Last year I wrapped up the summer travel season with a trip down under to the Sunshine Coast in Australia. One of my good friends, an infamous Aussie named Fisch, lives in Mudjimba on the Sunshine Coast. Fisch is a big traveler and when he does things, he does them right. He has motorcycled across Siberia (in the winter no less), crossed the Taklamakan desert in China on foot, and paramotored (that’s parasailing but with a motor on your back!) 500 miles across the skies above California. He also flies helicopters, skydives, and… wait for it… he’s a rocket scientist. Anyway, I affectionately refer to trips to visit Fisch as ‘Fat Camp’ because I know we’re going to be busy and there won’t be much time allocated for eating or sleeping.
For this trip, our main destination was Fraser Island, a sandy island about 160 miles north of Brisbane. Fraser is the largest sand island in the world and, with the exception of the resort at the Ferry landing, the roads are all sand… like one-foot plus deep sand. Hence the only way around the island is by 4×4. You get to the island by barge which carries you and your 4×4 from the Fraser Coast over to Kingfisher Bay. From there, 4×4 trails spiderweb all over the island.
But it gets even better for off-road lovers… on the opposite side of the island there is 75-mile Beach, which is essentially a beach highway. That’s right, you can drive full speed ahead from one end of the island to the other, right on the beach. My mind was blown when we emerged from the inner island’s forested dunes out on to this beach highway. It literally feels like you just landed on another planet.
We traveled North on the 75-mile highway to visit a few scenic spots. Along the way we ran into a few of the island natives… dingoes! They are pretty prevalent on the island, and in spite of their cute appearance can be menacing, particularly to children. Fortunately, they weren’t too shy and let me take this photo of them from the truck.
After our dingo encounter, we headed to the SS Maheno, an old rusted out shipwreck on the beach. In 1935, the Maheno got caught in a cyclone off the Queensland coast and ended up beached here, where it’s been ever since.
We had four more days to explore the island. One of my favorite highlights was Lake Mckenzie, a perched lake near the center of the island. Perched lakes are unique in that they have no inflows or outflows like creeks or rivers. They get their water from the water table on the island. Lake Mckenzie’s water is crystal clear because the water is highly acidic and unsuitable for most species to inhabit. The sand around the lake is almost pure silica. The combination makes it feel like a beautiful Caribbean shore, but without any waves.
In addition to fun 4×4 terrain, shipwrecks, and perched lakes, Fraser has a number of different natural habitats like rainforests, mangrove forests, and sand dunes. If you plan ahead and the weather is good, you can also camp on the island. We stayed at the Kingfisher Bay resort, but there were many campers out around the island. If you go, make sure to give yourself time to explore all of it. Fraser Island has a truly astounding array of different habitats and sites to see.
