Fraser Island - Rainbow beach

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Sunday 12th December

It's off the bus 9am and a 20 metres walk into the Fraser backpackers hostel. Thank god that the hostel is close by as we are stiff with sleeping on the bus. Once checked in we are instructed to be at the bar for 2pm for our induction and registration for the Fraser Island tour which departs tomorrow.

Our dorm has 6 bunk beds and there's only top ones left so without any hesitation we're up and zonked out for a few hours.

At 2pm we meet at the bar to go over our insurance details, license documents and are split into 4 groups for the tour. We watched a half hour video on safety issues and legal matters involving Fraser islands protocols as there have been accidents in the past and now its law that tours must be led by a tag along tour guide.
We met up with our friends from Italy, Fabrizio and Anna whom we met on the Whitsundays tour so we arrange to be in the same 4x4 for the trip. Out of our 8 passengers we have 4 drivers which means we should each get a decent length of time driving the beaches and forest trails over the next few days.

We are all set and all legal and its time to eat so we walk to the shop in the rain for some nosh. On the way back the heavens really opened and its so heavy thats its actually sore bounching off your skin so we leg it and are totally drenched by the time we get back.
Its warm enough to dry off under cover of the bar but as we look out to the forecourt of the hostel is doesn't look good for our trip on Fraser Island. I begin to repack my bag with waterproofs and flip flops and if it keeps raining like this ill need flippers and a snorkel too!
I think its round about midnight before the rain stopped and fingers crossed the storm passes us by over the next few days.

Monday 13th December

We got up very early and we’re surprised to see that it has stopped raining although its still quite grey in places. Its time to sort out our stuff for Fraser Island and put the rest of our stuff in a secure locker within the hostel.

Outside we met our tag along tour driver Wayne who's about mid forties and a local lad.
There are 4 vehicles all with 8 people each apart from Wayne's who has only 4 people in his as he’s carrying all the tents and various camping stuff on a roof rack.
Each vehicle is supplied with 2 gas bottles, a fold down table, a camping stove, a cool box and 2 milk crates full of food. So all this plus 8 people in a Toyota Landcruiser looks impossible but after a few attempts we manage to squeeze everything in and headed for the 4x4 company's base where we picked up our sleeping bags and roll mats. We are given a quick lesson on using 4x4 high and low gears but Wayne has told us he'll keep us right as we go which is a good job as driving on soft sand can be dangerous.

Fraser Island, is an island located along the southern coast of Queensland, approximately 190 mi north of Brisbane. Its length is about 75 mi and its width is approximately 15 mi. It was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1992. The island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world at 1840 km². It is also Queensland's largest island, Australia's sixth largest island and the largest island on the East Coast of Australia. Its also the largest sand island in the world.

The name Fraser Island comes from Eliza Fraser and her story of survival from a shipwreck on the island. Captain James Fraser and his wife, Eliza Fraser, were shipwrecked on the island in 1836. Their ship, the Stirling Castle, set sail from Sydney to Singapore with 18 crew and passengers. The ship was holed on coral while travelling through the Great Barrier Reef north of the island. Transferring to two lifeboats, the crew set a course south, attempting to reach the settlement at Brisbane. During this trip in the lifeboats, Captain Fraser's pregnant wife gave birth in the leaking lifeboat. The infant died soon after birth. The Captain's lifeboat was becoming more and more unseaworthy and was soon left behind by the other lifeboat which continued on. The sinking boat and its crew was beached on what was then known as the Great Sandy Island. Whether the survivors died due to disease, hunger, exhaustion or battles with the native population will never be known for sure; most likely a little of all of the above. Captain Fraser died leaving Eliza living among the local peoples. She was rescued some 6 weeks later and returned to England. Years later when she returned to Australia she died in a carriage accident in Melbourne. A very unlucky lady indeed.

We are now all set and heading for Fraser Island. Firstly we have to cross the Great Sandy Strait which seperates Fraser Island from the mainland.
We drive straight onto a large barge called Manta Ray which whisks us across in less than 15 minutes. Johan from Sweden is our driver for the first leg as we set off through the horrendous forest trail which is a bumpathon for about 30 minutes until we at last arrive on the East Beach!
Suddenly we all stop just as we touch the beach road as one of the 4x4's in our group has broken down with a burnt out clutch. Not a good start at all!
We have to wait a good hour before a replacement 4x4 comes out so we stand around in the basking sun enjoying the fact that the rains have missed us and headed inland.

Once the broken down jeep was unloaded and the new one was loaded up we were off and driving with yours sincerely driving part of the 75 mile beach section. We are heading for our first stop at the popular tourist area, Lake McKenzie. It's located inland from the small town of Eurong which we pass through to get to the deep forests that hides the Lake.
We arrive at Central Station which is the car park and eating areas just beside the Lake. Fraser Island’s amazing network of around 40 lakes is another reason it is popular with tourists.

Lake Mackenzie is a perched lake sitting on top of compact sand and vegetable matter 100 metres above sea level. Lake McKenzie has an area of 150 hectares and is just over five metres in depth and the sand of Lake McKenzie is nearly pure silica a bit like Whitehaven Beach. In total there are 40 perched lakes on the island, half of all known lakes of this kind on the planet.

All of Lake Mackenzie's water is from rainfall alone and has no streams running into it or from it.
Its absolutely stunning here in Lake Mackenzie and we waste no time in getting stripped down to our swimwear and diving in! The water is warm and very clean and you can actually drink it its so pure.
I swam out to the island like lagoon with a Japanese guy called Sho and spent a good hour in the water while Jill sunbathed. The Aqua blue water and white sands gives you that caribbean feel with the surrounding trees giving you maximum protection from wind.

We had a Picnic of sandwiches before heading off from Central Station on a short journey by jeep to Wanggoolba Creek. There we all went for a nice walk through the ancient rainforest on the wooden walkways. We passed the actual Wanggoolba Creek and it has crystal clear water running through it with lots of weird and wonderful trees and plants growing around it such as one rainforest species that dates back to the days of the dinosaurs, the king fern.

Its time to head off to our camp site and Fabrizio takes the wheel and we head back down to the 75 mile beach for about a hours drive West along the tide line. The waves are huge today and are crashing down literally yards away to our right as we all drive in convoy along the beach while sticking to the 60 kmph limit.
We arrive at Wayne's camp site and its not long before we are all parked in the site and putting up our tents for the night.

As everyone is getting settled and the light starts to fade I've told Wayne to let everyone know that I will be cooking dinner and its not long before Ive made a friend, Hannah from England who has become my second chef for the evening. We just about manage to make 28 portions of Chicken noodles, veg and plum sauce. We had no collander so it was tasking trying to drain the noodles. We somehow manage to dish up the meals and everyone was happy enough so Hannah and I gave ourselves a pat on the back.

As we were finishing dinner and I began cleaning up I happened to turn around and literally two feet away was a dingo having a good sniff around our camp.
Wayne came over and gently shooed the dingo away and explained that it was a 6 month year old male from a litter that he knew of. Wayne's been coming to this spot for years and he told me that he has watched the dingo pups grow up and they are no problem to the camp as long as we show them that this is our territory and not let them get too friendly.
Sure enough withing a few minutes we had three dingos circling our camp and they are just as bold as you expect from stray dogs. Wayne sneaks up on one behind a tent and scares it off.
Its quite enjoyable having the dingoes around as they nip in between tents and we didn't even batter an eyelid to them sometimes as they are harmless enough.
Food must be kept hidden and scraps disposed of properly as its a problem that dingos become accustomed to relying on scraps to survive so if they don't find any scraps they go else where. If you do feed them then the next human that doest feed them may get attacked as the dingo will become aggressive. Its very rare for a dingo to attack but there are strict rules and protocols with camp food. Fabrizio has become quite attached to the dingo's and is adamant that he's going back home to Italy with one!

Dingoes were once common on the island, but are now decreasing. As of January 2008, the number of dingoes on the island was estimated to be 120 to 150, and sightings have become less common.
The Fraser Island dingoes are reputedly some of the lastO remaining pure dingoes in Eastern Australia and to prevent cross-breeding, dogs are not allowed on the island. According to DNA-examinations from the year 2004, the dingoes on Fraser Island are "pure".

Myself, wayne and Sho went for a wander down to the beach to do some star gazing which was awesome. We saw a couple of shooting stars as we sat in the sand with only a torch plus Sho's little handheld stereo which was playing mellow tunes. We could hear and then see a dingo creeping about around us who was being no more than curious so we let him be.
Sho's english is pretty good for being Japanese and the three us talk about Fraser Island and our own home towns for what seemed like hours. When the three of us got back to camp, there were only a few folk still up drinking so we all said goodnight and headed for our tents.

Tuesday 14th December

4.30am and i awoke to a dingo having a right old sniff at my arm through the membrane of the tent which did not freak me out as I learned not to be scared of them last night. He soon wandered off to have a sniff at someone else's tent.
5.00 a.m. Its light and I cant sleep as its too warm and I need a drink of water which meant going out to the 4x4. As I walked across to the Jeep I bumped into an already wide awake Wayne who ask's if im allright and do I want to join him for a stroll on the beach. We both just caught the tail end of the sun rising and its awesome to see the East Beach empty of no cars with only the sound of the waves. I wish I had brought my camera!! doh!!

6am and Ive fired up the stove and the kettles being boiled. Hopefully Ill get away with not making for anyone else. I spoke to soon as the sun was now hitting most of the tents, wakening people up and weary campers were making a beeline for my boiling kettle. I made a cup for Wayne and I and found a nice spot to sit and enjoy my morning tea.

When breakfast was over we all got into our jeeps and headed onto the beach to head for the water fill up station just beside Eurong. Once we filled out barrels up we were off again and we travelled for another hour before we arrived at Eli Creek.

Eli Creek is fed by a natural aquifer (water table) that is exposed to the outside elements several kilometres inland. Eli Creek produces up to 80 million litres of water per day and it takes up to 100 years for water to be filtered through sand. By the time the water reaches the mouth of Eli Creek, it may have travelled from one of the sand dunes on the island which are 200 metres above sea level. It is theorised that some of this water may not have been exposed to the outside environment for hundreds of years.

We entered the water and it was a shock to begin with as its bitterly cold but refreshing and some people were having there morning wash in the deeper pool near the beach. People are walking directly up the water where we opted for the wooden walkways. The water is clear as you like and its moving ever so slowly and some people are just floating down the 200 metre stretch of water on floats and boogie boards.

We hung around for a short while and then went on our way West again and headed towards one of the major landmark's of Fraser Island, the shipwreck of the S.S. Maheno.

The S.S. Maheno was originally built in 1905 in Scotland as a luxury passenger ship for trans-Tasman crossings and was the world’s first ever triple screw steamer, weighing a massive 5323 tonnes. It also held the blue ribbon in trans-atlantic crossing for several years after she was launched.
During the First World War the ship served as a hospital ship in the English Channel, before returning to a luxury liner. In 1935, the ship was declared outdated and was being towed from Melbourne to Japan to be melted down for scrap when it was caught in a strong cyclone. A few days later she drifted ashore and was beached here. Luckily, there was only a skeleton crew on board.
During the Second World War the Maheno served as target bombing practice for the RAAF and was used as an explosives demolition target by special forces from the Fraser Commando School. The ship has since become severely rusted, with almost three and a half storeys buried under the sand therefore climbing on the shipwreck is not permitted.

We took our photo's and explored the wreck and its great to look at the water crashing up and through the wreck as you peer through rusting portholes. Its hard to believe that theres another 3 storeys buried underneath the sand and you cant help but imagine what the ship looked like in its prime.

A change of driver and then we're off and driving again for another 30 miles or so passing through rocks and streams cutting down and through the beaches. As we travel further East to West we could start to see the dune age increase. We pass by the openings for Rainbow Gorge, The Cathedrals, The Pinnacles and Red Canyon on our way to Indian Head, our next stop.
The coloured Sands and coffee rocks of the cliffs here are examples of where the sand has been stained over thousands of years due to the sand conglomerating with clay. This allows the steeper cliffs of coloured sand to form. Coffee rock, so-called because when it is dissolved in water it turns the colour of coffee.
Anna takes a shot of driving for about 30 minutes and passesl through some really deep sand which is very dry and soft making it hard to drive but she does well.

We finally arrive at Indian head.
This area was named by Captain James Cook on his disastrous journey up the Queensland coastline. Cook must have been in a happier mood this day than when he named Cape Tribulation that's for sure!
As the Endeavour travelled past Fraser Island he noticed a group of Aboriginals standing on the headland. It was at this stage that he called the point ‘Indian Head’ after the group of natives resting on the rocky outcrop. It is one of only 3 sections of rock on the entirety of Fraser Island.

We walked up onto the top of Indian head and admired the beautiful views to the East and West. The Views are fantastic and on certain days its not uncommon to spot whales or sharks in the water as you look over the edge. We headed back to the 4x4 and sat and waited for everyone to come back as I have to co drive someone from Israel to our next stop. This girl had never driven on sand before so I struggled to keep her right as she was close to burning the clutch out as she didn't grasp the concept of releasing the accelerator when you push the clutch in! Happy days!
We finally made it along to the deeper sand track that would take us up and into the car park at the Champagne pools so we had to change positions, flip the jeep into Low and I drive the remaining 200 yards as the Israelian girl would never have made it up there!

Once in the car park, all four jeeps park up and we eat lunch.

Champagne Pools are located just North of Indian Head, along 75-mile beach. These pools provide a very popular swimming hole with the ocean crashing over the rocks into shallow sandy pools. The foaming water is where the name Champagne Pools comes from. There are extremely strong currents along this part of the island and swimming around the rocks is not encouraged. Caution should also be taken walking on the sharp rocks as well.

We sat around the rocks here a good bit away from the water as both Jill and I are not wanting to get wet with sea water so we watch the others playing around at the mouth of the pools with gigantic waves crashing down on them.

Its really fine weather today and the drive back to camp was a great voyage as we avoided large waves, jumped over streams and passed through rock fields. By the end of it we are all gasping for a drink and some food so its time to set up all the camp stoves and tables and begin preparations for dinner. Tonight we are having burgers and salad with the veggies getting veggie burgers. This is right up my street and its not long before Hannah is up helping me with the onions and salad stuff which was a great help as I have 28 hungry mouths to feed again. The burgers go on and we summon people up 4 at a time and it all goes smoothly under the ever watching pair of dingo eyes from the bushes behind us.

The night ended up being a right blast as everyone was drinking beers and wine. We keep a close eye on Fabrizio as he's still wanting a pet dingo!
We all agreed that the day was an awesome one and what's even better is that we still have tomorrow to look forward too!!
Well it was the same trio down on the beach for another night of watching the stars and talking rubbish over tins of beer and Sho's telling us about life in Tokyo which is very interesting.
Wayne reminds everyone that we have to be up at 6.30 in order to get the camp packed up and all our stuff into the jeeps for our last tour up to Lake Wabby via the Hammerstone Sandblow.

Wednesday 15th December

Most of camp are up around 6.30 and we've already got our tent down and cups of tea on the go by then as daylight woke us up at around 6am again. Theres a few who struggle to get up and while we waited Jill, Sho and I helped Wayne clean up the mess such as cigarette butts and discarded bottles and cans. Its the only way that Wayne can guarantee this camping spot is if he keeps it clean after tours so it makes sense to help, its just a shame most of the others didnt think to help but hey ho.

We have all tents down and 4x4's packed and ready to go and its not long before the 4 vehicle convoy is back in business and coasting along the beach to the water fill up spot.
We then pass Eurong again and head to our next stop along the beach and parked up our motors and locked them up. We have a 30 minute walk through rainforest before reaching the Hammerstone Sandblow which are large sand dunes that will lead us to Lake Wabby, or as its sometimes called, Emerald Lake.

Lake Wabby is a barrage style lake which are formed when the wind carries sand across the Island. The sand forms a bank that then dams an already existing creek or stream forming what is known in Australia as a billabong.
There is only one Barrage lake on the Island, Lake Wabby. It is regarded as one of the most popular lakes on the Island for tourists. Lake Wabby has steep banks of the Hammerstone Sandblow that drop into the lake. It also happens to be the deepest lake on the Island and its an area of high significance to the traditional custodians of the island as it was regarded as an ancient warrior ground.

We walk through dense woodland and its a gruelling walk as its very hot and sticky and the paths are quite steep in places. We reach a break in the trees and walk out into open ground. Lo and behold we are now standing at the top of large sandunes called the Hammerstone Sandblow. The dunes are massive in size and you wonder how it could be possible to be in jungle on minute and the be in a desert like terrain the next.

We walked for about 200 yards across and downwards and start to see the beautiful green waters of Lake Wabby. Its referred to as the Emerald lake due to its green appearance and it gets it colour from the supply streams which run through the forests picking up nutrients as its runs into the lake. This combined with the reflection of the green forest surrounding the lake gives you the appearance of green water when in fact its quite clear when you swim in it.
Lake Wabby is the deepest lake on the island, at 12 m in depth and also the least acidic which means it has the most aquatic life of all the lakes. We could seen lots of large black catfish swimming around us as we bathed in the water.

It's nice and refreshing swimming in Lake Wabby and we lay in the shallow edge of water with the sun beating down on us. Its just what you need after a hard nights camping! Ive been rewarded for my cooking duties by getting to drive our 4x4 all day today! Sweet as!

We are on the move again as we must catch our barge at 12.30pm and its now 11am and most of us haven't even eaten breakfast yet. We walk back through the woods and arrive at the jeeps where we do a head count and drive for Eurong for brunch. Wayne buys us all chips and we finish off our bread and salad by having chip butties which went down a treat!

Its time to leave Fraser Island now so we convoy 40 miles down the East beach and head into the nightmarish forestry tracks which claims a victim. The 4x4 behind me loses its exhaust and holds us up for nearly a hour while Wayne tries to secure it back on! We are running out of time as the high tide is coming in and we need to get to the barge before the beach becomes impassible. I quickly drove on ahead and waited for the others and I could feel the sand getting chunky and soft in places but its drivable.

We just made it to the barge on time and we jokingly do a quick check of Fabrizio's bag to check for any hidden dingo's and then were ready to leave! We sail happily across Sandy Strait and drive off in convoy onto the hard tarmac which felt strange after 3 days on sand!
Its only five miles until we get back to base to drop off the gear and passengers. Myself and two others volunteer to refuel the motors and return to base where Wayne picks us up and takes us back to the hostel.
I bode Wayne farewell and thanked him at least ten times for a great few days and as I was doing so the heavens opened and it thundered down heavily like before! Wow, how lucky were we on our trip?!

I have to wait in the queue as everyone has the same idea, shower! While waiting I tell everyone that theres plenty food for tea again tonight and to all meet back here at seven as ill happilly cook dinner. Ive got 9 takers which is perfect as we have only pasta and sauce left over in our 4x4 food supplies. I hope Anna and Fabrizio will like my Italian cooking! 😊
We all have a jolly good dinner and talk about our last few days on Fraser Island before heading to an eagerly awaiting comfortable bed without the added discomfort of sand and nosey dingoes.

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Photos

Leaving the mainland
Lovely grey clouds on the mainland

Driving Fraser Island Beach
Wheres the dark clouds gone?

Comments

[Fred]

Infanticide Blamed on Dingos
Mother blames a pack of Dingos for the death of her child when it is now believed that the child was murdered. It seems that many people were prepared to accept the dogs were responsible which is a pity because they are normally not aggresive. Anyway a very interesting blog and so full of activity, not to mention moonlight walks by invitation! Quickly back to normal here and now looking forward to New Year for which we send our very best, our fondest to you both.