The longest sand Island

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20th Jan Fraser Island
Early start today pick up from the hostel was at 6:10am We visited a number of other hostels/hotels then went to the harbour and boarded the ferry which had a crossing time of 30 mins. On arrival we disembarked and was taken to the hotel resort where we were introduced to our guide and he boarded us onto our 4 wheel drive bus similar to the ones they use for the Africa overland trips. There were 32 of us on the bus.

Fraser Island is the worlds largest sand island which is 123km long and 15km wide and is a listed world heritage site.
The first place that we went to was Lake Mckenzie which is one of the many fresh water lakes, stopped for 45 mins and went swimming and had morning tea with muffins.
On the drive round the island the driver Ian pointed out a lot of different plant life and trees. We then went for a walk through the rainforest by the end of this we were
We than went to Central station which was the headquarters of the logging camp before this was stopped.
We then drove to Eurong Beach resort where there was a buffet lunch waiting for us which was a very good spread as we were expecting sandwiches and not quiche and various salads and chicken.
After lunch we set off down to the beach and drove along the 75km beach we drove along the beach for about 45 mins then turned round and visited some of the sights on the way back down. The first sight we stopped at was coloured sands which is sand dunes with 72 different coloured sands which are mostly shaded yellow and red.
Next stop was the Maheno shipwreck which once was a luxury liner which was used between Sydney and Auckland where it held the record for the quickest crossing of the Tasman sea 2 days 21 hrs. It came to Fraser Island when it was hit by a out of season cyclone whilst on its way to Japan for scrapping. The Australian RAF used it as target practice during the 2nd world war.
We then drove down to Eli Creek which is formed due to water flowing from an underground aquifer about 6km inland from the beach. The flow rate is about 4.2 million litres of water per hour with the temp at a constant 18C

We were advised not to go into the sea due to the number of sharks and stingers which are various kinds of jellyfish and seeing the size of some that were on the sands I would not like to be stung by them.
Whilst at Eli creek we were given the opportunity to go up in a plane for 15 mins to see the island from the air for a cost of $AUS60, I did not bother with this.
We then returned to the start and caught the 5pm ferry back to Harvey Bay then dropped back at the hostel where I booked the accommodation for Bunderberg and Arrive beach as well as the greyhound coach.

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