Hiking on Fraser Island - Wanggoolba Creek to Lake Mackenzie

Early start today, to get down to the ferry from River Heads across to Fraser Island.

Although you can easily book the ferry and campsites yourself, we needed to hire some camp kit, so got a tour operator to do the logistics for us and lend us the required camp kit. By 10am, we'd been dropped at the tiny port at 'Rivers Head' and were ready to board!

There was only about ten other people on the ferry, so it felt like a private transfer! It didn't look like it would be busy on the trail! 

We stayed up on the roof for the crossing and watched Dolphins as we made our way across the short sound. 

Arriving at the Island, there was just a slipway. The couple of 4x4 jeeps drove off and we were left on our own as the ferry pulled away!

At the trailhead, there was a big sign warning of the dangers of the island's wild Dingos. We found a big stick that would accompany and protect us during our quest into the rainforest.

To start with, we followed some swampy mangroves until we gained a bit of height and entered the forest.

Having left the coast in blistering sunshine, it came as some surprise when rain drops started spotting down on us. Moments later it was chucking it down and we had to seek shelter under a big tree for ten or fifteen minutes until it eased off a bit!

Eventually, it was just drizzling. Given that we had set off on our trek, we had no choice, but to continue onwards toward our intended camp area - rain or no rain.

The undergrowth was quite dense, but a reasonable trail had been made and it was easy enough to navigate through.

Even though we knew that we were heading to a white sandy beach on the shores of a crystal clear lake, it was hard to imagine one existing here amidst the dark sand of the forest floor. The whole island is one big sandune, that has been colonialised by the rain forest over thousands of years. Anyway, after an interesting but damp 10km or so, the skies started to clear and we made it to our camp at the fabled 'Lake Mackenzie'.

The sand was as white and the waters as clear as we'd been told! It was quite windy when we arrived, so we didn't have the full tranquility experience, but we got straight in for a swim non the less.

A sandy road leads down to the far end of the lake beach, were bus loads of tourists were unloaded. Waves of crowds would suddenly appear out of the bushes, all get a photo and the return to their 4x4 bus tour and drive away. It was quite surreal given the wild surroundings.

By 4:30, the last tour had left and we had the place to ourselves. There is only one other hiker at the camp, so we were literally alone in the wilds...

A magnificent full moon rose after the sun had set and we stayed by the waters edge until hunger sent us back to the tent. 

The camp area has a dingo fence around it, so felt pretty safe. It also had little platforms to cook on so we weren't sitting down with the (numerous) bugs! We had a delicious cosy dinner and had intended to return to the lake for a moonlit dip, when suddenly the clouds rolled in again, the wind picked up and rain started falling! The swim would have to wait until morning...