Fraser Island

Playing Survivor

To get on and around Fraser Island, you need a 4WD. The cheapest and a popular way to do it with backpackers is to go on a self-guided tour with other backpackers. What happens is you sign up to do this, and the hostel or tour company will throw a group of 9-11 people together, randomly it seems. They give you a pretty run down 4WD, some camping equipment, food, and some vague instructions, and send you on your way for 3 days and 2 nights. Immediately after I arrived on Rainbow Beach, I attended a briefing with other backpackers going the next day to Fraser. We were broken up into groups. Mine had 10 people in it, and 7 of them were 20 yr olds! Luckily, the other 2 were girls in the late 20's and we got along really well. Still, it was a challenge to coordinate and plan things as a group - especially when it came to cooking and cleaning up. Most of the time, it was the usual half of the group doing all the work.

Fraser Island

The first day of the trip was pissing rain, but most of the day was spent driving up the island (start in Harvey Bay instead of Rainbow Beach if you do this trip). We drove on the beach some, and then inland over the rough roads. Our camp site for the night - Indian Heads - was at near the top of the island so we had lots of ground to cover. We stopped in Elli creek for a swim in the pouring rain. It was almost like a scene from a military movie where your sneaking through uncharted grounds. On the way up to Indian Head from there, we saw the Maheno Shipwreck, and some coloured sands. Once in Indian Head, we went up to the sand dunes to catch sunset, but we missed it. Still beautiful up there tho. At night, the sky cleared some and we can see many stars. There are no lights (or facilities for toilets & showers) at Indian Heads so the stars are bright. I think I saw my first shooting star. It was too bad we would be eaten alive by bugs if we slept outside.

The second day began with an early rise (0430) to catch the sunrise from Indian Head. Absolutely beautiful. Some people even saw sharks in the water below. After going back for a bit of a nap, the rest of the morning was spent at Champagne pools. We could not leave the area until the afternoon due to tide restrictions. The Champagne pool is an area on the beach protected by sharks from the rocks. But we had to be careful of the crashing waves coming over the rocks. There were also other rocks people were cutting their feet on. The waves were strong at high tide and hard to swim. But I stayed there all morning going in and out in some of the calmer bits, being careful to slather on sunscreen often as it was blazing hot. It was better than hanging out at the campsite in this heat. Once we were able to get going, we stopped at Elli Creek again, but today there were many tourists here because of the good weather. In the end, we've ran out of time and missed Lake Wabby. We went on to Dilli Village for the night where there were some facilities. I drove most of the day, and while it was fun driving along the beach or 4WD inland, it was quite tiring with lots of driving. I was pretty beat by end of day.
We headed over to Lake Mackenzie first thing in the morning on the third day, tho it was not soon enough for those of us wanting to spend a lot of time there. Lake Mackenzie was the most beautiful lake I've ever seen - such a clear blue water. The water temperature was just right for me. Also, the lake was large enough and out of the way that it was not so jam packed with tourists, even tho lots of people were there. It was so great for swimming. After couple hours tho, we had to get going. We had to make lunch and get down to Hook Point to catch our ferry.

The Group and Trip Organization

Although the island was magnificent, we missed out on spending lots of time in the best places, and seeing some other parts of the island. Part of the reason was due to inefficiency of the group. Half of the group didn't help out a whole lot, slowing the progress when we tried to pack up and get going after camp, meals, etc. The other problem was poor planning I think. The tour company gave us an itinerary to follow with lots of restrictions on time due to high tide on the beaches. We ended up spending hours and hours at Champagne pool, tho I would rather have been at Lake Mackenzie for it. They also didn't give us a lot of info on the island. Combined with the 3 hr drive to and from the ferry drop off to the main bits of the island, there just wasn't sufficient time to enjoy it thoroughly. Our group cohesiveness was poor, tho it could've been worse I think. Food was mediocre, and equipment - well not the very best. Our car broke down once and our torch light broke on the first night, leaving us w/o light on the second night. I suppose this is the price you pay for a budget trip. The group I think, is always a hit-or-miss situation. I've been with some really good groups, and some that were okay. This one was by far the worst, but I could think of much worse people to be with. 5 of the kids were actually a group of Swiss folks, and they kind of kep to themselves a lot. They weren't very proactive either and kind of slowed the trip a bit I think. The other 2 kids were actually great - they put in more than their fare share of team effort. As for me, I'm actually lucky that there were 2 girls I got on well with and could share the responsibility of leading the group.