Fraser Island, Australia

For many months we’d planned this family get-together. We’d chosen Fraser Island because it was unique, the “kids” hadn’t been there before and it was reasonably easy to access from our home at Noosa.

We’d reserved a three bedroomed villa at the Kingfisher Bay Resort for three nights in October. Our family car was adequate to transport the five of us, plus food and drink, personal belongings, and a kayak on the approximately three hour journey from Noosa to River Heads, from where a car ferry gives access to the resort.

Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island with amazing features such as lakes perched high up in the tree-covered dunes, amazing wide beaches, rainforest, and small streams so clear that it’s difficult to see the water in them.

We arrived in good time to check-in at the ferry terminal and claim our reservation for 1230 departure on the 50 minute ferry journey across Sandy Straits to the resort.

Because we’d already checked in at River Heads, all we needed to do on arrival at the resort was pick up the key at Reception and settle in.

Lee, assisted by Suzy and Nick, made a special meal for us on the first night, in honour of the occasion.

The next day was taken up with one of the main activities on Fraser Island, exploring the island by driving a rough terrain vehicle on its deeply rutted sandy tracks and wide firm beaches (low tide best for this).

Having set aside the whole day for this we made a plan to drive across the island to the Eastern Beach first (because low tide was around noon) drive north up the beach to Indian Head, then return to Eurong village and back to the resort via Lake McKenzie.

One of the delights of this beach trip is a stopover at Eli Creek which empties its gin-clear water onto the beach. This creek contains a population of jungle perch which can be readily seen from above and below the water surface.

We left the beach at the village of Eurong, turning west toward Central Station, then north west to Lake McKenzie. This beautiful lake we had all to ourselves as the sun was now low in the sky and darkness approaching. Nevertheless, we all went in for a dip in the limpid waters.

By the time we’d returned to the resort at 5:45pm the three newcomers to Fraser Island had all driven the Land Cruiser skilfully over some of the most challenging tracks to be encountered anywhere. It’s nice to be able to return the vehicle without damage, as we did, after such a journey.

That night we dined well at the Seabelle Restaurant in the resort and then slept soundly with the promise of a totally free day to follow.

That night, in quite heavy rain, we dined on excellent pizzas in the Sand Bar, a less formal resort eatery located on the edge of the beach near the jetty.

And the next day there was time for a leisurely breakfast before checkout at 10am followed by a couple of hours of killing time around the resort swimming pools and other facilities until we boarded the ferry once more for the trip back to mainland Australia and then home to Noosa.