Fraser Island

Today was our day trip to Fraser Island. I have vivid memories of being excited to visit Fraser Island when we were kids purely because it was named after my bro!! Fraser on the other hand was not so keen having heard about the island being home to lots of dingos (wild dogs). I'm not surprised the poor kid was scared they sure do go on about how to deal with a dingo, and what to do if you come up against one in your travels.

We got the ferry over from the main land and watched form the top deck as all these 4x4 boarded the boat. One had an incident where the exhaust was too low and got pulled under the ramp as the car reversed, I imagine their family day out on Fraser Island didn't end the way they had hoped as we left them on the shore to deal with their damages.

I was hoping to see dolphins and couldn't give my full concentration to the lovely Italian couple who were trying in very broken English to tell us about their travels through Oz. Although my eyes never left the water we didn't see any, infact I couldn't see anything at all in the water sadly.

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and so can only really be driven around in a 4x4. We were in massive coach style 4x4 that threw us all over the place. Our first stop was Mckenzie lake, which was absolutely stunning! It's a 100m long lake made purely of rain water and is therefore crystal clear and not salty which I loved! 

There are a few fish and some turtles apparently but we didn't see any. They believe the fish could only have got their by fish eggs getting stuck on the legs of bird and then dropped into the lake because there are no streams or rivers running in or out of the pool. We spent an hour or so swimming and relaxing on the beautiful white sand along side 4 more coach loads of tourists.

We walked back along the path through the rain forest, bare footed to get some of the sand off our feet. Out next stop was a rain forest walk where the guide started with the number of deadly snakes and spiders they have on this island. Of 19 species of snake 13 are poisonous!!! I won't be walking anywhere bare footed again!

The walk was an interesting walk through pine and eucalyptus trees and the guide pointed out a stunning creek, where the water was so clear you didn't initially see the water. He also told us lots of facts about the trees and foliage which I have already forgotten! The island was forested for its pines right up until 1991 before being made a world heritage site in 1992. The trees from this island are famously known for being the wood they used for the Sydney opera house floor.

I'm sure the guide told us loads more interesting facts on the coach but I don't know what it is, as soon as I'm being rocked and bumped around I want to drift off. I slept to our lunch stop where we shared a table with a lovely couple from NZ who gave us a few tips and kept us company in the afternoon.

The afternoon was spent on the 75mile beach which is actually an official highway and has driving laws etc. The only difference is that you use the indicator to tell the 4x4 coming towards you which side you want to cross them on. It's a stunning stretch of beautiful yellow sand and cleat blue water!

Again I kept my eyes glued to the water incase we saw Dolphins or Whales! Apparently they stop around here to fatten up their young before their migration.

We watched men on the beaches 'fishing' for worms, they put little bits of fish down the worm holes and when the worm bites they whip out a 3 ft long worm! They get paid to collect them on the island and the worms are then sold as fishing bait.

We drove up to the rock or multicoloured sands which I knew wasn't as spectacular as they make it out to be from when we visited as a family but it was hilarious to see Edds confusion at what the fuss was all about! He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to be looking at!

We spent some time at the famous ship wreck that has been on the island since yhe 1930s and wandered Ely creek before heading back to the ferry along the beach. The journey home was another stunning sunset and a good chat with our new kiwi friends.

We got back a lot later than expected and so dashed to the local petrol station with 10 mins to spare for fuel and a pack of crisps. There is nothing open on a Sunday! Luckily we have a few supplies. We were pleasantly surprised with fuel costs as our trip is going to be about a tanks worth which is about $70 (£40).