Keeping up with Beth

Fraser Island was another group tour. I wasn’t really sure what to expect except an early morning, and potentially some swimming. I arrived at the pick up point to see some crazy monster truck looking thing. It was black with massive tires and it was a bus, so it was pretty big. There were a few other people stood waiting to get on, so I joined them and the driver did a little intro. We had to wait 10 minutes as they were taking a Pitt stop- many people had come from Noosa so had already been on the bus for a while, but it was a short 20 minute drive from Rainbow Beach where I was, to the beach crossing. The bus was a 4X4 and I was a bit shocked when I first saw it, why would we need such a huge truck for a tour round an island?

As you can tell I didn’t do my research on the island before I left.

Fraser Island is beautiful, with an awesome history and so many stories. It is one of the most incredible wonderful places- it defies so many rules of nature. It is the largest sand island anywhere, with a 75 mile long beach (called 75 mile beach, how creative) and spreading right in the centre if the island- made purely of sand, is a rainforest.

A rainforest that has survived the sandy ground for thousands of years.

Apparently due to it being purely sand, the island can hold months supplies of water below the ground. Fresh water too, the rainforest couldn’t survive on the edge of the sea, as rainforests don’t grow in salt water, so there is a distinct separation from the beach and the rainforest on the island.

This is why we needed a truck. The island has no real roads. The beach that you arrive on is a highway. Possibly one of the most dangerous highways. Obviously people walk across it as it is a beach, and the driver had stories of people sunbathing and hanging out on the beach so clearly unaware of the dangers. Due to the road being sand, you can’t hear the vehicles approaching you, and stopping a vehicle on dry sand can make it tricky to get going again, so it is highly advised you just find a different stretch of beach that doesn’t have cars or trucks going 80KPH across if you fancy a beach day. The island has plenty of lakes and such meaning, there is plenty of options that aren’t highways!

On route, we were told a story about how the island got its name, through the Fraser family, Captain Fraser who discovered the land- not realising exactly what is was at the time, and his wife Eliza who came back with horror stories of how the aboriginal people had treated her.

I won’t bore you with the story, apparently she has written a book about it, if you are super interested and want to know (its a mighty interesting story if you have the time to read it), or I’m sure the general storyline can be found online if you want to know more.

But of course there are two sides to every story, and the island had aboriginal dwellers long before the Europeans came to invade Australasian territory. They have a much more beautiful story of how the island came to exist and got its name K’Gari.

I can’t remember it exactly, but it came from two spirits, one of which was sent down to earth to be among the people, and loved it so much, the other spirit decided to give her permanent residence, as a sandy island of the coast of Australia. Again, if you’re more interested in the story- it is beautiful, then the internet is a glorious thing! We were also repeatedly told that the word K’Gari means Paradise Which you can feel when you step on the island- it is pure bliss.

On our journey we stopped at couple of places, so we first stopped along the highway- which is totally normal obviously, for some morning tea. We stopped by a beautiful creek, one of many across the island we were informed, and we could very carefully take an adventure over to the sea, and admire the view.

As we continued our adventure, we stopped behind another tour truck to be told that right outside, along the beach, sat quite happily was a Dingo! Across the rest of Australia, dingos are often not pure breeds as they can breed with other normal domestic dogs and do, so pure breed dingos aren’t common. That is not allowed on Fraser Island in any capacity. They pride themselves on having the purest breed of dingos anywhere! They are super cute, and look so tame and sweet, just like any other pet dog, and I don’t think I was the only one cooing and wishing I could sneak it onto the bus to take home as a pet. But unfortunately that isn’t allowed, in fact across all Australia I wasn’t allowed to steal any animals funnily enough, much to the disappointment of me and my family! Alas, I had seen a wild dingo! We carried on our journey and also spotted some manta rays in the sea flicking up to the surface which was awesome!

After a while driving, and several stories of the island from our tour-guide, we arrived at the rainforest. We had the option of a quick peak into the wild life of a 2KM walk. I’m sure it will surprise you to know that I decided to take the walk and use my legs! The guide gave us a little bit of information about some of the trees, especially the important Fraser Island tree- I can’t remember the exact name, but the wood seems indestructible from water and has been used globally to build a lot of things due to this strange trait! After his little talk, we were free to follow the path on a short hike. I joined mainly because I only had a day here, and I wanted to experience as much as I could, a half hour walk seemed like nothing really, especially when if i didn’t join I would have been waiting for everyone else back on the bus anyway.

It was truly beautiful. I tried to capture some pictures, some of them were okay, but all my GoPro shots failed which is quite sad (just a reason to return though!). You could hear so many insects and wild animals and birds, and you were completely enraptured by the rainforest! It was so stunning, and such an easy walk which gives the opportunity to truly appreciate the surroundings of this mysterious island. I would thoroughly recommend it if you get the chance!

A few weeks before I went as well, apparently Prince Harry had been down there, he had done the walk, and there was a sign left on behalf of Queen Elizabeth. Obviously the island had been closed for that day, and he managed to go before all the leaves had fallen to the ground, but we found the sign left at the end of our trek before hopping back on the bus.

After that we got back on the bumpy unsteady roads, over to lake Mackenzie, one of the largest lakes of the island, yet one of many, which was completely fresh water and was totally okay and absolutely beautiful to swim in! We got down there, to see the purest white sand you’ve seen, the sand was so fine if you rub it into your skin it works as an amazing exfoliation and could clean your jewellery! I didn’t actually try that but others on the tour did. Of course I took a dip, I couldn’t just sit and stare at such amazing water that was calling my name! So I got in and relaxed into it for a good half an hour. It was warm and gentle and Ben thinking about it is calming, and makes me wish I could return. It looked like a beach and the water covered extensive distance. It was like heaven, I felt as though I was sat on a private beach or something!

Eventually we did actually have to leave, and I was getting hungry, so we headed back up to grab some lunch before we began our journey back to the mainland.

The whole experience was truly amazing, even the bumpy drive felt awesome! They offer a lot of 2 night or 3 night trips, especially at the hostels, so if you ever visit make sure to check out the trip that are on offer!

We made our way back along the highway, rushing towards the ferry. It wasn’t long til we said Goodbye K’Gari