Hervey Bay & Fraser Island

Cooling off in the sea at Hervey Bay

The Friendly Hostel was where we stayed during our time here and it definitely lived up to its name. The building was split into different apartments that shared a kitchen, a bathroom and a living room, meaning that it felt like we were living in university halls again! Getting to hear other travellers' stories was great and we became friendly with an English couple who, by chance, had booked on the same day tour of Fraser Island as Pam and I.

At Lake McKenzie

The beach at Hervey Bay was where we spent most of our time. As it is protected by Fraser Island, it was lacking the giant waves of Mooloolaba but it was clean and the water was clear and cool. That said, what Hervey Bay had to offer was not a patch on the natural beauty of Fraser Island.

In the rainforest

We started our day tour with a bus leaving our accommodation at 7:15am, before boarding a ferry for the half an hour ride to the island. Once we arrived, we jumped into a massive eighteen ton truck that was driven by our tour guide (who reminded me of Steve Irwin). It was a really bumpy ride as Fraser Island has no tarmac roads. It is a sand island, so all vehicles on the island have to have four wheel drive to handle the terrain.

The rusted Maheno shipwreck on 75 Mile Beach

Our first stop was the stunning Lake McKenzie - a perched rainwater lake with white, powdery sand. It looked like something from James Bond film! After taking loads of photos, we went for a dip in the crystal clear water.

From there, we went into the rainforest to see Wanggoolba Creek, as our guide told us about the history of the island and its unique geography. The fact that there is much vegetation on the island is astounding considering it is made up of sand and not soil.

Sharing Eli Creek with eels!

After a delicious buffet lunch, we were driven up 75 Mile Beach (not all of it, thankfully) with the mammoth waves of the Pacific Ocean crashing down just a few metres from the right side of the truck! All the while we were in the vehicle (being thrown about!) the tour guide was talking over the intercom, giving information about what we were seeing.

On the ferry to Fraser Island

We stopped at the Maheno shipwreck before checking out the Coloured Sands - bright yellows and oranges rather than the talcum powder white we were getting used to!

I thought bats only came out at night!

Our final stop was the gorgeous Eli Creek where Pam and I waded, relaxing to the sounds of the birds in the trees and the feel of the sun on our skin - until Pam spotted an eel swimming towards her! Thankfully, we never found out if it was electric, though I highly doubt it was; after all, we were advised to go in the creek!

 
After that, we headed back to our hostel. Our nights there were really fun. On the three of the four we stayed there, we watched DVDs (Fred Claus, The Mask and Elf) and on our final night, had a little drinking session! Needless to say, we did Scotland proud!

James

At the stunning Lake McKenzie (a rare photo of the two of us together!)