Fraser Island

Day 12
I woke up around 5:30am to pack up the rest of my things and get picked up by a taxi to go to Noosa Nomads Hostel where the Fraser Island tour began. After putting our luggage in storage (we only were allowed a small bag for the trip) we got on a coach bus to Rainbow Beach, where we picked up our 4x4 Toyota SUVs and grabbed a ferry to Fraser Island. There was one tour guide on the trip and 4 total cars, 8 people in each car (3 drivers in each, you had to be over the age of 21 and have had a license for over a years, I was in car 4). My car had a couple in their late 20s from Ireland (Sarah and Marcus), 2 people from England (Tasha and Ewan), a girl from Canada (Mia) and another guy (can’t remember where he was from or his name). Myself and the Irish couple were the only ones who could legally drive in our car for the next 3 days. After getting off the ferry Sarah drove on the beach to the hostel we were staying the next 2 nights. We unpacked lunch as it started pouring out (hardest rainfall I may have ever seen) and started chopping the veggies for sandwiches. I was unaware that on this tour we were all responsible for cooking our own meals (my car was responsible for lunch sandwiches, so cutting the veggies, laying out whatever meat we were having and cleaning up from lunch), car 2 was responsible for cooking and cleaning up dinner. For the amount I spent on the tour, I thought they would at least cook the meals for us. We ate and once the rain died down, we got back into the cars and made our way on the beach and off road paths to Lake Mackenzie, a warm crystal blue lake with the whitest sand that can be used to exfoliate your skin. Unfortunately due to sharks, sting rays, and jellyfish you are unable to swim in the ocean at Fraser Island because it is too unsafe; but they have different lakes, rivers and natural pools that are safe to swim in. We spent about an hour here swimming and getting to know each other on the tour. I grew up on a lake and have been to so many in my life, but nothing compared to this. The water was so clear you could see everything. Must see while on Fraser Island! I drove back to the hostel from Lake Mackenzie and with the narrow paths and all the mud from the rain it took a little to get used to. The steering wheel is on the right of the car and in Australia they drive on the left side of the road (first time I ever had to drive like this, and it was in a car of strangers whose lives were in my hands… no pressure). No one was allowed to bring their own alcohol so we all had to purchase it at the convenience store on the hostel grounds, which was very overpriced, so I only bought a six pack of beer. After a Aussie BBQ dinner of potatoes, sausages, veggies and bread we all hung out at the picnic tables near the campsite playing drinking games. The first game we played was think while you drink and the second was good day bruce (a really fun and confusing at first Australian drinking game). We got a free drink voucher for the onsite bar and I was the first in my room to go to bed. Half the group was camping and half were staying in dorms, I was staying in a 6 person dorm and it wasn’t great. There was no AC just a fan, it was dirty with a very small bathroom that had a broken sliding door. The first night was unbelievably hot so I slept awful.

Day 13
We had to get up early for brekkie and be ready at the cars by 7:30am for our day out. Marcus drove in the morning and our first stop of the day was at SS Maheno (a washed up shipwreck on the beach of Fraser Island). It was originally a commercial ship but was converted into a hospital ship during WWI and then returned to its commercial life once the war ended. The ship was eventually sold to a shipbreaker’s yard in Japan, so they took the propellers off to tow it from Sydney however the towing line broke during a cyclone and they weren’t able to reattach it. A few days later it washed up on the beach, they were unable to return it back into the water so there it stayed, laying on the beach. Now it is a tourist attraction. We stopped here for only about 20 minutes enough time to hear about the history and take some pictures. Next we headed to Indian Head, a coastal lookout named by Captain Cook (first recorded to sight Fraser Island) when he saw the aboriginal people (Australia’s native people) all gathered at the lookout when he was sailing by, and the name stuck. It is just a short inclined walk to the top where you get incredible views and if you are lucky, you can see some great ocean wildlife (we only saw a stingray). We had time to enjoy the scenery and take pictures before heading to our next stop, which was probably one of my favorite spots on Fraser Island, the Champagne Pools. The pools are naturally made by the ocean waves coming in and pooling into the rocks, the name comes from all the bubbles that form after the waves crash against the rocks. You got to enjoy the ocean water without all the things that could kill you in the water at Fraser Island. It was really amazing to see and I felt like a kid again swimming waiting for the waves to hit and come into the pool. We stopped at a park for lunch and then I was back in the driver’s seat (this time driving on the beach which is like driving in a huge snow storm when you are sliding around the road) to Eli Creek, our last stop for the day. It started raining right when we got there but cleared up really quick. We floated down the creek, which was freezing, and then spent some time laying out in the sun. We even had a dingo (wild dogs found in Australia, they are pretty aggressive) come over to our car and linger around before our tour guide scared it off. After a long day we finally made our way back to the hostel to have dinner. We had spaghetti bolognese with garlic bread, which was surprisingly good. The hostel had a beer pong competition which I went to watch and then I went to bed around 10ish. I realized that the night before the windows in our room were closed, so I opened them for the night and it really made a difference.

Day 14
Another early start to the day, after brekkie we packed up our bags and brought them to the trucks at 7am to head out for the day. Our last stop was Lake Wabby, a lake created by Hammerstone Sandblow (a large sand dune) which is adjacent to the lake. The lake will eventually disappear due to the sand blowing into it. It is about a 40 minute walk through the woods to get to the lake and when you finally get out of the woods all you see is miles of sand. As you walk through all the sand you stumble upon a greenish colored lake down a very steep sand hill. The lake has catfish in it and garra rufa (the fish that are used to eat dead skin during fish pedicures). The lake wasn’t really somewhere that you would go to lay out and get a tan, since it is a very steep hill and then drops right into the water, but it was a nice place to cool off and spend a morning. It is crazy that in the future this lake will no longer exist. After about 2 hours, we jumped back into the car and I drove us on the beach to the ferry. The ferry took us to Rainbow Beach where we had lunch, dropped our trucks off and hopped on the coach bus back to Noosa Heads. We got back into town around 4pm and I grabbed some sushi then got a shuttle at 7pm to Brisbane where I was going to spend a couple of days. Unfortunately, my shuttle had a connection at the Brisbane airport where I had to wait 90 minutes for the next shuttle that would take me to my hostel (Brisbane City YHA) in Brisbane.Read more