Fraser Island, off Australia’s eastern Queensland coast, is the world’s largest sand island, stretching over 120km. Panoramic viewpoints include Indian Head, a rocky outcrop on the island’s easternmost tip, and the Cathedrals, a cliff famous for sculpted ribbons of coloured sand (source Wikipedia).

Fraser (as most people call it), is one of the best spots to visit in Queensland (and I am sure some people would say Australia, however we haven’t see enough of this wonderfully big country to confirm this – give us another 10 or 15 years). The island is massive, at low tide driving from the bottom of the island all the way up to Ocean Lake (this is not even the top) takes 2 to 2 1/2 hours. There are camping spots everywhere and it will take many trips to explore the whole island. We are so lucky to have this on our door step, only an hour and a half drive to get there.

For us to get to Fraser, we head out on the Bruce Highway from the Sunshine Coast until we get to Gympie. Just before you get into Gympie and the road goes from single lane back to two lanes, you will turn right where it is clearly sign posted Rainbow Beach and Tin Can Bay. This is about a 55 minute drive from the Sunshine Coast. From Gympie to Rainbow Beach you follow the clearly marked signs, this is about a 50 minute drive.

Once you get to Rainbow Beach make sure you fill up at the Shell service station (it will be more expensive than Brisbane or Gympie) as you will want a full tank of fuel when you are on the island. At the Shell servo you can also get your barge return tickets – these are $120 per 4WD return, more with a trailer. Make sure you ask them for the island map which they should give you but sometimes they can forget. You can buy tickets on the barge but at least at the servo you know you can use Eftpos. Then drive down to Inskip Point and pull into the parking lot before the beach and let your tyres down to at least 18 PSI then head out and join the queue waiting on the beach to get on board the Manta Ray Barge.