It's not always sunny in Australia

March 31st - April 3rd - Noosa and Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia

From the Glasshouse Mountains we continued north to Noosa where we stayed in a pretty decent campsite for the night. This was just an overnight stop as early next morning we packed up and headed into Noosa itself where we left the campervan and met with our group at the Dropbear Adventures office. We were going with a tour group to Fraser Island, a beautiful secluded island a couple of hours drive north; there are no roads on the island so you can only go by 4x4 and access is restricted so you pretty much have to go in a group.
After an introductory video to driving the 4x4s and the island, we got into smaller groups and got into a 4x4. A young german guy drove ours and after a beer/breakfast stop we arrived at 'the port' - literally just a sandy stretch of beach that juts out and you just wait for a rickety old ferry to appear...
We were desperate for some good weather but sadly it was very overcast, grey and wet. It was only to get worse...

Once on the island itself, we swapped round drivers and got the chance to zip along the beach unheeded - it was very fun...

At one point we stopped and all got out and our leader (some surfer dude called Simon) showed us some mussel-like things that live in the sand - we collected up as many as we could and put them in a bag for dinner. Then we headed on to camp. Thankfully (because of the rubbish weather) a few weeks before the trip we had been told that because of work being done on the campsite we were being 'upgraded' to the lodge which meant that we had an actual bed indoors - hurrah!! There was a dining/games room and then out the back there were 5 rooms with 4 sets of bunkbeds in and a bathroom. We had some lunch and grabbed a bed before heading out for the afternoon's activities. At this point it was just drizzling...

Fraser Island is all about the beautiful natural places such as pools and waterfalls. Our first stop was Lake Wabby - we started by walking though some rainforest, and then came out at the top of some enormous sand dunes which was quite weird. Down at the bottom of the sand dunes was a freshwater lake which we ran down to and jumped in. By this point it was very overcast and pretty chilly in the water. We swam around for a bit before heading up to the highest point and were forced to stand in a circle and 'share an interesting fact about ourselves' (not impressed as it was torrential rain at this point) before hiking back through the downpour. We were drenched and freezing cold by the time we got back, and pretty miserable. We showered and had some dinner and some drinks before heading to bed.

The sand dunes

Lake Wabby

Mike in the lake

The view from the top (Lake Wabby on the right, the sand dunes and then the sea beyond)

The next morning the weather was slightly better!!! We went to Eli Creek which was beautiful - you walk along this boardwalk a few hundred metres into the forest, then go down some steps into the water (which was freezing by the way) and just float on down the creek to the sea. All the sunlight was coming through the tree tops and it was lovely. For the few short hours that the sun was up we stayed there and set up a volleyball pitch between the cars and had some fun!

Mike floating down the creek

Eli Creek

The boardwalk next to the creek

The mouth of the creek with the beach and sea beyond

Volleyball!

At lunch we discovered the joys of Kookaburras - you really need to watch your food!! They are pretty big birds and have large beaks and sit there watching you from a tree. As soon as you even turn away from your food they swoop down and grab it - we all ended up eating hunched over our plates!

As it clouded over again we headed inland which meant some v cool driving up narrow 'roads' through the jungle. We walked up to the top of some rocks to a point called Indian Head which gave a great viewpoint of the island and out to sea. Our leader told us the Aborigine legend of how the island came to be, and explained that 'K'gari' is the Aboriginal name for the island and means 'paradise'. The white folk called it Fraser Island after Eliza Fraser who was Captain James Fraser's wife. When their ship which was travelling from Singapore to Sydney ran into some coral and sank, she was the only survivor. She was taken in by local people and taken care of; however when she was rescued some 6 weeks later she told how she was mistreated by them and how they lived like savages. She spread more and more lurid and untrue tales about the local people who helped her and so damaged their reputation and exacerbated the tensions between Aborigines and the white men.

Jungle driving

Walking up to Indian Head

The view form the top

Watching the storm head in from the sea as we sat at Indian Head was incredible. Afterwards we checked out the ship wreck and went to the 'Champagne Pools'. These were some rock pools by the sea which I'm sure are pretty lovely usually but again it started to chuck it down and a couple of people got stung by jellyfish so the visit was cut short. I was v glad to get back, showered and warm again that night...

Driving through the storm to the shipwreck

Dingo

The final day was upon us and I was quite relieved. I'm sure Fraser Island is amazing in good weather but I was so fed up of being cold and wet I couldn't wait to get back to our little campervan!

We first went to a freshwater lake that had loads of natural oils in it and so was meant to be good for your skin. It also had lots of turtles swimming around in it which was cool, however it was raining again...
We then headed Lake McKenzie. I was really hoping to just stay dry and wanting to back to the mainland, but as we emerged from the trees at the lake the clouds parted and the brilliant sunshine came out and Lake McKenzie was beau-ti-ful!

The water was crystal clear and the sand was so fine and white. Now it really was like paradise! Also, we got there pretty early in the morning so we had about 30mins without anyone else there. We played and swam and sunbathed. The sand is so pure and fine that apparently NASA used to come and take it to use for their telescope lenses! We spent a fair amount of time here to enjoy the sunshine and make up for all the bad weather and rain. 

After this we did some more inland driving where we checked out the jungle a bit more. After some lunch we headed back to get the ferry.

Jungle

Driving back along the beach

Enjoying the ride!

Our final stop was checking out 'Rainbow Beach' on the mainland - so-called because of the different coloured cliffs. There was another legend about this, some doomed love story but I can't quite remember it all! 

The coloured cliffs

We got back to Noosa tired but thankfully and miraculously dry! We picked up our campervan, grabbed a KFC and headed to our AirBnB place to stay. So unbelievably glad of a hot shower and comfy bed that night!

As I said previously, Fraser Island is an amazing place and very beautiful, but because all the activities are outside it is weather-dependent! If it was hot and sunny it would be awesome to camp out on the beach, but if it looks like it is going to be bad weather I would highly recommend paying a bit more and sleeping inside!