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The third day of our stay on Fraser Island could have been extremely frustrating. Indeed, we ended up on about Plan F by the time we managed to get anywhere, but despite all this, we were feeling relaxed, and really could not fail to find something to see or do.

Due to a late low tide, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of French toast cooked on the barbecue, before setting off for Indian Heads, where the view out to the ocean and the Northern parts of Fraser Island were excellent.

Indian Heads

The water below is pretty clear, and others we met later told us that they had seen whales, dolphins and a huge school of sharks in there just the day before. Alas, the waters were empty while we were there for twenty minutes or so, but the view was nonetheless worth the short walk up from the beach.

We had planned to round Indian Heads on the short bypass track and continue up as far as vehicles may go, however, from the top of the hill, it looked as though several bigger vehicles were stuck or struggling to pass this track.

Never being one to shirk a challenge, and because there was another couple of 4 wheel drive vehicles from Victoria helping each other through who said they’d give us a tow if we got stuck, I had a couple of flawed attempts to get through here, and, after about an hour, and some digging, we decided to go South and get to Lake Garawongera from Happy Valley instead. Everyone got stuck here who tried, and the people we spoke to that evening said that it was not worth all the effort it had taken them, so in retrospect, this might have been a blessing in disguise, particularly given what we ended up doing.

Plan B was well under way, with only the slight issue that our National Parks map of Fraser Island told us that the road we planned to take up to the lake was only for experienced 4 “self sufficient” four wheeled drivers. I took this to mean those with a winch. As we don’t have a winch, I thought I’d have a go anyway.

The road from Happy Valley up to Lake Garawongera starts off mildly challenging and gets worse. Eventually we were trying to push a few tons of sand uphill and stopped moving altogether.

A gentle dig, push and reverse all the way back out saw us off on Plan C – to drive back along the same road we’d taken the day before and head to Lake Wabby, and to stop at Eli Creek on the way.

Red Canyon 

We stopped at Red Canyon on the way to have our lunch. Red Canyon is not as impressive as its name suggests, though there is some colourful sand.

On the way down, we had seen many signs saying that aeroplanes would use the beach. It was quite a strange experience to drive straight towards a small plane which took off as we again passed the Maheno Shipwreck.

Eli Creek 

Lonely Planet had been talking Eli Creek up quite a bit, saying that it was some kind of roller coaster ride that would whoosh us back down to the beach. It was in no way like that, but it was great all the same.

The water is crystal clear, and as we paddled through it we were walking next to some huge eels.

The cooling water provided welcome relief after the mornings exertion digging the car out of the soft sand, however, unfortunately, I managed to get stuck again going back onto the track to Lake Wabby – after getting the girls to dig me out a couple of times for the reverse out, I absolutely gunned the engine and made it through.

Lake Wabby – Fraser Island

We drove, and then walked to the magnificent Lake Wabby, which is one of the most spectacular places I have ever been, and hence we were quite fortunate (in a perverse way) to have got stuck earlier.

The lake is flanked by a massive sand dune, the height and severity of the slope really does not come across well in the pictures – it was a very steep and scary looking slope down to the lake from here! In fact, according to one of our guide books, several people have been paralysed attempting to dive into this lake, or running down the dune, so it is not to be recommended. Swimming is definitely worth a go though, and the hot sand soon warms you up afterwards.

We did swim in this water, and while it was bloody freezing, we needed it after our hard efforts extracting the car from our various mishaps of the day, not to mention the 900 metre walk from the car to the lake which, through the sand, felt like twice as far.

The water at Lake Wabby is greener than the other lakes on Fraser Island, and the lake is apparently disappearing as the sand dune increases in size each year. It will be here for a while yet as it only shrinks by around a metre each year, but get be sure to visit in the next 100 years or so to avoid disappointment.

After our visit to the lake, due to our slight delays, it was a race against time – and tide – to get back to our camp site before high tide cut off our passage. We had to take the two bypass roads at the rocky areas as the sand was no longer exposed, and the ocean was higher than I would have liked, though, as there were still plenty of fishermen out with their vehicles, and there was enough drivable sand for two cars to pass safely I considered it safe, though it was a relief when we made it back to camp.