Camping on Fraser Island

Also do you need to pre-book the sites?

Hi Tara,

The best place to camp is along the Eastern beaches. You can camp amongst the dunes or in the National Parks campgrounds. Both have to be pre-booked. You can pre-book at the NP office in Rainbow Beach (on your right as you come into town) or at the Cooloola office which is on the Noosa side of the river, on your left a few hundred metres before the Noosa River Ferry.

As you have little ones you may like to use a camp as they all have dingo proof fences and gates. I have never had a problem with Dingoes, but have seen plenty trotting past my camp when set up in the dunes.

The further north you go, the fewer noisy and annoying backpackers you will see, the less crowded the campsites will be. If you go north of Indian Head the driving is a little harder (softer sand, but really only difficult for the completely inexperienced). If you hire a 4WD most prohibit taking it north of Indian Head.

The best book I've found is Fraser Island the Essential Visitors Guide which sells for about $20. Throw in a Hema map for ~$8 and your sorted.

Let your tyres down to 18psi before you drive onto the sand at Noosa or Rainbow and buy everything you need before you go (sand pegs, beer, fuel, gas mantles etc) as the Island prices are massive. Take a shovel, a snatch strap and some RATED shackles (ie big ones stamped with a safe working load of at least 3 tonnes - or as appropriate for your vehicle) and you're in business.

Tailor usually go for whole pilchards on a gang of 3 hooks.

Good Luck!

You need to pre-book. If you want to use one of the fenced campsites like Cathederal Beach or Waddy point you book for the campsite. If you book for the beach you can camp at any of the designated beach camping areas.

Waddy would be my pick if you want a secure camp. They also have a camping area down the front on the beach. Just be warned, many of the designated fenced sites are not camper trailer friendly. They all suffer from an outbreak of Bollards.. :-( If you have a camper you're best in a general beach campsite. With the tin lids, read and follow the brochures they'll give you an Dingo's. They can be a pest but are easily managed.

You'll find Tailor in any beach gutter. They'll take just about any bait but pillies are the most popular. Good on pippies too, and you can get plenty of those on the beach at low tide.

Hi
As the same as John ,Waddy point top camping area is the place i like secure fenced area hot showers $1.
Check out places on this site pictures of the area Site Link
Also search Waddy point on the forum.
You can book online Queens land parks. https://www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks/iaparks/gds/

Rob.

...and the PDF in this link can be handy..

Hi Tara
Yeh we're heading over towards the end of next month also. We found it literally impossible to book a trailer site at either dundaburra or waddy point as they were all full. My wife is a first timer to the island and is a bit sketchy of the dingoes with our kids, (2 and 3 years ) , so we ended up getting in at Dilly Villiage which is down the southern end. Access is good and easy, hot showers if you need them, and of course there is that fence surrounding you,( I have been to the island a few times camping in the dunes and haven't had a problem with dingoes to date). I found a good book by Hema called Fraser island atlas and guide. Good read with plenty of maps and a bit of history about fraser. Cost somewhere around twenty bucks. Don't forget to factor in cost of Barge and beach permits. Staying at Dilly gives you a discount on one of the barges from rainbow beach, don't know how much yet but i reckon anythings better than nothing. Have fun.

Dan

just camp on the beach somewhere and keep an eye on your kids. we go to Fraser every year for 2 weeks with both our kids, aswell as 3 or 4 other families with young kids. last year we had 8 kids in our group, ranging in age from 4 months old as the youngest to 6 years old for the oldest.
just watch your kids all the time and you won't have any dramas, we've never found the dingos to be a problem, but we keep an eye on our kids.

Hi everyone
Thanks for your feedback! Will keep those places and the dingoes in mind. We have the same problem too with an outbreak of bollards which have spoilt quite a few awesome camping spots in SA for camper trailers. Considering the increasing popularity of campers you would think they would keep this type of camping in mind when setting up camping facilities.
Thanks again.
Tara