Travel to Australia

Day 10 Fraser Island (I)

Fraser Island (K'gari, Gari) is a heritage-listed island located along the southeastern coast of the state of Queensland. Its length is about 123 kilometres (76 mi) and its width is approximately 22 kilometres (14 mi). It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1992. The island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world at 1,840 km².

The island has rainforests, eucalyptus woodland, mangrove forests, wallum and peat swamps, sand dunes and coastal heaths. It is made up of sand that has been accumulating for approximately 750,000 years on volcanic bedrock that provides a natural catchment for the sediment which is carried on a strong offshore current northwards along the coast. Our first visit is Yidney-Rainforest.

Eli Creek is the largest freshwater creek on the east coast of the island with a flow of 80 million litres per day. Eli Creek has its own unique and varied wild life. We stop in this popular place to have a bath in its crystal clear waters. There is a path through the forest that is introduced into the tropical rainforest of the island.

The 120 kilometres (75 mi) beach runs along most of the east coast of Fraser Island. It is used as a landing strip for planes and is officially designated as a main road (highway rules state that vehicles must give way to aircraft if they are oncoming). Along the beach are the Champagne Pools, Indian Head, the Maheno Wreck and the outflow of Eli Creek.

A major landmark on Fraser Island is the shipwreck of the S.S. Maheno. It was built in Scotland in 1905 as a luxury passenger ship. By 1935 the ship had been taken out of service. On 25 June 1935, while being towed to Osaka, she was caught in a strong cyclone. The towline parted, and on 9 July 1935 the Maheno became beached. During the Second World War the wreck served as target bombing practice for the RAAF. The remains of the ship are now severely rusted, with almost three and a half storeys buried under the sand. Because of the danger it poses, climbing on the wreck is not permitted.

At the headland located northeast of the island we find Indian Head, a cliff that offers spectacular views over the 75 mile beach. It was named by Captain Cook when he passed it on the evening of 19 May 1770, for the aboriginal people he saw assembled there. The outcrop consists of rhyolite that was created by volcanic activity about 50 to 80 million years ago. We finish the day's visits at Champagne pools, natural pools created in the volcanic rock located next to the ocean, allowing a calm bath.