My Island Home
Sounds romantic doesn’t it, living on an island for 3 months, slightly isolated from humanity, caretaking a holiday property with a commanding view of the ocean, nothing else mattered really I was sold on the ocean view right from the beginning.
Obviously the reality of such an existence begged consideration, however that is not one of my fortes, I’m a ‘throw myself into it’ kind of girl who prefers not to think about reality. The positives were gleaming at me, my sense of adventure had been stimulated and that is all I needed, I’d worry about the rest later, make it up as I go, it couldn’t be too challenging surely!
Arriving on Fraser Island, almost 30 years after our last barge crossing to adventure was underwhelming, the grumpy staff on board Manta Ray Barges were not at all interested in my excitement, the fact we had not completed the appropriate paperwork for our ‘Residents Concession’ caused a tidal wave in their otherwise, boring as bat shit day driving backwards and forwards from Inskip Point to Fraser Island. Customer service was obviously lacking in their training, they simply drive a barge, don’t ask them any questions, don’t be complicated, don’t look too excited, just get on and get off the barge, and promptly!
Not letting the grumpy welcome to the island deter us, with sand between our toes and our tyre pressure right down our adventure began. We had been warned to time our arrival with low tide so that we had an easy drive up the beach to our destination at Poyungan Rocks. Our beach house was on the East Coast of the island and the sand was our new highway, driving at 80km/hour quickly became our norm, so very different to cruising along Cable Beach at 15 km/hour. We felt like environmental vandals, taking it for granted to even drive on the beach let alone at speed.
Stepping out of the car at Fraser Beachfront Holidays, the sound of the ocean took me by surprise, it was loud, really loud! The view was however breath taking, my first words to the departing caretakers were ‘I will never get sick of that view’. Surprisingly, the response was ‘yes you will’. Weird, but I didn’t ponder on that for too long, I was too excited to move into our little home. Our new home was only 20 m from the high tide mark and our view was 180 degrees up and down the coast, sunrise and early morning walks soon became my favourite time of the day.
Researching job opportunities that not only top up the bank balance but more importantly complement our sense of adventure had become my mission in life, we fortunately agree that this chapter in our lives is primarily about adventure, freedom and fun. Finding this gig came at the perfect time, having spent the last 9 months travelling throughout QLD and living with family sporadically it was pure bliss to settle into the comfort of a house for a little while. Having our own kitchen, bathroom and comfy lounge felt like absolute luxury. Don’t get me wrong, we have loved the freedom of our travel but every now and then you need a place to stop, rest and reassess!
With work commitments aside we were really keen to explore the World’s largest sand island, meet the locals, find the hidden gems, walk the inland tracks and swim in the freshwater lakes at every opportunity. With our map in hand and some local tips we set out to discover the heart and soul of the island. The one thing we have learnt from our past travel expeditions, that we apply to every new area, is to move in the opposite direction to everyone else!
We have become rather anti social these days and too much humanity ruins most places. If you hear about a stunning location to visit, it’s on Wikicamps and reviews really well you can be guaranteed it will be overrun with people all wanting a piece of the action and suddenly it’s not that appealing any more.
Fraser Island is a little pocket rocket of diversity, actually it’s not so little, surprisingly it stretches for 120km and once you start exploring you discover that it’s not all sand. Our location on the Eastern side of the island, is known as Poyungan Rocks, these fragile coffee rocks on our door step appear to ebb and flow with the tide, they sit differently in the sand everyday, it’s beautiful to witness!
Living on the East coast of the island we were somewhat bias to explore our backyard heading north and south along the sand highway. There are many highlights along the way and not surprisingly the day trippers and tourist buses are busy all day rushing about and ticking off each location without really taking the time to experience them. For us rather than rushing through a ‘to do list’ we set off to explore our side of the island with only a direction in mind and more importantly we go with few expectations, it’s much better to just see what unfolds.
The Pinnacles were one of our highlights on the East Coast, the iron-rich minerals within the sand and the sculptured cliffs that have been carved from thousands of years of weather are stunning to witness at sunrise. With the morning sun peaking over the horizon and the soft glow slowly penetrating the cliffs the showcase of colour slowly reveals itself. The Golden Hour at it’s finest was something to get excited about, even better with a fresh brewed coffee in my hand and not another person in sight. The feelings that I get from moments like this, that are so simple and inherently rewarding have turned out to be the connection to my inner peace, sadly it’s taken me 55 years to figure this out!
Our greatest appreciation of nature comes from bush walking, we both enjoy the tranquility that nature provides, and it also helps us to maintain a reasonable level of fitness. The fact that you don’t need to spend any money exploring in this way is also a bonus. For us, turning our back on mainstream life, the lifestyle that had hijacked our happiness, has taught us how to be more savvy with money, our rational is if we spend less we can do more.
The Sand Blows are ever moving and changing the shape of the Island and are a fantastic physical work out. We walked the Hammerstone sand blow on the way to Lake Wabby, it felt like we were lost in the desert. Trudging across the vast expanse of the undulating sand dunes was a tough gig, you quickly realize how unfit you are on those gigantic ascents. Not letting my lack of fitness get in the way of a good time I took on the obvious challenge to body roll down the last dune towards the lake. In my mind it looked effortless and streamlined but the reality was far from it, in a screaming mess I landed heavily in the lake, completely disorientated, and eating clumps of sand I staggered to the edge before laughing so hard I cried. Laughing is so good for the soul and sometimes you have to remind yourself to be spontaneous, reckless and to have good wholesome fun.
Lake McKenzie is one of about forty perched lakes on Fraser Island and hands down the most picturesque. Unfortunately that means it is inundated with tour buses, large groups, backpackers, families, you name it everyone that visits Fraser Island has Lake McKenzie on their to do list. Not wanting to miss out on this beauty we set our alarm for sunrise, headed off super early and got to the lake before everyone else. We had the whole place to ourselves, when the crowds came we left, having already spent a good couple of hours soaking up the scenery, swimming, walking, paddling and exploring on our own. The natural beauty of this place is grand, the crystal clear blue and green water together with the blinding white silica sand sets the scene for the most perfect Instagram shot. We watched in stealthy amusement the dozens of wannabe Instagram influencers in full pout and prance mode parading in front of a camera hopeful of their perfect shot. I personally think we nailed it by jumping in a canoe and paddling across the lake to experience the hidden beaches, changing depth and the marine life surrounding us rather than just standing on the edge and turning on a fake smile.
Sandy Cape at the very top of the Island was the most amazing beach camp experience we have ever had. The weather was perfectly warm, the big tides and full moon contributed to the wonderful energy we felt during our sojourn. Living on the largest sand island in the World you can’t go past the opportunity to have a go at sandboarding, even at our age! It didn’t take long however for the calm azure water to tease us away from traipsing the dunes to rather float and wallow the afternoon away. Our camp was nicely tucked under the shade of gum and banksia trees and with the sound and view of the ocean we were in heaven. Due to the remoteness of Sandy Cape and the difficult 4×4 track to get there only the adventurous make it as far north. The reward for your effort and risk is the lack of humanity and for us the serenity is what we seek when camping in the bush. Our only visitor was a curious dingo who wandered into camp probably lured in from the smell of our food, he quickly turned and ran when he noticed us. The Dingo’s further south on the island are unfortunately not scared of humans and have become quite aggressive resulting in frequent attacks in the more populated areas.
Champagne Pools can not be fully appreciated unless you are immersed in the natural rock pools with a glass of champagne in your hand. Surrounded by stunning volcanic rocks the ocean waves come crashing into the pools and gently bubble around you. If you are clever and have timed your arrival just perfect, a few hours before the high tide, the waves are more gentle and the bubbles more relaxing than when the tide is high. It took us three visits to get the timing just right and it was on the last visit we celebrated by drinking bubbles whilst being surrounded by bubbles, at that moment I actually considered never leaving the island.
Central Station was once the heart of the logging industry that occurred on Fraser Island for over 130 years. The sand tracks inland are rough and not well maintained but for the 4×4 enthusiasts the driving challenge is what they come for. The inland rainforest has largely recovered from the intense logging, now with a dense undergrowth of ferns and enormous Satinay trees that flourish along the banks of Wanggoolba Creek you are left to ponder how the regrowth and abundance was even possible in sand. The walking tracks throughout this area vary in distance but no matter what track you choose you will have a very different experience to the coast and that is the outstanding appeal of the island, such natural diversity in a relatively small area.
You would have thought that in 3 months we could have covered every square inch of the island but what we didn’t take into consideration when we arrived at Fraser Beach Front Holidays was how much we would enjoy the property itself. Living right on the doorstep of the ocean provided an incredible lifestyle that consisted of waking up at day-break to watch the sunrise with a coffee, long walks on the beach, daily yoga on the lawn meditating with the sound of the ocean and late lazy breakfasts to start the day. Island life taught us how to live more resourcefully, we had to plan our menu and shop once a month. With the hard work done it was so liberating knowing that we didn’t have to think about what we would be having for dinner and rushing off to the shops to pick up the missing ingredients. Growing fresh food became a necessity, I can’t believe it has taken us this long to commit to the process of planting seedlings and caring for them to then reap the rewards from our time and energy. Such simple joy but looking back it was the busyness of our lives, being so time poor, that forced us to choices of convenience. Time has become our greatest asset, it’s what was missing in our lives for so long whilst we were raising a family and building wealth for our future, along the way we really struggled to get the balance right. Having the luxury of time now allows us to rest, reflect, reassess, and make purposeful changes in our lives that will lead us to happiness and contentment.
Richard decided quite early in our stay that our legacy at Fraser Beach Front Holidays would be to develop a watering system that would make the job of the caretakers so much more time productive. There was a lot of time wasted every day in moving sprinklers around the property to keep the lawn alive. Sand quickly becomes your enemy when you live on top of it so keeping the lawn thick and lush means less sand inside your house. With approval of the owners we set out to develop a new reticulation system that included putting down another bore so that the entire 5000 sq metres of cleared ground could be watered regularly on a fully automatic watering system. Richard fortunately was able to recruit some help digging the trenches and then refilling them once the pipe work was in. It didn’t take him long to remember why he hates shovels so much and my hands get blisters as soon as I look at a shovel so I wasn’t much help. With the hard work done it was just a matter of placing sprinklers, adjusting flow and setting up the timer so that the lawn would flourish. We were lucky enough to see the changes before we left, with many repeat guests commenting on how good the grounds looked. Our job was done!
Now the reality of the housesit for me was a return to cleaning up after guests, something that I had become very good at having spent 14 years operating a Bed and Breakfast. I don’t love cleaning but there is some satisfaction in getting the job done and walking away knowing that a positive first impression will be a great start to our guests long awaited holiday. From every window of the 3 houses we were looking after you could see the ocean and if I ever got bored or hated what I was doing all I had to do was look up and the view would make me smile. The sound of the ocean at the beginning was too loud and kept me awake at night but over time I found it so calming and relaxing. In the months we were looking after Fraser Beach Front Holidays the occupancy was quite low so we had more time to enjoy the property and to explore the island which we fell in love with.
And in regard to that view…………I definitely did not get sick of it and will be back to do it all over again!
Tenderfoot Travel 
4 Responses to “My Island Home”
What a great read – you really have the gift Toni. I’m looking forward to the next instalment.
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Thanks John, I too look forward to the next adventure!
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Just love the way you write about your adventures. Easy to read and to visualise what you are saying, I can just see the roley poles down the sand dune!!
Glad you put pen to paper again. X
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Sounds like paradise.💖
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