Dilli Village Fraser Island

We camped there in September 2006.

I'd say almost exactly on the spot of Old Girls's photo !

We found it the same. it was clean and comfortable enough. We had no drama with noise at all, it was quiet at night.

Safe environment for the rug rats..


Next time I think I would rather camp further north - but that is no fault of Dilli Village rather I'd want to spend more time to the north of the island and less time traveling.

Cheers, Mark

Rather Jan 07. Thank god the photos have dates.

Planes have been landing near Eli for decades. During that time the creek has had several different courses. The only thing that changes it is mother nature..

In my 35 year history visiting Fraser

IMH 35year history of visiting it O, Dilly Village is the best family place to stay for several reasons...

Distance from the beach makes it safer if the kids try to wander down to it
There much much much less traffic on the beach
Peak-Hours traffic is more predictable running off the tides and barges
There are more freshwater creeks to explore from Dilly
And that darn good fishing hole..

Dilly used to have a swimming hole but the decision to turn the foredune swamps into campsite access tracks pretty much drained the foredune wetlands the whole length of the island...

in th 35 years ive visited it and walked most of it, Eli has never run straight out to the sea like it does now... the planes used to land outfront of Eurong or the old resort at Orchid Beach...

but there sure are some nice swish twin-engined, 6-12 seator airplanes parked at Eli Creek airport nowadays

"so it no wonder they changed the natural flow of eli creek"

As I said, the only thing that changes the course of the creek is mother nature. At the moment it comes out about 100 metres south. This changed after a big storm about 3 years ago from memory. Used to run about 200 metres north and was banked up by the dunes so the overall water level in the creek was a lot higher.

After 35 yrs you should know that ;-)

John,
We too have been there in both. When it was to the north there was a cliff and one time we didnt have to wait for low tide to pass to go over. The bay up past Indian head changes too. Then way down at (Pin Cushion) Cotton Tree, amazes me what mother nature is capable of.

Are we allowed to be honest about our stay because our stay for 7 days was not all that flash.

Dilly Village is quiet and not all that flash but it's not far from Eli Creek which is still great to visit...

we shouldnt confuse profit-motive with mature-nature...
before the airport that creek used to run almost a kilometre to the north...it tool 40 minutes to float down and many family groups could park up to it without the slightest hint oif overcrowding....i guess now its easier to controll the crowds.
the bank it carved into the big foredune is still there and can be traced on google to reveal a much further sea-exit pre-airport days

If you Eli from Dilly low tide is good, there used to be so much water coming out it was impassable at hightide... it is probably passable at hightide now

Mate, I don't know what your issue is... your comments continually imply that an "airport" has been built at Eli, which has changed the course of Eli creek. That's total rubbish. Sure planes land on the beach, WHEN CONDITIONS ARE SUITABLE, but to imply that it's a true airport is plain wrong. Planes still do land at Eurong, also at Happy valley and Cathederal beach and anywhere else they choose to, but none of the beach is an airport. "Profit Motive" implies that the operators of the aircraft have influence over the conditions of the beach. Well even King Canute found he couldn't do that!

Your other comment.."the decision to turn the foredune swamps into campsite access tracks pretty much drained the foredune wetlands the whole length of the island"

If you knew anything about Fraser you'd know that any access tracks that run behind the dunes where created by campers looking to get out of the wind. There was NO "decision", just like there is and never was "foredune wetlands the whole length of the island".

As for "There much much much less traffic on the beach", get real. Have you been going up there with your eyes shut? Dilli, being at the southern end of the island, is on the busiest part of the beach. If you want less traffic, head north. The further you go the quieter it gets.


Sheeshhh!!!

MB, i didnt imply, i outright stated what I had said but I was really poking a bit of fun, packing the sand and making the area stable you might say, you must be tone deaf...maybe tide deaf too

To get to Dilli village during high tides one prefers to take the inland track.....The inland track also exits north of dilli village...That means it bypasses Dilli during high tides. This means it greatly reduces the traffic during those periods and at other times .....the northern-central part of fraser is like a multi-lane highway. the beaches are longer which allows more traffic through during high tides...

there are/were foredune wetlands the whole length of the south-east face of the island...with foredune wetlands i really meant swamps, sinks, quicks and creeks

ill prove it .... water runs down the dunes both sides - or are you going to mislead more...

where is the huge swamp out the back of the aircraft landing sign six k's short of eurong them hey? hey? hey? ...

and the rear access campsite tracks came from the "sectioning policy" of the recently placed "beachside campsite areas". These "areas" are moved up and down within thier vicinity to reduce impact in one constant area... but all its done is drained the water...

all this makes staying at DIlli an even bigger bonus 'cause they didnt get the swimming hole and wets rite in front of it..... jeeshhh, shhhhhh

Dilli Village

see the dried out wets running up the beach??

this is the correct link

dilli village

last spring as i rounded hool point, the baby seagulls took flight and flew escort along side the vehicle.
The flew a long "wing" formation and drafted from one side of the vehicles wash to the other.... it is a magic place

The inland road no longer goes to Dilli. You have to get on the beach about 3 or 4 k before Dilli. It's been barricaded off for years.

No one PREFERS the inland road. At high tide it can be your only option but it's a corrugated dangerous track.

Yes water does run down both sides of a dune. So what?

"foredune wetlands the whole length of the south-east face of the island" is hardly the "foredune wetlands the whole length of the island"

Ya don't have a clue what you're talking about.

water running down dunes forms puddles at the bottom..im sure you knew that well....

thanks for highlighting traffic safetys policy, i stand corrected...what happened to the road improvements, i thought they would be in by now. did it all go to air-strip stuff maybe??

but some ignorant dill must have thought it would be better to put campsite access tracks instead...
the old natural campsites reardune access never joined anywhere nearly as much as suggested....look at the google images in the above link, with little effort you can easily see where the wets areas used to be...

is the beach more dangerous than that road then, right... and where's that swamp gone again??

Move on will ya.

move on to the answer as to where the swamp went - sure.... it drained when they put the aircraft landing warning sign in, part of the road infrastructor spending i bet...

I agree with follow up no.5. Was up there a fortnight ago for 6th trip after a few years working in the NT. We wont be going back. No camping at Lake Mackenzie, Indian Head or NE beachfront at Waddy Pt. All settlements/resorts are fenced like concentration camps, you have to book camps spots before you arrive on island. Eli creek is nothing special anymore, just small and straight out, and Waddy Pt beach camp sites now look out on a smelly sandfly infested swamp. A big disappointment after so many wonderful weeks in previous years at Waddy.

the fencing is to avoid native title claims.....such is the greed up there they let the dogs overpopulate to get funding for fences to avoid native title, not for dog attacks...

at the now "much easier to launch a boat" Waddy point; was the privatly owned 50foot luxury motor launch still parked behind the shed in the rangers station?..

that's what so nice about Dilli ... it hasnt changed all that much nor the geography around it... and that gives a family the chance to see bio-diversity and bio-destruction all in the one holiday...