K'gari (Fraser Island)

The world's largest sand island.

World Heritage Listed Fraser Island actually known as K'gari is the world's largest sand island stretching out over 120kms and the only place on the planet where rainforest grows on sand. Its a camping and ecotourism destination with beaches and swimming sites at Lake Mckenzie, Lake Wabby and other freshwater pools.

We ditched the caravan at Discovery Parks (Fraser st) and packed up the car and tent and headed over to Fraser island from River heads - Hervey Bay which takes you over to Wanggoolba creek. What an epic adventure! Fraser island blew all our expectations, what an absolutely beautiful spot. You really need at least a week here to discover absolutely everything on the island but we were short of time due to having accommodation booked for the school holidays but we managed to smash everything on our list we wanted to see in three jam packed days.

A four-wheel-drive vehicle is essential on Fraser Island as all roads are sand tracks. 4WD hire vehicles are available from Kingfisher Bay Resort, Hervey Bay or Eurong. Off road camper trailers are allowed on Fraser Island however caravans are discouraged. All vehicles require an access permit and national park campers must have a pre-purchased camping permit attached to their tent. Camping and vehicle permits can be picked up at the visitor centre in Hervey Bay.

There is a huge amount of different types of accommodation on the island but we camped up at Dundubara camp site. This was located on the east side of Fraser Island and was the perfect spot for us to explore everything we wanted too. It cost $26 a night for all of us and it was dingo fenced with toilets and hot showers ($2 for 3 minutes). You just need to be aware of tide times as most of the driving that end is done along the beach (we had absolutely no problems with this and managed to explore all day and work around the tide times).

A few places we visited and highly recommend were:

• Lake Mckenzie

• Lake Birrabeen

• Maheno ship Wreck

• Champagne Pools

• Eli Creek (make sure you take along pool noodles or tyre tubes) as you float down the creek with the gentle current.

• Mckenzie Jetty

• Orchard Beach

• Waddy Point

• Lake Boomanjin

On our last day we took the ferry back from Kingfisher Bay and explored around the jetty and enjoyed dinner at the Sand Bar which was delicious.

Dingo's are a protected species on Fraser Island so being dingo aware is very important. There are a number of dingo fenced accommodation options and also several picnic areas to eat that are also Dingo fenced. They say not to eat or drink outside of dingo fenced areas and to always keep your children within arms reach at all times. As scary as this sounds to some people, we only spotted two Dingo's in our time on Fraser Island. If you stay away and don't attract them you will be fine. We absolutely loved our time on Fraser Island and will definitely make it back again one day.