Dingoes Ate My Title (Fraser Island)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Fraser Island
Date:	14/01/06 (215 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful, relaxed island with many areas of natural beauty

Disadvantages: None

I was torn between including Fraser Island or the Whitsundays in my itinerary as time wouldn’t allow both, and since I hate fish and therefore don’t dive or snorkel, I went with Fraser as there’s more to see and do there than fraternise with my aquatic enemies.

Fraser is the largest sand island in the world, about 85 miles long by 25 miles wide, and is a UNSECO World Heritage Listed site. Transport is by 4WDs, either self driven or with a guide, and these range in size from personal ones to huge monstrosities, the Australian cousin of Monster trucks, which are essentially coaches on big wheels, holding up to 50 people each. My trip was somewhere in between – I was on a tour and we travelled in groups of 12 – meaning I was in a small vehicle and could experience and savour every bump. We stayed at the Eurong beach resort on the island, one of two accommodation options for those who want to stay over but don’t do tents. Being in a room just means you’re safe at night and have somewhere secure to leave belongings – we still managed to get up close and personal with the natural wildlife including dingoes who came out to play every night as we sat outside the bar by the pool.

My trip lasted 3 days and 2 nights and that was a good amount of time to spend on the island as we saw everything and had a small amount of idle time – you need little more as there are no real towns here, no shops or restaurants outside the resort and though there are pools, it’s just as nice (and far cheaper) to spend your swimming and sunbathing days somewhere on the mainland. Pretty much everything on the island provoked ‘oh, wow’ reactions as it’s a stunning place, but the highlights were:

Lake Wabby – our first stop on the island. This is a huge inland lake that requires a reasonable walk of about 15 minutes over sand dunes to access. We did this in the rain but is miraculously cleared as we approached the lake, and the water was unbelievably warm – quite different from the sea and swimming holes down near Sydney at that time of year, and as warm as Cairns which is more than 1500 km north of Fraser.

Lake McKenzie – not quite like the photos, but close. This is a huge lake in the middle of the island where the water is so clear they ask you no to put on sun tan lotion before swimming as it pollutes the water (applying it an hour before is ok, or if not you could swim in a t-shirt). The sand is a pure white (tick), the water is incredibly warm (tick), the ground slopes away slowly so you can just sit or recline in the water and enjoy the views (tick) and there are no fish due to the unusual mineral content of the water (tick). All in all, a pretty perfect place, though crowded as it’s a must-see for all visitors. Escaping said crowds is not too hard if you so wish – there are several smaller beaches and coves a short walk away from the main one, which most tours don’t bother to head to.

Eli Creek – again, the photos show it as green but my eyes showed me it as blue, but this was one of the best places we saw. The creek flows into the sea but the main attraction is a few minutes in-land where, if you follow the boardwalk, you come across an entry to the fast flowing water. This flows so fast in fact that you lie back and it carries you down to the shore like a water slide. The floating takes some getting used to and some of the group didn’t manage it, but keep your bottom up, your back slightly curved and your arms sculling at your sides and it’s easy. The water is very shallow so even little ones can stand up at all parts. The only downside of Eli was our run in with a huge eel – the same length and diameter as my arm. This skulked around near the entrance to the water and let to a backing up of those wanting to enter the water as very few would while it was around. This was the only wildlife we saw in the water – again, not somewhere teaming with fish like the lakes and sea of the mainland.

Central Station – once the hub of the then prosperous logging industry this is now the point from which many rainforest walks start. We took a track than lead us deep into the trees and out the other side, along some beautiful, peaceful tracks. At the start there’s also some kind of visitor’s centre – no shop or café, but a few information boards and displays illustrating a world gone by.

The Maheno shipwreck sits on the sand further up the beach and looks interesting but not overly impressive until you find out that it’s several times the size it appears, with multiple decks of the ship hidden by the sand. You are not supposed to touch it as it’s very fragile, but some of the foreign-language tourists either did not understand or purposefully disregarded this instruction as they proceeded to climb about inside it.

The Pinnacles and Rainbow Gorge are two different yet related attractions, the former a collection of natural sand sculptures and the latter an area where sand in a rainbow of colours can be seen if you redefine the word ‘rainbow’ to mean shades of yellow and orange, black and white.

I paid $325 (£138) for the 3 day trip with Goanna Adventures which included return transport from Brisbane, two nights in an en suite quad share room, 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners and a fully guided tour including the above attractions and a stop at the Ginger Factor on the way home. It is cheaper to camp rather than stay in the resort but the price I paid I found on the cheap side anyway for what it included, and I didn’t run the risk of getting run over by a 4WD as a result of camping in one’s path as other tourists have done in the past. I would recommend a guide of some kind as they’re just so knowledgeable and can tell you more than a guide book ever could. They can also adapt routes to cope with the weather or other demands. Plus, they save you having to drive yourself which is something that didn’t appeal to me personally.

Fraser is an amazing place because its features are the natural environment of the island, and everything worth seeing or doing is free of charge once you’ve paid for the vehicle and the island taxes. You shouldn’t swim in the sea (stingers….sharks….other nasty things beginning with s) but there are so many other places to swim on the island you don’t even notice. It is such a beautiful place that you struggle to do it justice with words, but have a look at photos and you’ll see for yourself. I very much enjoyed my time of the island and would happily go again in a few years. As it is, I now have something in common with virtually everyone I know who has been to Oz as it’s a destination on many people’s lists.


www.goannaadventures.com.au
www.seefraserisland.com/
www.koalanet.com.au/fraser-island-intro.html
http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=6 30

Summary: Amazing island destination in eastern Australia