Fraser Island - K'Gari (Paradise)

The previous day on Noosa we had booked a bus to Hervey Bay in order to visit Fraser Island, the World’s largest sand island and from what we had heard a tropical paradise. We hopped on board a greyhound bus to Hervey Bay, which took around 5 hours, and throughout the journey I thought of the last time I caught a greyhound bus…on my daily commute from Swansea to Cardiff. It was quite nice getting on the bus and not heading to work, the 30 degree heat and cloudless sky was also quite nice too! We arrived in Hervey Bay just as the tourist centre was closing, we made a dash for the entrance and the very kind lady let us in and kept the shop open whilst we bought a tour to Fraser Island the following morning. After booking our trip we headed to our motel and decided to have a relaxing evening and just popped out for a meal. We wanted to rest up because we had an early start in the morning as the tour bus was picking us up at 07:30.

We managed to get up on time (6 weeks of lie ins meant that getting up for 07:30 was pretty tough!) and were picked up by our tour guide, Mike, a stocky, jovial Aussie who was pleased with my choice of steak for lunch (we had to make the decision at pick up at 07:30, I’m indecisive at the best of times let alone 07:30 in the morning). We had managed to get ourselves tickets for the premium tour (because the normal tour was fully booked) which only cost an extra $30 more (we even received a discount because there were no spaces left on the normal tour) but we were glad that we had because there were only 16 of us on our tour, whereas the normal tour had around 32 people. We made our way to Hervey Bay ferry port where we boarded a barge that carried us over the water to Fraser Island. The trip over was nice, we even had a sausage roll (kindly heated up for us) and drink to help wake us up.

Our 4x4 bus

The best way to describe Fraser Island is by using its aboriginal name, K’Gari but pronounced “Gurrie” (I’m reading this from the guide book so pretty sure it’s correct) which means “paradise”. I could leave it at that but I’m sure more detail is wanted by some.

We boarded a 4x4 bus (which was massive) and headed towards Central Station, which was the original logging site on the island. Some of the trees on Fraser Island were for years logged and used as ship masts and railway sleepers due to the strength of the wood. The loggers were based at Central Station where they even constructed a small school for their children. The logging on Fraser Island came to a halt in 1992 when the area was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The 4x4 ride was a little bumpy as the roads were really just sand tracks through the island. After our brief stop off at Central Station, where we were told to beware of local dingoes (supposedly the most pure dingoes in Australia due to the lack of interbreeding with other dogs) as they were sometimes spotted around camping areas, we headed towards Lake Mackenzie, the iconic lake on Fraser Island.

Freshwater Creek

 

When we arrived at the lake we were informed by Mike (the fountain of Fraser Island knowledge) that the water in the lake was the same ph as human skin and hair so if you took a swim it would feel like you had washed your hair. We were also informed of the fine sand in the lake that, should you exfoliate your skin with it, would act as a beauty treatment of sorts and also was useful in polishing jewellery/revealing fake gold/silver jewellery. The lake was stunning, the water was cool, crystal clear and refreshing as the day was proving to be very hot. We stayed there for approximately 45 minutes before we had to head back to the bus and move to our next stop.

  

Our next stop was the only resort on the island, Eulong Beach resort. As Fraser Island is now a World Heritage site, only pre-existing private properties are allowed on the island, no new buildings are allowed so the extremely farsighted (or lucky) owners of the resort have a nice monopoly on the island. We had our lunch and chatted with a couple from New South Wales and an American father and daughter from Minnesota. The meal was okay and we had a free drink before we had to get back on the bus and head towards 75 mile beach – the island’s famous beach which also served as its highway and airport.

The speed limit on 75 mile beach was 80kmph (I know, it would have been better if the speed limit was also 75mph) and we were keeping pretty close to that speed as we flew past fishermen who had left their cars dotted along the beach as well as sunbathers lying on the sands. It seemed bizarre to think that the stretch of beach was the island’s highway, as the waves came quite far up the beach. We were more surprised at the reckless fishermen and sunbathers dotted along the beach that the buses and 4x4s (there is no way anything smaller than a 4x4 could manage in the sand tracks on the island) had to swerve around.

As we cruised along the beach we saw a pair of small airplanes idling to one side. Mike stopped the bus and on jumped a jokey pilot double act who apparently flew the planes. One looked remarkably similar to Jonah Hill (from 21 Jump Street) and he wore a baggy pair of shorts and made a slight attempt to look professional by half tucking his shirt into his shorts. They offered a flight above the island for $70pp and, after some persuasion from myself, Nicola agreed to go for it (see next blog post for details of this flight).

After our rather hair raising flight, we boarded the bus and continued to head towards the coloured sand (a.k.a The Pinnacles) which, despite its name, was not very colourful. A few black streaks and lighter shades of sand (I guess I was expecting blues and reds or something like that – the amazing popping sand in Noosa had set my expectations of sand pretty high). After a brief stop at the coloured sands we headed to the Maheno Wreck. A bit of history... the ship was built in Australia and served in the first world war, it was then refitted to become a luxury cruise liner and later bought by the Japanese. As it was being towed to Japan it was struck by a storm causing it to become washed up on Fraser Island. Since that day it has been constantly pounded by the waves and is now almost unrecognisable. After a few pictures by the wreck we headed back down the beach to Eli Creek, a point on the island where the fresh water meets the salt water. On any other day it would have been lovely, however, when we arrived it appeared that the local hillbilly redneck families had also decided to visit the island. We managed to avoid flying beer cans and riotous children and had a little look around, but as two of the larger buses (carrying around 32 people on the normal tour option) had also arrived, the place was now full of backpackers playing volleyball and partying in the creek. We only had 20 minutes or so at the creek and we were getting pretty tired by this point (as it was now around 16:00) so we got back on the bus and spent a few minutes chilling out before the rest of our tour re-embarked and we headed back to Eulong Resort where we were due to have afternoon tea.

 

On the way to the resort however, we had a nice surprise when we spotted a dingo family (mother and four cubs) near the entrance to the resort.

After our afternoon tea we headed back to the barge (after a brief stop to tow a 4x4 out of the sand) where we sailed back to the mainland as the sun was setting; a lovely sight, and a great way to end a wonderful day.