May 3, 2023
Day Three of backpacking the East Coast of Queensland
Fraser Island
The best day trip I’ve ever done!
Background
My name is Annabelle, I’m 20 years old, and I’ve chosen to move to Australia alone to embrace a new adventure.
When arriving a couple of weeks ago, I met two Irish girls (Aisling and Altan) at a hostel in the Gold Coast. Quickly, we became good friends. The girls invited me to join them on their road trip up the East Coast of Queensland, and while traveling was never part of my plan, I spontaneously agreed to join them.
In this diary entry, I leave Noosa and travel solo to Fraser Island, where it completely exceeds my expectations. For further background, see my previous diaries from my experiences in Byron Bay and Noosa.
Noosa by Morning
If an early morning isn’t punishing enough, try it in a hostel…
Let me deter you…
You wake up to your phone alarm and so does everyone else in the room. It’s dark, but turning on the light isn’t an option. So, out comes the phone torch.
There is no way to ‘quietly’ unzip your bag. Carefully, you rummage through your things, only to find that one item of clothing you need is, of course, buried at the very bottom of the bag.
Okay, you’ve got your clothes. Now it’s you hop in the shower. Just as you step in, it hits you—you left your towel on the bed. Somehow, that 20-minute routine stretches into 45. But I won’t dwell on it.
Day trip to Fraser Island
I’m pressed for time! A Toyota Landcruiser pulls up in front of me; two tour guides are in the front seat, and a girl my age is in the backseat next to me. Her name is Kate; she’s lovely but quiet, from England, and also solo-traveling. Anyway, we’re leaving for a day trip to Fraser Island.
We meet a larger group in the center of Noosa before boarding a bus made for off-roading, complete with huge tires. Kate and I are chosen to sit in the front with the best views!
I haven’t seen Aisling and Altan this morning, they’ve set off on a different Fraser Island trip where they’ll be camping over two nights and driving their own four wheel drives which they’d booked prior to me joining the trip.
Rainbow Beach
Our first stop was at the beautiful Rainbow Beach lookout point. Not far from here, we drove onto a ferry, taking the bus over to Fraser Island.
We arrived on a beautiful untouched island with no roads, stores or houses. Just a hotel, cafe and campsite for tourism. Very limited people have access to this island.
The tour guide was so knowledgeable and kind. He was so passionate about the history of the land and its ties to aboriginal culture.
Having huge offroading tyres, the bus drove across the beach for miles without getting stuck in the sand.
Lake Mackenzie
We stopped at Lake Mackenzie for a couple of hours to swim and relax.
This is the bluest and clearest water I’ve ever seen. Strangely, it’s a freshwater lake filled by rainfall, sitting on top of the sand.
They say that people come to swim here to clean their jewelry and de-age (look younger in the face). I don’t know how true that is, but you definitely feel fresh and clean after swimming.
I lay on the sand and fell asleep in the sun, exhausted from my early wakeup. Later discovering that I quite possibly got the worst sunburn in my life. It was so painful.
The rest of the day was bliss, we were given lunch and drink, swam in the sea/rivers, witnessed a ship wreck, encountered dingoes, some weird looking lizards and were given snacks.
I had a 10/10 experience, incomparable to anything I’d ever done before. I could’nt recommend Fraser Island Nature Tours enough, they truly thought of everything, going above and beyond.
By the end of the day I was sunburnt and knackered, so I slept most of the way back to Noosa. Regardless, I had the most amazing day, and I’m so happy that I did this. Thank you Aisling and Altan for organising this trip for me.