Fraser Island - what is it really like?

Was there in June -July school holidays not last year but the year before, the island was practically a ghost town....i'm actually serious, maybe not a ghost town, but was very low on numbers. We rented the house that is right on Poyungan Rocks for a nice change instead of our usual camping on the island that we'd do (normally more around September time period), i think the cold weather and no fires policy keeps alot of people away at that time of year. A few days into our stay I made comment to the guy behind the counter at Eurong store how quiet it was on the island, he agreed and said it was definitely very quiet. On the way back to our house from Eurong we drove through a camp zone behind the dunes to see just how many people were in it, in about 2 klms of camp zone we spotted I think 4 camp sites, all of them small groups of just a couple of trailers...so say less then a dozen families all up it looked like.

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Hi Merilyn,

We live close to Fraser Island and have visited there a number of times over 30 years.
The Island has changed little in that time but the vehicle traffic has increased considerably. And of course with the number of people holidaying on the island it has become much busier.

The dingos? Certainly they have become much bolder in recent years and you are no doubt familiar with several attack incidents. I have no knowledge of people "running them down" or "shooting them" but certainly they do get fed by tourists which has emboldened them to approach people.
I believe that the rangers manage the dingos as best they can but other than unpopular culling there is little they can do to control their behaviour. There are several camping areas that exclude dingos.

Fraser was once one of Roz's favourite places. She camped there 50 years ago, before barge access, so has seen it in almost wilderness condition but now has said she reluctantly wishes to visit no more.

My grandfather was a timber cutter so my dad spent the first 6 years of his life on Fraser.
He returned over 30 years later and commented on few changes.

I first visited in 1985 and loved it. I camped at Central Station with my parents. The dingos were shy and stayed their distance. Apart from securing your food, the dingos weren't a concern.
I returned a few years later with my husband (to be!) and we just did Fraser as a day trip.
We returned in 2000 and stayed at Kingfisher Bay for a week. I was quite shocked at the way that rangers had to tell people what to do when a dingo approached. The ranger told of the day she witnessed a dingo stalk a young child on the beach and said that from a distance, the child would have been about the size of a wallaby (its natural prey). She ran down the beach ("like an idiot") to distract the dingo and alert the parents who were very nearby but hadn't seen the dingo coming from behind.

I've followed the changes on Fraser and don't like them. I dearly wish they would restrict the number of tourists.

Dear Fraser. I love you too much to return.

Been to Fraser in the 80's and 90's. Back then you could pull up and camp anywhere. Spent 1 night at Mckenzie, 2 troupies pulled up, tents were all around us, and the duke boxes were playing in sterio most of the night....high tailed it back to the Mahino wreck for the remainder of the stay. I hear now you have to book a camp site in advance....no thanks.

It is a big island and most of the clowns tend to aggregate and drive along 75 mile beach. Winter will be fine.

Visited in June 17 was busier than I expected for winter. Depending on how busy it is (mind you its been a while since visiting at a busy period...ie summer christmas etc) we change our habits - up early go visit/swim before the hoards arrive or stay until dark after they have gone. The visitors have changed a lot - a higher proportion of inexperienced drivers often making bad decisions because they dont know their vehicle or conditions. Eg speeding past beachgoers for fear of getting bogged, or by underestimating travel/tide times and rushing to get to camp etc etc. Best to avoid holiday periods.

Merilyn, I'm going to do the week long Great Walk (bushwalk) down the centre of the Island in mid May, if I remember I'll give you an update when i get back. If I forget chase me up
Only driving up as far as Happy Valley, then walking back down the spine of the island to Dilli Village.
I was last there more than 15 years ago, I won't be spending a great deal of time on the actual beach though this time and it won't be in school holidays.

Mark

Just go Merilyn. Especially if your son wants to be with you guys. Although Fraser is not what it used to be it is still a very special place. Have been going most winters since early 80s. It's a great feeling airing down waiting for the barge at Inskip, you seem to just unwind.
Your are going at a good time. You will certainly catch fish easily(mostly tailor). If you treat the dingoes as sneaky wild animals (not dogs) they are not a problem. I take a slingshot in case they become too familiar. The further North you go the less people. We are up there again late July. Can't wait.
You'll have a great time, Baz

does anyone know if you can get past Ngkala Rocks now? It was probably a while back now, when storms had damaged and reshaped the beach in the area.