Four wheeling on Fraser

Worst. Nights. Sleep. Ever. We woke up yesterday morning, after having tossed and turned on our sleeping mats, to find everyone in a similar state. Everyone had a groggy breakfast and there were a few hangovers to be found amongst the group. However we still made it out of camp and headed for Eli Creek. After a short walk inland up to the edge of Eli Creek we got in and headed back through the water. It was beautiful and secluded and just upstream of where everyone jumped in you could taste one of the forty million litres per minute of the freshest water in Australia flowing by. Our one regret about the creek is that we couldn’t stay longer.

Another hop up the eastern beach and we came to a rocky outcrop called Indian Head. This small up thrust of volcanic rock is the reason for Fraser Islands existence. The island formed over millennia with the rocks acting as a barrier for sand carried by the sea so much so that it piled up and formed what can be seen as Fraser Island today. The views from the top were stunning with beach stretching off into the distance either side of the rocks. There are some really interesting stories about these cliffs so if you do go don’t forget to ask!

We had to rush to our next destination as the tide was closing in and so we could only spend twenty minutes at the champagne pools. In all honesty they were not as amazing as we had been led to believe although you can see how they got the name as when the sea rushes into these sand filled rock pools it does truly fizz. After our twenty minutes was up we had a hairy journey through the surf at one point meeting a wave almost head on! We made it to a safer part of the beach though and pulled up alongside the wreck of the Maheno, a luxury liner accidentally beached on the sand at Fraser. Only a small part of the skeleton remained but Mick, our guide, showed us photos of the ship before and just after beaching, giving us some idea of the scale of the accident. It was incredible but unfortunately the tide was in and we couldn’t get as close as we’d have hoped.

A leisurely drive back to camp later and we tried our hand at fishing. We both got the hang of it but unfortunately failed to catch anything. We had some excitement though as we failed to notice a dingo coming right up behind us. We have no idea what it may have done as luckily Julian and Rene saw and shouted to us in warning. Alex bravely charged at it as we had forgotten our own sacred rule and didn't have a dingo stick. Luckily it worked and it gave up all thoughts of chewing on our tender cutlets and fled.

Back at camp we relaxed with the others and got a game of Taki going. It was Aaron from Israel’s game and was exactly like Uno but with better special cards. There were a load of us playing and it went on for hours until hunger got the better of us. After some food we got down to some good ol’ drinking and some people from another camp joined us with a guitar and many renditions of Wonderwall were sung.

Our sleep last night was much better and we woke up refreshed enough to head down to the beach and watch the sun rise. It was pretty spectacular to say the least. Then after a quick tidy of the camp we set out for the day. Mick took us to Lake McKenzie, which was lush although someone said it was more beautiful than Whitehaven beach at Whitsundays- lies! It was nowhere near on the scale but was nice nonetheless. Mick took some group photos in the water and we got in about an hour of sunbathing before we had to head off to catch the ferry back.

We’re now back in the hostel and absolutely shattered! We’ve had such a great few days but so looking forward now to a shower and a bed finally!

Rex’s Rules of the Road

• Don’t expect to have a set itinerary on a tag-along tour. The guides can only plan according to the weather/tides and you may have to spend less time at some places or skip them altogether.

• Check out our roving reviewer, Rach and her reviews of the Maheno wreck and Lake McKenzie.