Fraser Island Questions?!

[Wrights150 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Wrights150]

hey Guys and Gals, my wife and I are just planning our first trip to Fraser! There seems to be a lot of info out there but it’s hard to k ow what is fact and what is a rough guideline? So any feed back would be great thanks!
I was just wondering how long it takes to get from bottom of the island to the top and how low does the tide have to be to tackle Ngkala rocks?
whats the best place to camp on the west coast?

thanks

[Wrights150 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Wrights150]

Sorry not sure how I posted the same thing twice

[Rossi46 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Rossi46]

We camped on the west coast in October 2017 at Awinya Creek. Very remote but worth the effort, You rarely see any other 4wd's going up and down the beach so the kids can play on the beach without too much stress. The water is like a lake most of the time, you can swim in the fresh water creek, and the sun sets and camping spots are amazing. Make sure you have a snorkel if you intend to cross the creek as it is over the bonnet deep. Getting the tides right helps your travel time as you can usually sit on 80km/h in the hard stuff, if you are tackling the soft sand at high tide it slows you down a lot, not to mention the risk of getting bogged as I did a few times as we got the tides wrong and the sand was extremely soft!!
Not sure how long from bottom to top, but from Inskip point to Awinya creek took about 3hrs from memory on the way back as we left at low tide, on the way there was more like 5hrs, but that was with few recoveries thrown in!! Enjoy it, Fraser is awesome, especially the west coast as it is much less crowded than the east coast a !!

[Atherton Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Atherton]

hey Guys and Gals, my wife and I are just planning our first trip to Fraser! There seems to be a lot of info out there but it’s hard to k ow what is fact and what is a rough guideline? So any feed back would be great thanks!
I was just wondering how long it takes to get from bottom of the island to the top and how low does the tide have to be to tackle Ngkala rocks?
whats the best place to camp on the west coast?

thanks

Let your tyres down, keep a close eye on the tides if you intend to travel far and watch out for Dingoes. I was horrified how tame they've become- I'm a big guy (6'6") and they had no dramas sneaking up behind me (within 2.5 meters) at night while I was walking on the beach- As someone who normally shoots them on the farm it was a pretty unnerving experience. Make sure to keep an eye on the kids if you've got them and always seal food away if you leave camp to stop them tearing your stuff apart (Rangers hand out big fines if that's not incentive enough).

If you can, travel early in the day- You'll beat the rush to most places and it gives you options with the tide. It's honestly a gorgeous place well worth visiting.

EDIT: Regarding Ngala Rocks- We found it best to tackle around low tide- Make sure to give it plenty of jandle once you get past the coffee rocks. Third gear low range (locked in S mode) was the ticket for me.

[Wrights150 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Wrights150]

Thanks boys that’s great, Awinya creek was already on the list just wasn’t sure if we can fit it all in. Cheers for the tips

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Travelling from bottom of island to tip in one trip takes a long time and not recommended if you’re not camping up that way or at Waddy Point Top Camp. Especially during your first trip to the island as you’ll want to stop and look at everything along the way. You have to allow for virtual car park road blocks at Ngala Rocks for sure each time which can rob you of time. Too many people get stuck in there and recoveries in that gauntlet seem to take forever. The walk up to the light house and long and up hill all the way but we’ll worth it.

Be very careful camping outside of a fenced area with young children these days if it’s your first trip to Fraser. The dingoes are bold and cunning. Cooking at night attracts them close to the perimeter of your camp too. You’ll develop eyes in the back of your head and won’t let the kids more than 3 meters away from you. I had one come up 1 meter behind me at Lake Boomanjin many years ago when I was packing the car. I slowed my movements right down and raised my arms up above chest height to get them out of initial biting range. It lost interest after 10 seconds or so and moved on.