Camping on Fraser Island

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On Thursday I caught the night bus to Hervey Bay - a 12 hour journey, most of which I slept through. The majority of Hervey Bay seems to be one huge pastel-coloured retirement village. I plan to move out of here as soon as possible. Hervey Bay serves as the main gateway to Fraser Island, being the point of a major ferry crossing, and this is why I am here.
I have spent the past three days on Fraser Island, sharing two tents and a huge Toyota troop carrier with a group of 7 other backpackers. The group were introduced at 6.30 on Saturday morning, and in our hire car on the ferry by 10.15. It was difficult at times because of language barriers (the group consisted of 3 Italians, 2 Germans, 2 French and 2 English) and some difficult characters in the group, which I won't go into the details of. Although at some points it felt like a gruelling team building exercise, I still had a great time and made some friends.
Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island, and as far as I know, contains the only rainforest environment based on sand. The coast is not safe to swim because of sharks, stingers and strong rip tides but there are plenty of excellent freshwater lakes. The weather on Saturday wasn't so good for swimming, so after a 2 hour rainforest walk we headed early to Base Camp, halfway up the eastern beach, by 4.00 and pitched up our tents before the approaching storm. There were barbecues and a covered eating area provided at base camp, so the rain didn't ruin dinner.
The weather on Sunday and Monday was much better. We saw sharks and manta rays from the rocky headland at Indian Head, and went swimming at champagne pools on Sunday. Today began with a rush to pack up at 5.30 and drive down the beach which acts as the main highway on the island - driving on the beach is limited by the tide, and at high tide it becomes dangerous. The bumpy ride was made worse by complaining from members of the group who had missed their breakfast. After that initial ordeal we had breakfast at 8.00 at the small resort of Eurong, morale was restored and the day went well. We visited lakes Boomanjin, Birrabeen and Mckenzie via the inland roads, swam a lot, saw lots of fish, and possibly a turtle. We caught the ferry back to the mainland at 4.00 this afternoon.

I'm back at Hervey Bay now, and the 3 Italians have cooked up an enormous pasta meal as a farewell, unexpected and much appreciated. My current plan is to leave first thing tomorrow for Noosa, and then move on quickly to Byron Bay. I should be in Sydney by Saturday.

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Photos

Dingo!
The beaches of fraser island are crawling with dingoes, and there were tight controls to stop them getting at food and litter left by tourists.

The group
This is the group on our first day, as we first pulled out onto the 75 mile beach which serves as a highway on the island

Kookaburra
My first kookaburra, at base camp - Cathedral Beach. They are really tame, and like to pose for the camera.

Barbecue dinner
The covered eating area at base camp - end of day one.

Goanna!
A goanna, casually basking on a tree at base camp. Goannas area also potential scavengers on the island, and have been known to tear their way into tents if they smell food inside.

Cathedral Beach
The eastern beach was the best road on the island at low tide.

The Maheno
The rusted hulk of a shipwreck from the 1930s, Cathedral Beach.

Indian head
We saw manta rays and tiger sharks in the shallows from this viewpoint.

Indian head
A view to the south

Champagne pools
A popular swimming spot. The sea would crash over into these natural rock pools at high tide.

Inland track
This was what most of the inland roads were like - a rollercoaster ride through the rainforest.

Eating enclosure
This kind of measure was in place all over the island to stop dingoes from scavenging.

Lake Mckenzie
A beautiful perched sand lake. The water really is that colour.

The group - day 3
Day 3, after a long-overdue wash in Lake McKenzie (the showers on site cost $2)

Comments

[rachel wood]

what an experiance
hey chick all the pics are amazing. they look as if you have cut them out a mag. glad you having an ace time and meeting lots of new people. mum spoke to you yesterday, really appreciate how much you have cummunicated with her (you know she is a stress head). hope to see more blogs soon. love you, rachel x

[jo clarke]

another stress head
Hi Ben, another stress head here.Have really enjoyed looking at the photo's, just the thing for a damp december morning. I am encouraging your mum to come out to NZ for the summer holidays perhaps we could travel together. Happy travelling !