Fraser Island

No, no, my dear brother John – you have not seen enough of blue skies and blue waters, because I have yet to tell you about Fraser Island, where I spent this last weekend. I first saw it seven years ago and thought it was perhaps one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Returning this week, I can confirm that it is.

Fraser Island is a sand-bar island, created tens of thousands of years ago as ocean sand caught on exposed lava rock off the east coast of what is today Queensland. It is so old that tropical rain forests have grown up on it, and freshwater creeks and lakes have been created from the rainwater that is squeezed out of the sand. Incredible, snow-white dunes of powdery sand drift across the island. There are 75 miles of perfect beach that stretch north to south on the Pacific side of the island. I only have one bad word about Fraser, and that is sandflies, which swarm in torturous numbers on the mainland side in the mangrove swamps. (Pardon me while I scratch my bites). I was blessed to be able to go with Joyce and Chris and their sister and brother-in-law Jo Chorny and Gene Osborne. Gene grew up in the Fraser Coast area and is really knowledgeable about Fraser – he also has interesting memories of Fraser Island’s bohemian past (the 1960s, man). Good stories Gene.

Only 4 wheel drive vehicles are allowed onto the island because there are no roads, only sandy tracks through the forests in-island. You can see from this photo the sandy track in front of Chris’s truck. We did get stuck in the powdery sand once, but were fortunate to have another vehicle come up behind us on the track and we were able to hitch a rope to him and he pulled the truck back far enough for Chris to take a second, successful run at the spot. Good fortune, good driving! (BTW, these narrow tracks are two-way. It’s always a little scary when a vehicle approaches from the other direction as there are sometimes no places to get off and you don’t always want to get off as the sand at the side of the track can just grab the vehicle an throw it back onto the track. Quite an exciting off-road experience. The number of vehicles allowed onto the island is very limited and we were very fortunate to hit a weekend when the population of both people and trucks was very light).
This photo is one of the wreck of the S.S. Maheno which lies on shore and is quite a tourist attraction. It sank in the 1930s and was deemed not of sufficient worth to salvage. During WW2 the Australian navy used it for target practice and today it is quite a curiosity. Really quite beautiful in its own way as it rusts away in the wind, tide and salt.

And the crowning glory of Fraser Island is, in my opinion, Lake McKenzie, a freshwater lake that is so crystal clear it looks like you are swimming in the cleanest filtered pool. It is surrounded by snow white sand beaches. Public access is severely limited by its remoteness and difficult access. How lucky for us. When I am trying to meditate and need to go to my happy peaceful place ... this is where my mind and spirit always go.

This place will always remain one of the most important sites I’ve ever been to. My soul is just somehow attached to Fraser Island – it just wants to rest there.