And we are back after a three day hike on the biggest sand island in the world: Fraser Island! A lot of tour operators offer 1, 2 or 3 day 4WD tours. We weren’t really interested in driving on the island, so we tried to find another way to discover it.

We found that the island offers a lot of hikes possibilities, even a 100km great walk (like the one we did in Victoria or in NZ). Sounds perfect for us! We only have 3 days to spend on the island so a hundred kilometers might be a little too much…

Not a problem! After a few minutes checking the map of the walking tracks, we already have our 3 step itinerary :

• Day 1: 17km, Wangoolba Creek > Lake Mackenzie > Central Station
• Day 2: 15km, Central station > Lake Benaroon > Lake Birrabeen > Central station
• Day 3: 10km, Central station > Wangoolba Creek

As you can see, we made Central Station our base camp for these fes days on the island. We can now confirm that it was a good idea, because most of the other campground were very basic (only a toilet and generally no drinking water… Or even no water at all!)

Arrival on Fraser Island

We took the ferry from River Heads to Wangoolba Creek, our starting point on the island. The beginning of the walk is not really interestjng because we have to wall along the sandy road for about 3km. Just enough time to be overtaken by all the 4WD we shared the barge with… And also giving us enough time to read all the signs on the side of the road about Dingo safety, explaining you how to defend yourself in case of a dingo attack… Interesting ! But eventually, we end up in the quiet forest.

What you can see on Fraser Island

If you decide to walk on Fraser Island you have to like walking in the forest. But forest is fun, right? Plus the vegetation of the forest on Fraser Island is rather unusual. And from time to time you can cross a crystal clear lake bordered by amazingly white sand beache. Simply breath-taking! Lake Mackenzie might be the most famous of all these lakes. It is certainly one of the most beautiful lake of the island but also one of the most crowded… Our hike also lead us to lake Birrabeen, which is has great as lake Mackenzie but more quiet. We had the chance to spend a few hours alone on this amazing beach, so silent! An unforgetable moment!

We could also have reached the loooooong 75 miles beach, but we preferred staying away from all the 4WD.

The island is of course very wild. We can meet a lot of dingos (some kind of wild dogs), snakes, lizards, birds, etc… We mainly met lizards, birds and a wallabi. We tried our best by getting lost in the forest in order to spot a dingo. But in the end, it is not so bad we avoid a bare hands fight with a wild dog…

Our mini-fail

For our last day on the island, we only walked for about 10km to reach the Wangoolba Creek’s wharf. We werea bit tired (camping nights eere tough) and we were trying to take the first barge to River Heads. From what ee remembered, the first barge was leaving Wangoolba Creek at noon. And because we walked with a good pace this morning, we arrived in Wangoolba creek at 11:15am. Perfect! We won’t have to wait for so long! Or may be we will… Just to be sure, we ask the guy on the barge at what time is the next barge leaving. Unexpected answer: “Three o’clock mate!”. Alright… The good news is there is aboslutely NOTHING to do in Wangoolba creek… It’s ok we will take the time to cook a delicious couscous with tomato and basil sauce. We will even try to invent games. And eventually, being bored…

It is not so bad, because the sun is shining as we are waiting. At 3pm the boat is leaving and the trip back to River Heads is very quiet! The water is so clear, we spot a snake in the water! Once on shore we call a cab to drive us back to the hostel in Hervey Bay.

Glad we decided to hike on the Island!

We had a great time on Fraser Island and we are glad we decided to walk instead of the 4WD tour. So if you like hiking we recommend you to do so on Fraser Island!