IsTravels: 4WD Fun in Fraser Island

Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island - it's a gigantic sandbar measuring 120km by 15km. It allegedly contains more sand than the Sahara and is covered in a combination of rainforest, 200 lakes and sand dunes. There are no paved roads on Fraser Island, so a 4WD is necessary. You basically have 3 choices - Drive yourself (usually in a group with other self-drivers), take a small 4x4 organized tour or take a large 4WD bus tour. I knew I didn't fancy the self drive option - having heard a number of horror stories of overturned vehicle (1 per week) and lots of people getting stuck. I decided to take an organized tour - opting for a smaller group version. Being a little north of 30, I thought I would avoid the 'party safari bus'... I arrived at my pick-up location and discovered that my tour buddies all ranged from 18-20.... way to make me feel old!

Taking the ferry from Rainbow beach to Fraser, we arrived at high tide which meant taking a track across the middle of the Island to our camp site. Within 15 mins on the island we were brought to a halt, because a car ahead of us had burst in to flames - we had to wait until the petrol tank had exploded, so that it would be safe to pass!!!

At that point I was pretty glad I didn't opt for the self-drive option :)

Highlights from Fraser included:

Visiting Lake Wabby, which is accessed via a climb up an enormous sand dune. The bonus being that once you had climbed up one side of the sand dune, you could roll down the other side into the water. The downside being that when you roll down a slope - apparently you look like a dead and accessible meal for the local dingoes! We all had to spend a little extra time in the lake waiting for the dingo to decide he was bored of waiting for us to reemerge!

Visiting Indian Head and finally seeing whales breaching in the ocean

Seeing the wreck of the Maheno, which was a passenger liner blown ashore in 1935 in a cyclone and actually sits on the shore

Swimming in Lake McKenzie - the largest and most famous of Fraser's 200 lakes. The water is stunningly clear and the sand is white

Helping to dig out and push numerous stuck cars - the funniest of which being the one that moved quicker than I did after we started pushing and me ending up face down, flat in the sand!