland the water below was so clear we watched huge shoals of fish being herded by numerous sharks. We saw a big group of porpoises too, initially mistaking them for sharks because of their large fins. We rushed back South, needing to vacate the beach before high tide, only stopping to wade in the crystal clear Eli creek and take a few snaps of the worlds most photographed shipwreak.

Much creek-fording, rock-avoiding and wave-splashing later we managed to get back onto the inland sand tracks. The tracks got softer and softer and deeper and deeper and within 10 minutes we were totally stuck and going nowhere!! The more we pushed the deeper we sank and moments from despairing a big truck loaded with helpful folks turned up. They let our tyres down and pushed us out! Hooray we were back on our way.

We made our way to Lake Wabby, the islands deepest lake which is slowly being engulfed by a huge sand blow. Rather than take the 40 minute each way desert walk across the sand blow to reach the lake we cheated and took the shortcut through the wood. Despite the warning signs people were sandboarding, running and diving into the clear cool water to refresh themselves after the hike, great fun.

Our last stop was the magnificant and famous Lake McKenzie. The softest white sand surrounded the clearest sweetest water on earth. We wished we could have stayed all day/week/year, but we were on a tight schedule and had to bounce back to the ferryport. A tomato and cheese sandwich later we were on our way back...

Hol 'n' Bex x