Fraser Island: White sands, bumpy roads and beach highways

On our previous trip around Australia, we skipped Fraser Island on our itinerary (mainly because the 1974 VW Kombi we travelled in was as far away from a 4WD as you can get!), but this time around, we decided to take the Ranger for a spin on the sand.

We planned to take a day trip over to the island to see what all the fuss was about, mostly because lugging all the gear for the three kids over and back for a few nights was just a bit much and also because Luke is still technically "working" each day, so internet connection is crucial! We booked our ticket on the ferry and a couple that we met in Hervey Bay asked whether they could tag along with us because they were nervous of driving off-road (ironic as Luke's "she'll be right mate" attitude was as far from their "Be prepared!" motto as possible but lucky for us, they had a tyre pressure release gauge, shovels, tow ropes, and most probably a dingo trap and emergency satellite beacon as well packed and ready if any of this stuff should be needed and no, it wasn't).

We drove our car onto the ferry at River Heads, about 20 minutes from Hervey Bay and the kids probably liked this part as much as the Island itself! A car on a boat? Bassie was in transport heaven and sat in the drivers seat of the car for much of the 40 minute trip with a big smile on his face. Once we arrived at Wanggoolba Creek, it was action stations and straight onto the sandy roads. The kids thought the bumps and lumps were funny in the beginning but soon got a bit sick of the dips and dives. Driving through the rainforest sections of the middle of the island was a nice distraction however, before we arrived at the stunning Lake McKenzie.

Walking past the many dingo signs, warning of their presence on the island and how food should only be eating in the fenced areas, we were overwhelmed with the beauty of Lake McKenzie when it finally came into view. A 'perched' lake, containing only rainwater and no groundwater with soft, pure white sand, its not hard to be impressed with this amazing natural wonder which is surrounded by dense bush. Surprisingly warm, we loved swimming in the aqua water and the kids played for ages in the clean, soft sand. When the tour buses turned up however, the feeling of being somewhere pretty remote and pretty untouched was dashed - add a hundred backpackers and Lake McKenzie resembled Bondi Beach!

Back in the car and we took the inland road over to the beach past Lake Wabby, but geepas, 20 kilometres on the map can take up longer than an hour to drive with some pretty big dips and bumps. Most of the roads were single lane tracks which meant always being on the look out for on-coming cars and finding a spot to pull off into the bush so they could pass - our relatively new car got a few scratches as a memento of the trip! And despite the wild 4WD ride, Bassie managed to nod off and slept for almost an hour as his poor little head went back and forth, back and forth until we reached 75 Mile Beach.   

We were pretty surprised about how long it actually took to cross the island and with a return ferry deadline, we decided to drive straight up to Eli Creek, a favourite tourist spot. It was much smoother driving on the sand, and we actually had tour buses fly past us (and shared the beach with landing aeroplanes) and even went past a parked policeman in a 4WD monitoring the 80km per hour speed limit and doing the odd breath test I imagine. The kids thought driving through the little creek crossings were fun and Luke didn't have too bad a time of it either!

Arriving at Eli Creek and the place was really packed, with 4WD's lining the creek and visitors setting up tents and picnic rugs, some for a short stop off like us and other's who were camping on the island, settling in for the day. We made the 5 minute walk along a wooden boardwalk to the start of the freshwater spring where you can jump in and ride the natural current in the freshwater all the way down to the beach. The water was crystal clear but freezing!! Arley and Sage were undeterred and rode the current again and again on their boards. I found it interesting to discover that this site was extremely important to the traditional Aboriginal Butchulla people of Fraser Island who used to meet and baptised their children there. What a different scene it is today. 

We had just enough time to drive another 10 minutes up the beach and check out the shipwrecked Maheno, which came ashore in cyclonic weather in 1935. The vibrant colours of the wreck were amazing and the kids loved reading about how and why the ship came to be on the island. 

Smashing it along the 75 Mile sandy Beach all the way to the Eurong turn off, where there's a resort and a few tiny shops (but all looking like they need a but if TLC), it was time to get back to board the ferry. We didn't see any dingos (and truthfully not too many people do) on our visit, but we did get a taste of some of the other wildlife as we bid farewell to the island on sunset - Midges. Or they got a taste of us, more like it! These tiny black sand flies were out in swarms as the sun went down and in seconds we had an unexpected momento from our exciting and adventurous day on Fraser Island - tiny little red bites all over our legs! Next time we'll fork out the $5 at the over-priced takeaway shop and get a postcard instead!