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WHITE VISITS
FRASER ISLAND©
The island is the largest sand island
in the world, but apart from that,
it seemed rather otherworldly to me.
Last September, an invitation to attend a scientific meeting at the Kingfisher Bay Resort on Fraser Island, gave me a chance to visit, as one of the organizers described it, heaven on earth.
Fraser Island is located off the east coast of Australia, north of Brisbane and requires some effort to get there.
This may partially explains why I felt so relaxed while there: it feels as if you have left the known world!Fraser Island became a World Heritage site in 1992 and is managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.
The island’s claim to fame is that it is the largest sand island in the world, but apart from that, it seemed rather otherworldly to me.
To access the island you can fly in a small plane, drive or take the tilt train north about 300 kilometers from Brisbane to Hervey Bay and then take a boat across the Great Sandy Strait to the west side of the island.
I stayed at the comfortable Kingfisher Bay Resort which has all the amenities, but whose buffet meals lacked a certain level of quality that I would have expected at such a location.Fortunately, the meeting didn’t take up all the time, as there is a lot to do here. The island is criss crossed by a network of sandy tracks left over from the days of timber and sand mining and 4 wheel drive is the only way to get around. Although you can rent from the resort and drive yourself, I took advantage of the ranger-guided 4 wheel drive bus tours to see what I could of the island.
The rangers are knowledgeable about the flora and fauna and provide a brief history of the island while driving between locations. With no worries about getting stuck in the sand, it’s a perfect excursion.
We visited McKenzie Lake first, one of the island’s many perched lakes, lakes which are “perched” high in the sand dunes which make up the island and which do not have an outlet.
These lakes are slightly acidic and don’t support many fish, but do have a population of tortoises and crustaceans.
The lakes all have beautiful soft white sandy beaches, different from the yellow color of the sand on the rest of the island. I did go for a quick dip in the lake, but as it was rather chilly and windy that day, I didn’t stay for long.Our next stop was at Central Station, formerly the headquarters for the forestry industry on the island and now the Park Ranger Headquarters.
There are still a few old buildings left from the times when whole families lived on the island and children were schooled while the men went to work. Here you can picnic, camp and take a wonderful walk along crystal clear Wanggoolba Creek along a boardwalk.
The water was amazingly clear – what at first looked like a layer of scum floating on the surface of the water was actually the sandy bottom of the creek.
For the next attraction, we headed all the way out to the east side of the island to face the roaring breakers of the Pacific.
This is 75 Mile Beach where the beach sand is firm enough to be used as an unofficial island highway.
Another popular way to access the island with your own vehicle is to take a barge from the Inskip Point to the southernmost point of the island and drive all the way up 75 Mile Beach, but make sure you take note of the tides.
The beach is full of activity: people fishing, buses driving and small planes buzzing about.
Yes, small sightseeing planes use the beach as a take off and landing strip my 20 minutes in one of them offered a great view of the island.
At certain times of the year, it is also a great way to see humpback whales. From the plane I was also able to see the sandblows, large depressions in the forest covering filled with sand located in the large dunes above the beach.
This unique feature is thought to have been caused by the tramping of many feet and destruction of plantlife as the original inhabitants used these areas as camping sites.Along the beach are a few rustic resorts, houses for rent or in use as B&Bs, but really, not much evidence of habitation.
There are some unusual rock formations that protrude onto the beach, the shipwreck of the Maheno and the outlets of some lovely creeks, including Eli Creek.
The drawback to the guided bus tours is that there is not enough time to spend exploring the interesting facets of this part of the island. Swimming is not allowed on this coast because of the strong undertows.
The island is also crossed by sandy walking tracks great for short day walks, and with a bit of planning for places to stay, a multi-day hike would make a great getaway from the rest of the world.
The island also has a fascinating human history which you can read about in the book entitled “Fraser Island” by Angela Burger.
There are plenty of websites which give information about accessing the island, accommodation and what to do while there.
Make sure you are prepared for your trip to this wild area, but don’t read too much in advance as you don’t want to take away all the surprises that await you.
www.kingfisherbay.com/indexthree.html
www.dkd.net/fraser/index.html
