Fraser Island Favorite Tips by MishyM

Favorite thing: Backpacking on Fraser Island is a fantastic thing to do if you are young and want to meet new people while exploring this amazing Island.

I took about 9 friends from University - all from Canada along with me one break from University and they absolutely loved it.

The best thing to do is to hire a 4WD - we hired ours from a backpackers in Hervey Bay - Koala (http://www.koalaresort.com.au/fraser.htm) where they give you a safety briefing on how not to get your car caught in high tide and be stranded in the salt water and then have to pay for damages - and other helpful hints! This is also a great thing to do if you are travelling alone or with 1 or 2 others, as then you can join a couple more people are hire a car together to go over.

You really need to bring ALL your food for the whole time you are there with you. There are a couple of shops, but they are few and far between. This includes bringing matches etc for starting your camping stoves and so on. The good thing about the backpacker 4WDs is that they give you all the cooking equipment and you just need to bring your food. It also includes camping equipment, return ferry costs, camping permits and national park costs. (Remember if you are going to go without a tour and plan on camping etc, you MUST have these permits)

The great thing about hiring a car is you can go anywhere you want, stay as long as you want, and go back there again if you like! Driving on the island can be a bit bumpy as there aren?t any real roads, its all sand tracks until you get close to the resort - I think I almost got knocked unconscious hitting my head on the roof a few times... but that could also have been my friends really bad driving.

Fondest memory: Camping at night was great. We stopped near the beach most of the time - there are plenty of places to camp behind the sand dues and so on in specified areas, and there were normally 4 or 5 other backpacker cars there too, which meant lots of people to chat to and someone always had a guitar. (Please notes most of these places do not have toilets or showers) We did stay one night at a camping ground, which is fine if you have a family - but there are rules such as when you need to be quite, which is quite early, so I wouldn?t recommend it if you want to stay up late having fun.

Please see my recommended to do list of things you should see while you are there!

All in all, taking a backpacking car tour of Fraser Island is great fun if you want to meet new people and explore one of the most naturally beautiful places on earth!