there before. I've been up there twice now, and would still leave 1 week for
a holiday for when I next visit.
The places that I would see are:
Lake Boomanjin is an awesome shallow but huge tannin lake
Lake Birrabeen is an awesome deepwater blue lake, with white sand
Lake McKenzie is really nice but overcrowded - blue water, white sand and a
Fraser Island Icon. You need to get here early for a car park.
Kingfisher resort just to look around
Central station for the board walk along Wanggoolba Ck- this is interesting
Dont try the Hook point to Ungowa track. We call it the track of a million
scratches. BTW, we only got about 1km down it before turning around.
Lake Wabby lookout and walk - very deep water and steep dunes
Moon point is a great remote campsite on the west just to get away
Eurong for a look and shop
Happy valley for a look and shop
Lake Garrawongera is a good white sand, blue water lake though there can be
weed in there.
Rainbow gorge is in my opinion over rated, but you should do it to see what
you're otherwise not missing out on.
Eli Ck is a good one, great for a freezing cold float down the river. The
water level is close to the bridge so you will have to lie down on LiLo's.
Apparently the water course has recently changed now, going directly into
the sea instead of running up the beach. - great spot to also watch people
drive across it.
Maheno wreck is interesting and decaying very quickly. The story is in the
shop at Happy valley.
Lake Allom is great - see the turtles in the tannin lake and Gecko lizard
things in the camp site. This site may be closing but a really good small
rainforest camping area if its still open.
The beach is a freeway, and I wouldn't camp on it especially with kiddies.
It's also really windy and there are sharks in the sea water. I wouldn't
drive in the water on the beach either. Most, but not all water is fresh (I
taste test it!), though unless you walk it you wont realise how deep some of
it is. Some are easily deep enough to drown your Disco! You are warned!
The speed limit is 80km/h on the beach and there are also a few aircraft
runways along its length.
The Pinnacles rock formations are interesting for a brief photo stop.
Indian Head is great to watch people get bogged on the beach or in the
inland heads bypass tracks. Sometime the run around the head is easy,
sometimes people wont let their tyres down or the have accidently left a
boat or caravan on the back.
Champagne pools will be great for the young or young at heart for a few
hours. Basically its an area where the surf breaks over the rocks into a
pool. It a safe area as long as the kids dont go climbing onto the rocks.
The fun part is trying to hang onto the rocks while the waves try to blast
you back. As the tide comes up it gets harder and harder. A lot of fun for
1/2 a day. From the board walk there is also a great pic location back along
the beach to Waddy point.
Wathumba is good for a look
Orchard beach has a shop, and a good enclosed camping area not far away.
Very urban setup and camping fees apply.
Just north or Orchard beach is a creek that comes in to the beach. I dont
recall its name though it is a really nice place to go for a swim / play and
the scenery is great.
Ocean Lake is nice to have a look at and has a camping area.
Ngarla rocks. Drop your pressures for the bypass! We have never been bogged
on the Island, but if you get bogged here its going to be a lot of digging!
North of Ngarla is remote and the beach can be very rough in many locations.
Despite temptation go slow and keep a sharp eye out. I've been airborne a
few times in this stretch going slow, as opposed to a safe 70km/h on the
beach south of Indian Head
Sandy cape is interesting to see, especially the snd bar that extends from
it.
The light house is also good for a look. I've never walked up to it, though
if you do, then time the tides carefully for your return trip.
The way we usually do the Island is to base camp and do day tripping from
there. We setup at Lake Boomanjin for one camp and from there will see
everything from Hook point at the southern most point up to and including
Central station. We then move camps to Lake Allom and see everything from
Central Station up to Dundubara or even Ngarla Rocks. The 3rd place we've
used is Waddy point camping ground to see the Indian head to cape areas,
though camping a night up at the cape may be also a bit of fun. You must
time you runs along the beach according to the tides, especially the cape
run. If the tides are up, then there are a lot of inland tracks that you can
use.
To go on the Island you will need permits, though you don't need to book.
Last Xmas / New years our 13 day permit to camp cost $104, and the Island
permit was about $30 I think. It's expensive, but you can see the value for
money though and this is the reason we were happy to pay. The facitities are
awsome.
You will love the Island!!!
I can also highly recommend the Hema map. You get a hardly satisfactory map
with your permits, though the Hema is very comprehensive.
Also, barge costs from Inskip - Hook point (via Gympie and Rainbow beach) is
$50 return.
