You can take the girl out of Ireland, but, well, you know… We sent GILLIAN McVEIGH to Fraser Island to sample Queensland‘s most famous lakes and, er, talk about Gaelic football
“Can I drive? Can I? Come on. Come on!” It actually took two days before I managed to persuade our male companions to let a female take the reins – it wasn’t difficult to see there would be a bit of a gender power struggle in our van! Driving on Fraser Island is more difficult than you may think. The island is made entirely of sand and managing not to get bogged is quite the challenge. On top of that, you have to be very careful not to hit a wash out. One minute you’re cruising along an endless sandy beach, and the next thing the brakes are being slammed and you are on the edge of a giant drop. Take a tumble into that baby and you can be sure you and your 4WD is most likely a write-off. Not that this was going to put me off. If the boys could manage to keep it upright (tehehe) – and believe me, at times it was touch and go – then I sure as hell could too.
Follow the leader
Although there are a lot of must-see sights on the island, some of it is not accessible, even with the 4WDs, so we rather sensibly decided to follow the suggested itinerary given to us. You get a real feeling of adventure cruising along the beach with the tunes blasting. Especially when we came to parts where the tide was too far in to travel along the beach and we had to climb up steep sand tracks, praying that the van would make it. It does take a bit of planning to get everything packed in, especially as you have to take the tides into consideration, but stick to the plan and you’ll get to see all the top spots in three days. Our first stop was Eli Creek, which on a hot day would be perfect for taking a cooling dip. However, unfortunately for us, the heavens had opened and we ended up paddling in the creek, wrapped up in our hoodies and towels eagerly watching the sky, hoping for the rain clouds to blow on past.
