The world's largest sand island, and the most popular way for backpackers to explore it is by joining a self-drive tour with 8 other people. There were only 3 people in our group that were old enough to drive, so I got to do a lot of the driving. I'd imagine that being the driver is normally a little side bonus to the enjoyment of exploring Fraser Island, but for me it was the highlight of the adventure! Off roading in this diesel powered Toyota Landcruiser 4x4, and best of all, manual transmission. So much fun! To top it off the other drivers were a bit nervous to drive so I did all the non-beach driving. Except of course on the last day, when one of the guys drove for the first time and took us into a ditch after 10 mins of driving. It took us about half an hour to drive it out and there was no damage, so to me it was just another fun adventure because I was the one driving the truck out of the ditch!
On the inner tracks we were limited to 30 km/h, which was plenty fast because there were a lot of bumps for the passengers in the back. This picture is a relatively flat part of the track; my favourite part doesn't have a picture but it was uphill over some massive tree roots. On the beach we could go 80 km/h, which was fun but a little sketchy at times because big bumps could creep up at times. Another driver in our group hit one of these unexpected bumps and we actually caught some air, causing a bit of a nasty landing in the back when our food box broke from the bungees and landed on a girl's leg. Luckily no one was hurt too badly.
A shipwreck on Fraser Island
One of the signs on the beach read "Caution, planes landing." Fraser Island Airways lands planes right on the beach on the same path we were driving on, and it's pretty obvious who has the right of way. Check out the pilot chilling under the wing on the beach, not a bad job he's got!
Those hills are all sand!
Looking down at our trucks from a viewpoint we climbed to
A local inhabitant at our campsite
One of the fresh water lakes on the island
The 4 truck brigade that I explored the island with
My favourite fresh water lake on the island. Just beautiful!
A peninsula we swam to
Getting the truck out of the ditch, just in time to catch the ferry!
On the inner tracks we were limited to 30 km/h, which was plenty fast because there were a lot of bumps for the passengers in the back. This picture is a relatively flat part of the track; my favourite part doesn't have a picture but it was uphill over some massive tree roots.
On the beach we could go 80 km/h, which was fun but a little sketchy at times because big bumps could creep up at times. Another driver in our group hit one of these unexpected bumps and we actually caught some air, causing a bit of a nasty landing in the back when our food box broke from the bungees and landed on a girl's leg. Luckily no one was hurt too badly.
A shipwreck on Fraser Island
One of the signs on the beach read "Caution, planes landing." Fraser Island Airways lands planes right on the beach on the same path we were driving on, and it's pretty obvious who has the right of way. Check out the pilot chilling under the wing on the beach, not a bad job he's got!
Those hills are all sand!
Looking down at our trucks from a viewpoint we climbed to
A local inhabitant at our campsite
One of the fresh water lakes on the island
The 4 truck brigade that I explored the island with
My favourite fresh water lake on the island. Just beautiful!
A peninsula we swam to
Getting the truck out of the ditch, just in time to catch the ferry!
Going back on the ferry
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