Rainbow Beach (19/3/12 - 21/3/12) & Fraser Island (20/3/12)

On Monday we left Noosa for Rainbow Beach.  On the way we passed through Gympie, a town which had recently flooded.  There was so much water still around and it was quite obvious how high the water had reached.  Very sad to see.

Rainbow Beach is a gorgeous small, quiet coastal town 130kms north of Noosa.  The main street is lined with cafes, shops and accommodation which ends at the beach.  Our main reason for staying at Rainbow Beach was its closeness to Fraser Island.  However, we fell in love with Rainbow Beach.

We made the most of the sun on the day we arrived.  We went to Carlo Sand Blow, which is a growing sand dune that covers an area of 15 hectares.  It ends at some cliffs that overlook the beach, coloured sand cliffs and Double Island Point.  On the opposite side it overlooks Tin Can Bay, Inskip Point and Fraser Island.  The sand was so white!  The kids had a ball digging and playing in the sand.  We finished off the day with a dip in the pool.

On Tuesday we visited Fraser Island, which is the largest sand island in the world and is world heritage listed.  From Rainbow Beach, we drove 12kms to Inskip Point where we boarded the barge, that took us and our car across to Fraser Island (a 10 minute trip).  We had to wait a while for the tide to go out, so we could safely pass on the beach to the inland road.  From here we headed north, passing a number of lakes.  There was heaps of water around and some rough 4wd tracks, so it made for some great fun.  We were amazed at the vegatation on the island - amazing dense, tropical vegetation with heaps of ferns and palms.  The kids even found some coconuts on the beach.

During the morning we came across four Danish backpackers and their overheated 4wd.  Simon helped them out as much as he could and thankfully they made it back to the mainland.

We reached Lake McKenzie around lunch time.  WOW!!  Lake McKenzie is a perched lake, which as described by the Fraser Island pamphlet means "it develops when an impermeable hard pan of organic debris forms in the depression between dunes, enabling run off and rainwater to collect."  So the lake is totally filled with rainwater (no groundwater at all).  Lake McKenzie was beautiful - white sand and crystal clear, fresh water.  Needless to say our swim was very enjoyable.

After our swim we had lunch in the "dingo safe" picnic area.  There is a huge dingo population on Fraser Island and they are the "purest" dingoes in Australia.  Fraser Island have gone to a lot of effort to promote the danger of dingoes and provide a safe environment for tourists.  As such, no food is permitted at swimming spots and picnic and camping areas are fenced.

From Lake McKenzie we headed to Eurong, a small townsite and then north along the beach to Eli Creek.  It was on our way to Eli Creek that we finally spotted some dingoes.  Three in fact.  Although we had seen dingoes at Uluru, we were very excited to see the Fraser Island dingoes.

From Eli Creek we headed south along the beach towards the barge for our return to Rainbow Beach.

What a fantastic day - a definite highlight of our trip.  The only downside was we were only there for a day and didn't get to see half of what we would have liked to.  A long day, 200kms travelled and 5+ hours of driving!!

We were very lucky with the weather - very little rain during our stay.  Unfortunately, the rain from northern Queensland is moving south, which means we are in for some very heavy rain over the next few days.

Next stop??

Carlo Sand Blow

The hard walk back up

View to Tin Can Bay, Inskip Point & Fraser Island

Ready to board for Fraser Island

Waiting for the tide to go out a little

If only we were in one of these!

Not too deep - come on through.

One of the many lakes

Lake McKenzie

A popular spot

Thank goodness for the zoom lense!

Eli Creek

The end of a wonderful day...ready to head home