Fraser Island

Alex, At the time of year you're planning to visit Fraser Is it will be very hot particularly if you camp in one of the inland camping grounds. Once the camp grounds are booked out they are closed off. Camping on the beach is cooler and there are no designated camp sites so you camp where ever you want ( within reason) and that gives you a better chance of getting a site. However you are at the whim of the weather if a summer storm blows up and you will need to bring everything (toilet and shower etc) and getting water will be a daily ritual. We always camp on the beach near Happy Valley. Here you are central to most things and close to fuel, fresh water, phone and shop (even a restaurant) and yes it will probably be quite crowded. You will also need camping and traversing permits, both of which are obtainable from the National Parks office at Rainbow Beach providing you arrive there in office hours. Hope this helps,

Alex, mate what do i say Fraser is a beautiful place. when i went we came up from gold coast so we took one the barges from double island pt, there were 3 and the prices varied,as for a good spot to camp i camped on the beach between eli ck and happy vally,it was nice and isolated,also take arogard and a fly swat as the march flys can be fierce.the dingos never bothered me except once they ripped the lid off my rubbish bin on the back of my ute and made a bit of mess.its gr8 enjoy.

Alex frazer is great just a few observations
1.medical supplies / assistance is very limited, no doctor on ilsand outside peak times.their is sometimes ambulance survice,if astmatic or anything else take your own medical supplies.ambulance helicopter may not fly to f/i at night.we learnt this through attending to motor vehicle roll over two serious injuries.
2.any sort of supplies avail on island but expensive.
3.numerous camping sites on east side of island no firewood except driftwood camp early or you may miss out.
4. eastern beach is main road,subject to road rules,breathaliser,radar,80 kl speed limit.
5.overseas visitors magor traffic hazard give them haeps of room beware.
6.think abount having your vehicle sprayed with oil prior to going to island.
7.kingfisher bay used to have great seafood smorgasboard on weekend worth checking.
8.have great time lucky bastard,ps swim in ely creek early mornits fantastic.
tim

Oil spraying is a service offered by places that also offer after beach cleaning, on the way to and from the barge you will see signs. Personally Fraser island is such a beautiful place (when no-one is around) and being world heritage listed i think taking an oil sprayed vehcile on to the beach is a crime and won't be surprised if it banned within a few years.

Ideally as soon as you buy your 4WD you get it rustproofed the traditional way and just be anal about cleaning it with water etc as soon as you get off the beach. Would be wise to spray with your own marine shop rust preventor all exposed areas of metal, particularly wire connections, even go inside your doors and side view mirrors. When a wind gets up salt corroding sand particles just get in everywhere.

I agree with Paul in that oil spraying is not very good for the enviroment as well as well as just asking the salty sand to stick to your vehicle.

A professional rustproofing job along with a thorough wash down afterwards will help keep rust at bay. You will see signs for underbody car wash which are reasonably effective for washing off the bulk of the sand but apart from using recycled water (I believe),you should still get underneath with a hose to finish off & get inside the chassis rails ,cross members etc.

The aforementioned camping spots are all quite good along the beach but bear in mind that we often get strong South easterly winds which blow straight in on a lot of the unprotected beach sites. There is a national park camping ground at Dundubbara (north of Cathedral beach resort) which has 50 cent hot showers, toilets, water & some firewood, however as it is about 100m in from the beach it would be very hot in January.

There is some great protected beach camps north of Orchid beach ,however it is a long way north of the main sightseeing places.

Buy a Sunmap or Hema map which will show you the popular tourist spots etc.

Enjoy your trip as it is a magic place.

Alex
I was up there at Easter and had a great time.
I camped a few hundred meters North of Happy Valley,on the beach, they have a small shop (expensive) and a bar/bistro as well as an Ambulance Station in School holidays.
From there its a bout 10 minutes up to Eli Creek or 10 minutes inland to a lake starting with W..........
Great place, heaps of backpackers :-).
Fuel was $1.20 per L and a 600 mL coke was about $2.80.
Tim

Alex make sure you take the manta-ray barge from inskip point (the very bottom of the island) to fraser.There use to be only one barge owned by a company that runs the hervey bay operations, they were charging $70 plus $4 per passenger ($82 vehicle with 3 passengers) this year a new barge started up in opposition, cheaper rates and longer hours of operation. the established operator has put on 2 barges and dropped the price to below cost to put the new boy broke. The price is $40 and no extra for passengers a few extra dollars on the established operator but a hell of a saving on the old price which will come back unless travellers support the green barge the " manta- ray " I'm going up there in Aug this year around 3 weeks away and will let you know more if you want. Regards Geoff