Fraser Island

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We caught the overnight greyhound to Rainbow Beach (13 hours!!) where we booked into our hostel and met the people we would be going to Fraser Island with. It was a self-drive 4x4 unguided group tour, so we had to watch an instructional video on how to drive the car without getting bogged in the sand and how to be Dingo safe!! We went and stocked up on food and drink before packing up the car and heading to the ferry. Chris volunteered to drive the car first and almost hit the fence pole before leaving the driveway!! He was very good after that and drove for the whole of the first day, managing not to get stuck in the sand and to avoid the fast approaching tide!

As we drove off the ferry, we had to take an inland road as it was high tide. This was the bumpiest road ever, with everyone getting thrown about and hitting their heads on the roof of the car. These things certainly aren't designed for comfort!! We went to Eli Creek which is a freshwater creek - a bit like a lazy river - with everyone on rubber rings! We then drove to the Maheno shipwreck where we had lunch and the boys played catch with a rugby ball in the midday heat!!! Then off to Indian Head which is a lookout point on the headland where on a good day you can see sharks, turtles, rays and dolphins - it wasn't a good day and we saw none of the above!!

We camped on the beach on the first night and had a bbq. We woke at about 6am in the blazing heat but had to stay put until low tide at 10am - it was not fun trying to find shade even though Chris tried his best by erecting a tarpaulin across the 2 vans! When we were allowed to drive on the beach we left camp and drove to Lake Wabby. The walk to the lake took about 30 minutes and was very tiring in the midday heat and walking in sand! When we finally got there we all ran and jumped straight in the lake which was at the bottom of a huge sand dune. There were loads of fish in the lake (some big catfish) and they liked to nibble on the skin!! Afterwards we drove inland to Central station and set up camp in a campsite surrounded by the forest and all its creatures!! The noise the cicada's make is so loud! The trees offered a nice bit of shade so we all slept better!!

The following day we drove to Lake Mackenzie which is the largest lake on the island and has beautiful white silica sand like Whitehaven beach. We spent the morning and lunch here before heading back to the ferry to return the car in Rainbow Beach. We stayed one night here before getting the greyhound to Noosa.

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