Fraser Island
Fraser Island is named after Eliza Fraser who was shipwrecked on the island in 1836. To the Aborigines the island is known as K'gari (paradise). The Island is 125km long and over 160,000 hectares in area. It lies 190 km north of Brisbane, just off the East Coast of Australia and is the largest sand island in the world. Fraser Island attained its World Heritage Listing in December 1992 and is the tenth World Heritage listed site in Australia. Since 1990 it has been protected as the Great Sandy National Park.
Fraser Island is sparsely populated and vehicular access is by 4WD along sandy tracks and the beach foreshore. Access is by vehicular ferry from Inskip point (via Rainbow Beach) to Hook point or from River Heads (via Hervey Bay). You need a permit (River Heads - 4125 8473, Rainbow beach 54863160, Brisbane 32278185) to take a vehicle onto the island. This permit must be fixed to your windscreen before entry. With your permit you receive a basic map of the island, info on short walks, touring and how to be Dingo smart. Do not drive on the western beach for your own safety. Generally you can drive 2 hours either side of low tide on the Eastern Beach. During the summer months ensure you are well prepared for March flies.
The island contains a spectacular array of natural resources including rainforests, lakes, surf beaches, sand blows, cliffs of coloured sands, crystal clear streams and vast stretches of mangroves. It is an outdoors paradise!
The island rainforest consists of huge satinay and brush box, kauri pines, piccabeen palms and the rare angiopteris fern. Central Station, an old forestry camp, contains some of the most luxurious forest on the island and is the best area for viewing Wanggoolba Creek with its rare ferns. The creek flows along the floor of a thick rainforest. Here there are walkways that pass the angiopteris ferns, boasting the largest single fern fronds in the world. Pile Valley is home to a forest of giant satinay trees upto 70 metres high. Logs from here were used in the construction of the Suez Canal.
There are nearly 200 of three types of lakes (window, barrage and perched lakes) on Fraser Island; some stained red with tannin to others with pure white sand and crystal clear water. Window lakes occur when the ground drops below the water table allowing the fine white sandy base to act as a filter. This provides the clarity seen at Yankee Jack, Ocean Lake and Lake Wabby. Lake Wabby is also termed a barrage lake, which is formed by the damming action of a sandblow blocking the waters of a natural spring. Wabby is relatively close to the ocean side of the island, just to the south of us and unlike the other lakes it supports several varieties of fish. Perched lakes occur above the water table. They are saucer-shaped depressions with a hard, impervious base of organic matter and sand that form a catchment for the rain eventually creating the lake. These lakes are stained the colour of tea dur to their peat-like base. Lake Bowarrady is the highest of the perched lakes being some 120 metres above sea level. Lake Boomanjin at approximately 190 hectares in area is the world's largest perched dune lake. Other perched lakes include Lake Birrabeen and the popular Lake McKenzie.
Eli Creek, a great picnic location just north of us on the eastern side of Fraser Island, is the largest of the freshwater streams flowing into the ocean. Over 4 million litres of water flow from the creek every hour.
Fraser Island is home to over 200 species of birds, forty different mammal species and a variety of other animals including snakes, turtles and flying foxes. The dingo is reputed to be the purest strain of the animal in Australia. Offshore, whales, dolphins and sharks can be seen traversing the East Coast and are seen regularly from the house verandah.
Other interesting sites within 15 minutes drive from the house include the wreck of a trans-Tasman liner, the Maheno and coloured sands with towering cliffs and gorge formations ranging from white through ochre to black in colour. Further north lies Indian head, a volcanic formation, 60 metres in height providing excellent views and another favourite fishing location. The Champagne pools; bubbling seawater rock pools at the base of Middle Rocks are an attractive seawater swimming location.
