Fraser Island

Thursday morning we were picked up bright and early for our ferry across to Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island. We had booked onto a 3 day 2 night tour, and opted to stay an extra night on our own at the end. As soon as we arrived, we were loaded up onto a 40 passenger 4WD bus, and headed off to the sandy "roads". Travelled to Basin Lake, a small lake with no rivers flowing in or out of it, then walked on through a rainforest. Even though the island is completely made of sand, there is enough decomposed organic matter on the floor to allow 40m tall eucalyptus and satinay trees to grow. A small river flowed through it that was so clear you could see the white sand perfectly on the bottom of it. Also managed to spot three goannas along the way. Back on the bus we drove in to Lake Mackenzie, a beautiful lake with pure white sand and again, crystal clear water. The sky reflected on it and you could see multiple shades of blue across the lake. Spent some time swimming before heading off to our lodge for the night.
Friday morning we went across the island to 75 Mile Beach, also known as the Great Sandy Highway, a legal roadway with road signs stuck into sand dunes. Pulled into Eli Creek, another freshwater stream that flows out into the ocean, and as narrow and shallow as it is, has a current strong enough to pull you along it. Up to the Maheno shipwreck, a passenger liner and later WWI hospital ship that eventually got washed into the beach and could not be rescued. It sits right on the edge of the beach, though now it is more than halfway covered with sand. Drove further along the beach up to the champagne pools where waves crash over a row of rocks in the water, and the sea foam gathers and feels like champagne bubbling up all around you. From there, on to Indian Head, a high point along the shore and one of only three actual rocks on the island. Spotted a stingray and several turtles in the ocean down below. From here, the water appeared to have taken on a green colour before fading to blue further out. Drove back down along the beach and eventually home, where $10 jugs of beer at happy hour awaited our return.
On our third day, we went out again through the dry deep sand of the island and came to Lake Wabby. It is flanked on one side by a giant sandblow that looks like a desert, and you can run down the side of it to jump into the lake. Crossing the sandblow wasn't so easy after our swim, but we made it out to the eastern beach and found our bus waiting. Had lunch at another resort, then due to some impassable roads making our planned destination unreachable, we went back to Lake Mackenzie for an afternoon of swimming. Driving home was an adventure in itself, as the bus got bogged down in deep sand, and eventually, after all the men on board had pushed it both forwards and backwards in attempts to get it out, the driver eventually was able to back the bus way down the road, then came barrelling across the soft section as we all stood on the side cheering him on. It made both of us quite happy to not be the ones doing the driving. Went for a guided night walk that night, found a golden trapdoor spider who is quite poisonous, and a 60cm red eel swimming in the lagoon.
On our last day, we did some hiking and found an old Z-Force Commando training site. It was used during WWII to train special forces and many ruins still remain. Spotted dingo tracks on our way back along the beach, but were never able to find a dingo itself. Eventually took the fastcat back to Hervey Bay, and were both so glad to have been able to get across to such a unique island.