Fraser Island 4×4 safari

Apologies, this will be a long post.

Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island. It has formed over the past two million years from sediments swept up from New South Wales, and is now recognised as a World Heritage Site. The only way to get around on the island is by 4×4. We booked ourselves on a self-drive trip with Koala Tours for two nights and three days exploring the island, cooking and cleaning up after ourselves, going without showers, shooing off wild dingoes, camping on the beaches and shitting in the woods.

We gathered for a briefing on Wednesday afternoon where we were put in groups of 11 for each vehicle going on the trip. In ours we had two other English lads, a Scot, two Swedish girls (only one of them was hot) and three girls from Northern Ireland. We were shown a safety video and given three sheets of paper: a food checklist, meat order form and an alcohol order form. We filled in what beer and barbeque stuff we wanted then the 11 of us bombarded the local SPAR supermarket to get all the other essentials: fruit, milk, bread, rubbish bags, matches, bog roll etc. We stored the supplies and, because we were setting our alarms for 5am the following morning, only went out for a few beers.

I wasn’t aware that 5am existed but apparently it does. We got up and loaded the 4WD with all our food and beer, and gathered for a final briefing, setting off for the ferry port at around 8.30am. It’s a bit of a tight squeeze fitting 11 people with 11 rucksacks, 11 tents and 11 sleeping bags into a vehicle of any size. Ours was supposedly fit for the job but we were certainly pretty cramped.

Arriving at Fraser, Richard, an athletic Scot with a penchant for the word fuck drove us inland a little way and we disembarked for a trek in the jungle. I was under the impression, given it’s the world’s largest sand island, that that’s about all there was to it - one big island of sand. I wasn’t expecting to discover a thriving and complex ecosystem with huge canopies and dense forest. I thought sand was relatively infertile but I was wrong, the centre of the island is thick with plant life which must be getting their nutrients from somewhere. So through the jungle we trekked, along the winding walkways and between the hanging creepers and towering satinay trees, watching out for spiders and lizards. It was a good couple of kilometres and interesting and unexpectedly quiet. We felt as if we were in the movie Predator.

Back in the 4×4 we trundled farther along the bumpy tracks, nine of us in the back being shuffled around like raffle tickets in a tombola. We stopped for a couple of hours at the magnificent Lake McKenzie. The island has an abundance of fresh water lakes, all of which are inviting and crocodile-free. McKenzie is a particularly inviting lake, it looks just like a beautiful tropical sea only the water is completely fresh. I actually drank the stuff! The sand is bright white and, well, it’s just a bit of a haven really. From there we hit the east coast beach which serves as the island’s highway stretching north to south in virtually a straight line. You’re allowed up to 80kph along here, tide permitting. There are designated camping sites but they adopt a 9pm no-noise policy so if you want to party like it’s 1999 you’ve got to set up camp on the beach. Tents errected, we cooked up our sausages, burgers and steaks and opened up the crate of beer. Beach fires are not permitted, but to the envy of neighbouring safari groups I had the foresight to bring some candles which I poked into a pot full of sand in the middle of our ground sheet as a makeshift fire. So the 11 of us got drunk, stuffed ourselves silly and played drinking games around the ‘campfire’. After an uncomforatble night’s kip we were up to watch the sunrise and continued north to a craggy cliff face of Aboriginal importance called Indian Head. Here, you walk up to the top and get great views for miles around. Most people though, including me, go up there to spot sharks. The area around Indian Head is a breeding ground for Tiger sharks. It’s for this reason people visiting Fraser Island are warned not to swim in the sea. Unsuprisingly most people oblige. We saw quite a few of them, though only small one’s: two or three feet.

Afterwards we all walked to the end of a long beach to what’s called Champagne Pools. Basically it’s an area on the sea front protected by rocks where water creeps in and fills dips in the sand which are good fun to run and jump in or just lay down in one of the shallower pools. In the afternoon we had to take a bit of a detour because the tide came in and we missed our chance to go south, so instead he stopped for a while at the honey coloured waters of Lake Boomanjin before setting up camp on the beach again. Proceedings were similar to our first night only not as severe. We were all pretty tired. One thing that struck me that night were the stars. I’ve never seen so many up there before. There were millions. I suppose it’s because we were practically in the middle of nowhere. You could literally lay there looking up for hours.

Day three began with a bowl of cornflakes and we hopped in the sufficator, I mean the 4×4, and went south. The Swedish girls, Leena and Camilla, were adamant we should go to Lake Wabby but the rest of us weren’t keen on the 45-minute walk involved to get there. In the end we gave in and it was a good job too. Firstly the walk only took about half an hour and it was a very scenic one at that: twisting tracks led through thick forest, suddenly opening out now and again to reveal incredible views of the ocean. It was like being in an episode of Lost. Lake Wabby itself is great. It’s a small but deep patch of water slowly being engulfed by growing sand dunes. They reckon in a century’s time it will be gone completely but until then you can run down the steep dune and launch into the lake. Once our energy from clambering up the dune had expired we all decided to spend our remaining couple of hours back at Lake McKenzie. The return ferry brought us back to Hervey Bay at 2.30pm where we had to painstakingly remove and return all our equipment to get our $60 deposits back. We were one cup and a knife and folk short but we managed to avoid a fine by bribing the guys at the store with a six-pack.

I’d recommend Fraser to anyone visiting Australia and travelling up the east coast. A self-drive safari is definitely the best way to do it. It can be difficult at times getting along with so many other strangers in such a confined environment but as we found out you don’t stay strangers for long. It’s a wicked experience.

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