A 4x4 safari on Frasier island

We continued down the east coast of Australia on a 14 hour bus ride to the town of Hervey Bay. That evening we met the group of people we would be traveling with for the next few days: Ian & Lousie(Ireland), Melvin (Canada), Michelle & Rob (England), Christine (South Korea)and Amy ( Japan). The nine of us split into groups to prepare for the 4x4 safari trip. We volenteered to be the camp chefs, so the two of us set off for the grocery store for supplies. The next morning everone piled into the Land Rover and headed off to the ferry for Frasier Island.

Frasier Island is the largest sand island in the world. It is an incredibly large 75 mile sandbar. The island is densley forested and there is also around 200 lakes. While the turquoise colored water surrounding the island looks tempting, they say it is home to hungry, man eating sharks. This makes swimming in the ocean out of the question!! One of the greatest things about Frasier is the fact that is is still feels so untouched.

The only way to travel the island is by a 4x4 on the network of sandy tracks or the long streches of empty beach.

With Rob at the wheel we started our way across Frasier island. The track was far from smooth and those of us in the back tightened our seatbelts to prevent our heads from hitting the cieling. After 2 hours of weaving our way through the woods we reached Lake McKenzie. This lake is known as the window lake because of its incredible clarity. We cooled off in the water and enjoyed the sun when it managed to peek through the clouds. It was turning out to be a great to be a great day.

Later that evenning we found a perfect place to camp on the beach, sheltered from the wind by a group of pines. The two of us began dinner while the others set up the tents and started a fire. The burgers and potatoes were delicious. The smell even attracted a wild Dingo. We spent the rest of the evenning around the warm glow of the camp fire talking about our wonderfull day.

The rising sun illuminated the sand dunes and the salty mist in the air was palpable.

We started down the beach with Jon at the wheel ( watching cautiously for the bush turkeys)!!! We reached Indian head, one of the few rock outcrops on the island. From high up on the rock you can look down into the sea and see sharks, whales, many rays and turtles.

The Mahano ship wreck was an intersting site,the rusted hulk of iron seeming to rest in the middle of the beach. The Maheno was an old passenger ship from the early 1900's that was blown ashore in a powerfull typhoon. The waves and salt have taken their toll on the Maheno, coroding out whole sections of the ship.

We spent the second half of the day at a place called Champagne pools. This is the one place people can swim in the ocean with out the fear of being chomped by a Great White shark. The pools are protected by sharp, barnacle covered rocks. The waves crash over the rocks, filling the pools with bubbling champagne like water. We had a grand time playing in the waves that crashed over the rocks at high tide.

That evening we found another superb spot on the beach to camp. We made the group a pasta creation that everyone loved. The day was topped off drinks and smores by the fire.

In the morning when the sun kissed our tents, we arose to enjoy our last day on Frasier. We drove south for 2 hours before reaching the lake Wabby hiking trail. From the beach, we hiked 45 minutes over long and windy sand dunes to the beautiful lake. The deepest of the islands lakes, it is surrounded on 3 sides by Eucaliptus trees where on the other side is a massive sand dune whose steep slope crashes into the lake. We charged down the steep dunes and plunged into the water of lake Wabby. The group enjoyed a lakeside picnic before heading back to the truck.

We headed off for the ferry terminal on the other side of the island. We had not realized how slow going the track would be and as we crawled along it became apparent we would probably not make it to the ferry to take us back to the mainland of Australia. One Australian driver we passed responded to our question of how long to the ferry terminal with a simple 'Mate I can gaurentee your never going to make it'!!!! We gave Rob the go ahead to put the pedal to the metal, even though it meant for us in the back to be bounced around like pinballs. We seem to hit every hurdle in our cannon ball charge to the ferry. Whether it was a practically impasible section of track, a stuck truck infront of us or getting caught behind a tour bus. With good team work we were able to overcome the challenges and made it to the ferry with only minutes to spare.

That evenning we met up with our new friends for drinks at the hostel bar. We talked about the amazing weekend and our close call of almost missing the ferry. This experience along with the many other has made Australia one our most favorite countries.