Planning a Fraser Trip

[bobbyfaescotland]

I am hoping to get to Fraser Island from 29th Dec for a week, can anyone please advise a good spot to park the camper trailer, I have never been before and tried to see about Waddy Point but it is fully booked.

Are there areas like Tewantin that you can just stop and pitch up.

Cheers

BT

[swanny]

Mate dont be comcerned if you can't get "a booked camp site" there are a thousand spots to stop along the beach, i just can't recall the names that they are located around, but as u head up the beach u will see for urself.

Plenty of nice little hidy holes behind the dunes out of the onshore breezes which can get strong in the arvos. Some have a little grass to get of the sand if that is a prob.

Only thing this time of year the place will be teaming with people, but thats life i guess, Think about ur supplies, it can get expensive over there if u need to restock any items, also think about ur water supply, if ur remote camping so to speak, u might need to sus out were u can collect water.

I stayed at Dundubara, up the beach in a camp site and had all amenities provided.

Good luck with ur trip, my bet is when u get home, u will be planning ur return its a great place.

Regards Swanny

[Bird]

Mate dont be comcerned if you can't get "a booked camp site" there are a thousand spots to stop along the beach,

at least! but by the 29th if its like Oct School holidays it will be busy.

[GregS]

Don't forget to get your vehicle and camping permits before you get to Fraser. I think there is a npws office in Rainbow Beach that you can get these at.

We camp north of Waddy Point near the Ocean Lake turnoff. We get telstra mobile phone reception up there. There can be a few people up there but there is still plenty of room to park up and you may be lucky and get a good spot. You can camp on both sides of this turnoff for quite a way. There used to be camping just north of Orange creek as well. Both of these spots are only about 10 odd mins from Waddy Point where you can get water (from taps provided by NPWS) and dump your rubbish at the bins. You can pick up supplies at Orchid beach but they will be more expensive than what you are used to (last time we were there a box of cornflakes was around $10).
I would check the long range forecasts as it can get awfully blustery over there at this time of year and the seaweed usually buggers up alot of the fishing on the eastern side at this time of year as well, but if you are going over to sight see and drive to the lakes and such and aren't going to be fishing then you won't have much of an issue, especially if can score yourselves a nice sheltered spot. Just pick your tides if you want to sight see the lakes on the southern end of Waddy Point as you may get caught and won't be able to get back to camp. If you want to see the sights then maybe staying down below Waddy Point is a better option.


Greg

[Rumpig]

i've been to Fraser before at xmas time a few years back, good luck finding a spot when arriving on the 29th is all i will say. we arrived on the 27th the time we went and there wasn't a single campsite to be found on the Eastern Beach South of The Maheno wreck, we did find a nice spot further North though eventually. Not saying you won't find one, just be aware it will be very difficult to find one, let alone somewhere really nice IMHO.
Everywhere up that way is really busy over the xmas period, Inskip Point looks like a refugee camp and Double Island / Teewantin will be the same sorry to say.

[bobbyfaescotland]

Thats one of the down sides of having kids, everywhere is busy when they are off.

Thanks for all the tips and I will see how it goes regarding weather etc before I book, might still end up in the back garden at this rate

[GregS]

Thats one of the down sides of having kids, everywhere is busy when they are off.

Thanks for all the tips and I will see how it goes regarding weather etc before I book, might still end up in the back garden at this rate

Hear ya with the kids thing. We used to take our daughter out a few days or a week before school hols, but next year she is in grade 11 and that will have to stop as she will need all the time at school. So now it is only school hols time or not at all.

The further you head north on Fraser the more chance you will have of getting a campsite. The backpackers are only allowed as far north as Waddy Point (well used to be anyway) so that keeps a bit of the riffraff out of the area. There are some quite large sites in the Ocean Lake camping area.
But the further you head north the more you will need to watch the tide as well.

Greg

[Chris-Vi]

There are 3 camping areas just north of Orchid Beach. Have a look at a Hema map or online they will show you the camping spots. There are well marked. We also found you could get water at the shop at Orchid Beach. We ran down to Waddy Point at low tide a few times as it is beautiful there. You can get out at high tide past the camping area up the hill and come back around to Orchid as well. A great area. Enjoy. 

[Rumpig]

i'm looking forward to seeing peoples pics of the island when they get back from Fraser. i have seen aerial shots of the beach on another forum taken on boxing day about 90 minutes before the king tide. one pic shows a guy apparently (hard to see but according to the pilot) snatching his camper trailer out of a waist deep gutter after getting stuck on the beach...wtf are people doing driving up the beach 90 mins. before a king tide  the other pics show nowhere to drive on the beach at all, as the water was right up high. certainly wouldn't have wanted to have a low campsite going on those aerial pics i saw, might have been more water front they some would have liked.

[GregS]

i'm looking forward to seeing peoples pics of the island when they get back from Fraser. i have seen aerial shots of the beach on another forum taken on boxing day about 90 minutes before the king tide. one pic shows a guy apparently (hard to see but according to the pilot) snatching his camper trailer out of a waist deep gutter after getting stuck on the beach...wtf are people doing driving up the beach 90 mins. before a king tide  the other pics show nowhere to drive on the beach at all, as the water was right up high. certainly wouldn't have wanted to have a low campsite going on those aerial pics i saw, might have been more water front they some would have liked.

Rumpig,

Mate, you don't happen to remember the which forum had the pics of Fraser Is

Cheers
Greg

[Rumpig]

Rumpig,

Mate, you don't happen to remember the which forum had the pics of Fraser Is

Cheers
Greg

a link to the thread they were in Greg.... http://forums.overlander.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=73231 ...they are shot from a fair height, so it took me a few seconds to workout exactly where each spot was. if you look closely in the first pic, you can see the vehicles on the beach, though they are abit hard to see.
cheers

[GregS]

a link to the thread they were in Greg.... http://forums.overlander.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=73231 ...they are shot from a fair height, so it took me a few seconds to workout exactly where each spot was. if you look closely in the first pic, you can see the vehicles on the beach, though they are abit hard to see.
cheers

Rumpig,

Cheers for that I will have a look.

Greg

[Chris-Vi]

I also heard that there was a problem at Inskip Point with the king tides and wind. I didn't see Monday's Courier Mail but I was told there was a photo in there with water around campers. 

[Rumpig]

just been on exploreoz forum and there's a couple of pics on there from around xmas day. one pic shows water in a beach campsite entrance track, i reckon there would have been some worried campers watching the waves crash and push water up to their campsites, if not through some of the lower lying ones. http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/90892/Big_seas_on_Fraser_Island_Christmas_Eve.aspx?p=%2fForum%2fDefault.aspx%3fpn%3d1