K'gari (Fraser Island)

Lake Wabby

Human Pyramid at Lake McKenzie

group with the 4x4 "Never Bogged"

Champagne pools

Sez and Lee on India Head

Sand Dune, Lake Wabby

Maheno Ship Wreck

Sand dunes

Fraser Island beach

Lee Driving

Jenn and Lee at India Head beach

Group 2 clean up

Getting Bogged

campfire Digeridoo

Dingo on the Road

Red Canyon, Coloured Sands

We booked our 3 day Tour from Pippies Hostel at Rainbow beach. The driving on the Island in a 4x4 is a very bumping ride! after the short ferry ride from the mainland our first stop was at Lake Wabby, which lies at the bottom of a huge dessert like landscape of Sand Dunes. The water was actually so clear, and so refreshing, most of us went for a swim and did some sunbathing before we had to walk the half hour back. Our guide Jen didn't some with us, perhaps because she has done it so many times or because to the native aborigines, this site was a mans place.
Lee drove us to the camp and really enjoyed dodging the waves and handling the 4x4.
That evening we all cooked dinner in the pre-set campsite and during this a huge spider fell from the ceiling and scared a lot of people! we had a massive campfire and went for a walk to the beach to look at the stars.

Our second day was Halloween! After breakfast we went to the Champagne pools, named this because of the ocean waves breaking on rocks causes the water to flow with tiny bubbles, it was so hot on the beach, we kept going back in the water to cool off.

Sarah then got to drive, feeling a bit nervous, but it was easy and I enjoyed the dodging bumps. I drove us to India Head, we went to eat our lunch up here and Jen spotted some whales in the distance, which swam a big arch around us, as huge gathering of different families of whales, as wel as later seeing some Rays and Turtles and Dolphins and on the walk down some girls on the tour nearly trod on a snake as well.

Historically Indian Head hasn't been a good place for the tribal people as they would be shot on the edge to fall into the sea or as a punishment for a crime they would be thrown off the edge, if they survived they could not rejoin the tribe. Although Captain Cook sailed past the island in 1770 and named Indian Head, because of the natives he saw standing on the headline.

We passed a Dingo on the road on our way to the coloured sand canyons, which were beautiful reds, oranges and yellows.

We learnt how Fraser Island got its name and why local people call it by its traditional name K'gari. In 1834 Captain Fraser and his wife were shipwrecked and using their lifeboats accidently beached on the 'Great Sandy Island'. The original inhabitants were the Butchulla tribe.
No body truly knows what happened on the island, what caused the death of most the survivors, The captains wife was rescued after 6 weeks and spend the rest of her days in England telling many varied accounts of what happened on the island.

On our last day we went to see the famous, fast deteriorating S.S Maheno shipwreck from 1935, and went to swim and sunbath at the beautifully clear Lake McKenzie.