Welcome to the first edition of the Travelling Starfish archives!
When I decided to start looking back at my travel adventures pre-Starfish days I knew that I had to spotlight one of the best trips I’ve ever taken – Australia. At the end of 2004, I managed to convince my boss at the time to let me have nearly 6 weeks off to head down under. Since I literally planned this trip a year in advance, he obliged and after a 24 hour journey I landed in this massive island.
I travelled across the eastern side of Australia as south as Melbourne and as north as Cairns. Through these archives, I’ll be highlighting most of my journey but for the inaugural archives post I thought I’d highlight my time in Fraser Island, which I look back on with fond memories.
Fishing on Fraser
For those of you who don’t know, Fraser Island is in the mid-upper part of Australia’s east coast in the state of Queensland. It is approximately 300 km north of Brisbane and was declared a World Heritage site in 1992. The island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world at 1840 km². I can say that, for me, it was a real highlight of my trip.
When I went to Oz I did the backpacking thing – I stayed in hostels, took the Oz Experience (hop on, hop off bus) – and I totally recommend it. Even though you are roughing it, you really get a chance to meet people and have some fun. I wouldn’t have done it any other way.
When you start backpacking in Oz on the East Coast you typically hear of 2 trips – sailing the Whitsundays and taking a 4WD around Fraser Island. Due to the fact that I only had a month & a half and had some places I needed to be by certain times in my trip I had to choose between the 2. In the end, I decided to do Fraser as I thought it would be a bit of adventure and a lot of fun – boy, was I right!
Maheno Shipwreck
There are 2 types of trips you can book – both are 3/4 nights on the island. You can elect to do a self-tour or guided. The self-tour option is what most backpackers sign up for. Basically you agree to spend 3/4 nights in a Jeep and bring all your own food in a cooler. You camp out under the stars in wherever you want to on the island (but special camping areas are recommended). The other tour, guided, is what I went on. Essentially you stay in a cabin with a few others, have meals included and you get a tour guide who tells you about the island. It’s a bit more expensive but I felt it was worth the money.
Both types of tours often start out at Hervey Bay. Hervey Bay is a small town where you will need to stay at a night before you go to Fraser and the night you return. There isn’t too much going on there but there are lots of backpackers to mix & mingle with. From memory, we arrived early in the morning on Fraser Island and it was all systems go from the beginning. There are no roads throughout the island so it’s quite an adventure to spend 4 days off-roading – so much fun!
Over the next 4 days we saw all the different areas of the island, hiked up the sand dunes, walked through rainforests, swam in the beautiful naturally occuring lakes (ah, heaven) and walked our butts off! It was honestly one of the best times I’ve ever had. We also had the good fortune to celebrate New Years in this incredible place. Most people who come to Oz at this time of year start making their way to Sydney for New Year. Don’t get me wrong, Sydney is an amazing city and I’m sure it’s lovely ringing in the New Year in style on the harbour. However, I still look back at that New Years with warm thoughts – it was just such a different experience being somewhere so quiet and remote and partying into 2005! I honestly can’t believe that was over 5 years ago! It seems crazy, really.
Lake McKenzie
The biggest thing I remember about Fraser (outside of the beautiful scenery and glorious sand) is all the warnings of dingos. Dingos are an ancient, free roaming, primitive canine or wild dog unique to Australia. There is special concern in Fraser Island because of the high degree of tourism and the majority of reported incidents have originated there. As the island is protected, so are its animals, including the dingo. I just remember our guide telling us to be calm if we encountered a dingo – we should always be careful at night as that was when they came out. The way, he said, we’d notice them is by their glowing eyes. Stay calm, indeed.
I actually had a bit of a face-to-face with a dingo New Year’s eve. I came back from the party and honestly think I saw some glowing eyes in the bushes. I didn’t think much of it at the time as I was pretty intoxicated but maybe that made me less freaked out by it. When I woke up in the morning and remembered, I got a fright so maybe a few glasses of wine isn’t such a bad thing after all sometimes!:)
Despite the dingos, I can’t say enough good things about this place – the beauty of the 7 mile beach and the gorgeous swim in Lake McKenzie (you will never see a more crystal clear body of water in your life) and the shipwreck on the beach all provide something for everyone.
Thinking about it makes me want to go back and I fear from this post that as I reminisce I’ll be having to put more money away for some more holidays. It’s a tough life being a Travelling Starfish.
Until next month,
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