Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island

At eight o’clock, we were ready at the agreed-upon location. A massive tank picked us up, and we headed toward Inskip Point. This is the northern part, where you also take the ferry to Fraser Island. Inskip Point made the news earlier this week due to a massive sinkhole. A large portion of the beach has collapsed. Rapid currents cause this phenomenon. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. It took millions of years for this landscape to form. What makes it unique is that you find sand there and a large rainforest. It is part of the Great Sandy National Park. The largest population on the island consists of dingoes, wild dogs.

Our driver, Michael, knew a lot about the island. It has a fascinating history related to the Aboriginals and the island’s name. I honestly only half-listened. He lost my attention quickly, and I enjoyed the view more. On the other hand, Ely found it very interesting, and the main points I picked up confirm that. It was high tide, but we still drove for kilometers along the “75 mile Beach” (75 miles long, approximately 121 kilometers) until we reached Lake McKenzie. We spent an hour here. It’s a beautiful freshwater lake, so the water here is crystal clear. When you stand in the water, you can literally see down to your toes; that’s how clear it is! Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones there, surrounded by about two hundred people. What a downer! We enjoyed the beautiful view and took a walk along the water.

At noon, we had lunch and continued walking through the tropical rainforest along Wanggoolba Creek. We received some information about the fauna and flora. The most interesting feature on the island is the 1,000-year-old Satinay trees. These trees are incredibly thick and tall. They can reach a height of forty meters, and it takes twelve people to embrace them fully. These trees were cut down in the year 1800. Because this type of wood was only found here and could withstand saltwater well, it was used in the construction of the Suez Canal in 1869. Fortunately, we were still able to admire some smaller specimens.

It was time to head back towards the ferry. We chose to do a day trip to Fraser Island. There are many two- and three-day trips available at exorbitant prices. Every trip is a bit of a trade-off. You never know in advance if it’s worth it, and as mentioned before, all the trips are costly. If we wanted to make a three-day trip to Fraser Island, it would cost us around 450 Australian dollars each. In hindsight, a day trip was too short. You spend a long time on the bus, you do and see everything at a fast pace, and you see too little of the island. Choices must be made, unfortunately! As an added disappointment, we couldn’t spot any dingoes either…

We decided to visit Carlo Sand Blow to conclude our day and stay in Rainbow Beach. This short walk through the forest led us to the top of the sand dune. We enjoyed a magnificent view from this 15-hectare dune, which contains many shades of sand. We witnessed a beautiful sunset there. From the top, you could see in all directions, from the ocean to Fraser Island. It was a magical experience! We had one last delicious meal in our hostel and went to bed early again. We packed everything neatly and were ready to leave for our next stop the next day; Noosa.

The following day, we left around seven o’clock in the Loka van. We made a stop at the ‘Tin Can Bay Dolphin Center.’ Here, you could feed dolphins. To be honest, it wasn’t really our thing. Fortunately, the animals live in the wild. They only come here to receive one-eighth of their daily food intake. Dolphins eat a lot of fish.

Another experience added to my list of being around animals! 😀