Fraser Island

Fraser Island was on our list of places to visit when we arrived in Australia in December. It has always intrigued me after seeing my brothers photos after his visit here in the late nineties. Did you know that Fraser Island

• is the largest sand island in the world?
• is only accessable by 4 wheel drive vehicle because none of its roads are paved, they are all sand and presently in really rough condition

With this basic understanding of the island, we pulled into Hervey Bay one afternoon and tried to rent a four wheel drive vehicle for the following day. To our disappointment they were all booked up so we resorted to booking a bus tour instead. (not our first choice but at least we would see the island)

Well, our day was far from boring......

Tony, was our guide and driver of our "bus". It was 4 wheel drive and seated 38 people. One of Tony's famous quotes from the day......"to drive a bus like this on Fraser Island you have to drive it like you just stole it and the police are behind you"

Here we are riding the bumper of a 4x4, most were very quick to pull over and let us through.
The road is 2 way traffic. Every so often there is a spot for vehicles to pull over.
Tony drove and commentated as we bounced through the interior roads of Fraser Island.
Speed limit???


Here we are driving down 75 mile beach which is also a highway. Queensland traffic laws apply so Kira had to be in a booster seat and all adults in seat belts. It is an hour or so beyond high tide so the water is still receding. An easy way to enlarge the highway..
Here we had stopped (still moving back and forth so we don't get stuck.) Tony had to time it right with the waves so we could get past those rocks. Yes, we ended up driving through a bit of salt water.
What a surreal experience, driving on the beach. At times we had salt water splashing on the windows and to top it all off, as we looked out to sea there were whales jumping and splashing just off shore. All along the beach fishermen had set up their camps. They just had to take extra caution when walking from their campsite to the water to fish as after all, they were crossing a highway.

We also found out that 75 mile beach is used as an airstrip. They block off a section of the beach for a few minutes to allow small aircraft to take off and land.



We all enjoyed a 20 minute flight over Fraser Island. The scenery was breathtaking.

So in one day we hiked Wanggoolba Creek, had lunch at Eurong Resort, saw The Pinnacles, the wreck of the SS Maheno, swam in Eli Creek, went for a plane ride over the island and ended the day here

with a swim in the crystal blue waters of Lake MacKenzie.

Would we go back again?

You bet. Though maybe not this year..........