When the world's largest sand island turned into mud - PART II

The next day there was rain. And more rain. And a freezing wind, too. Sand turned into mud. We were going to follow the itinerary in spite of the rain and drove to the rocky outcrops of Indian Head. The rain was too icy to even get out of the car and we had to give up sightseeing for the day. 

Dingoes are all over Fraser Island. The campsites are fenced, but still you are not allowed to leave any rubbish outside because it attracts them. When we were having lunch, there were many dingoes circling around us. 

There was not much we could do in the rain. We set up camp for the night and drove out to a picnic ground with a shelter. The car had been showing signs of dying all day, but it wasn't until at the end of the evening, when we wanted to drive back to the campsite, when it wouldn't start anymore. It was pitch-black and we only had one tiny little torch that wasn't much of use. We were trembling through the rainforest with no idea if we were going in the right direction or how far the campsite was. I was sure I could hear the dingoes around us waiting for the perfect moment to strike when one of us would fall. I really thought we would never find the way in the dark. Just when everybody was starting to lose hope, we saw a distant light coming from the campsite. And we were saved.

Dinner at the shelter

The night was freezing cold and I was shivering under a thin little blanket. I woke up in the middle of the night in the growling of the dingoes outside the tent. At least so I thought, obviously still not recovered from the scary experience. 'The dingoes are coming, the dingoes are coming!!' I screamed. It turned out to be just somebody snoring very loudly.

The last day we had to wait, and wait, and wait for somebody to come and fix the car. The rain finally stopped and the sun came out. 

Despite the nice beaches, you only step in the ocean on Fraser if you want to get eaten by a shark. However, Fraser is full of beautiful freshwater lakes. Our last stop before leaving the island was Lake McKenzie. 

White silica sand that is so pure that you can even use it for washing your teeth or cleaning jewellery. The clearest water. The water is actually so clean that there is hardly any life in the lake. You can drink the water and it is better than tap water. Really a gorgeous place. We were really loving it, especially after all the rain and wind, it was like arriving in paradise, and I never wanted to leave. Unfortunately, we had a ferry to catch...

The weather and the car breaking down on Fraser was really disappointing. There were so many places that we didn't get to see. Still, the places that we did see were awesome and we had a great time despite the rain. I can only imagine how good it would have been with a nice weather.  Fraser was definitely the highlight of the trip so far. Not only because of the beautiful island with the sandy beaches, sand dunes and lakes, or because of the fun times we had, but because I found something much more amazing on this muddy little island than I ever could have imagined.

When the world's largest sand island turned into mud - PART I

The world's largest sand island, Fraser Island, was the place I had been looking forward to the most. It is one of the world's greatest natural wonders and a world heritage listed area together with places such as Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kakadu National Park. It is 4WD only, so we booked a self-drive tour. We were going to stay on the island for two nights. We got the trip cheap together with a sailing trip to the Whitsundays, both for the price of one, including also two nights at a hostel and lots of freebies. 

We left our Jucy to Hervey Bay, where our Fraser adventure would start. There we had a briefing, where we met one Irish girl, two British guys and one Aussie, who we would be sharing the car with. We were given instructions on sand driving and other essential information about the island. There has been a lot of accidents on Fraser because of self-driving backpackers such as us speeding on the beach and ending up upside down. Therefore they are planning to prohibit self-drive tours in the future.

We spent the night before the trip in the luxury of a hostel and woke up fresh and excited. A short ferry ride took us to the island. The weather was sunny and perfect. First we drove through the world's only rainforests growing on sand dunes. A bumpy ride, with heads going up and down, side to side and banging on the ceiling, took us to 75-Mile Beach highway. Yes, there is actually a highway on the beach. 

First stop was Lake Wabby, one of the hundred freshwater dune lakes on Fraser. Deep, green water, lots of catfish, surrounded by high sand dunes. When we got there, a group of guys in the water were yelling at us: 'Jucy! It's the Jucy girls! How are you?' At first we didn't recognize them, but it was the guys from Byron Bay, who wouldn't move in front of the supermarket. Small world. Anyway, we had fun fooling around in the water with a log that we found. 

The next stop was Eli Creek. 

The most famous shipwreck on Fraser, Maheno, was the biggest ship before the Titanic. Looks like its journey didn't end much better.

The last stop was the Pinnacles, multicoloured cliffs and sand formations. 

It was time to set up camp, cook dinner and play drinking games, what else. I kept myself busy getting acquainted with the cute Aussie guy...


In the evening it started to rain.


TO BE CONTINUED...