Tourist and travel information for Fraser Island

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Of all the Queensland Islands, Fraser Island is the most unique. It is 140 kilometers in length, 40 kilometers wide and the largest sand island in the world. Almost the entire island is world heritage listed and Fraser Island is one of Australia's great beauty spots and tourist attractions. it has had a chequered past with sand mining taking place for several decades and the timber industry on the island providing both quality hardwoods and softwoods for many years. Despite these industries having damaged the landscape in the past, both have been stopped and the island has revegitated and the only industry left on the island is tourism.

Fraser Island has unique scenery. As you travel around on the island you will see a number of different types of attractions. The rainforests here are spectacular and in some places huge satinay trees tower hundreds of feet into the air. Understoreys of palms and ferns provide that really lush green rainforest scenery. There are two different types of lakes on the island. There are both perched lakes and window lakes. The window lakes occur where the islands water table rises above the level of the surrounding sand dunes. These lakes are crystal clear and surrounded by pure white silica sand. Lake MacKenzie is the most famous and every visitor to Fraser Island will put it first on their agenda. The perched lakes occur where rotting vegetable matter forms a waterproof skin that traps water above it. These are numerous on Fraser Island. The water, although pure and clean is stained brown by the local Ti Tree bushes that grow around these lakes. The ocean beach is also a feature of Fraser Island and it stretches along the full length of the island. It is popular with fishermen but swimming here is not recommended. Other scenic attractions on the island include the coloured sands, Eli Creek, Central station, Indian Head, the champagne Pools and the Maheno shipwreck.

The wildlife on Fraser Island is also unique. The island is home to the purest breed of dingo still living in Australia. Mainland dingoes have interbred with feral dogs creating a mongrel strain while the islands dingos have remained pure. There are also many kangaroo, echidna, turtles and possums as well as hundreds of birds and reptiles.

Accommodation on the island is available in holiday homes, resorts of different standards and backpacker hostels and camps. Camping on the island is extremely popular and many Australians and International visitors choose to camp around the island while enjoying there stay there. Access to the island is via a vehicular barge service. These run from Inskip Point in the south, River Heads or Hervey Bay. Light aircraft also service the island and land on the ocean beach. There are no made roads on Fraser Island so a four wheel drive vehicle is essential to get around. Organised tours in four wheel drive buses are readily available.

Fraser Island is one of the most important wilderness tourist areas in Australia and not to be missed.

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