Fraser Island Day Tours: What to Expect + How to Book

On a month-long tour of Australia, I was extremely excited for our Fraser Island Day tour which involved beautiful lakes, 4WD busses, exploring creeks, hiking in forests, and LOTS of adventures to make for an amazing experience.

The signs reading ’80’ along Fraser Island’s 75 mile beach are not the temperature… they are the speed limit. The world’s largest sand island, Fraser is also home to a long sandy highway where you will find massive 4WD busses zooming at great speeds, carrying awestruck passengers from around the world along the island’s only highway which doubles as a beach.

We took the advice of our tour guides not to have too big of a night before our Fraser Island day tour… because ‘bumpy ride’ was an understatement. These massive 4WD busses just barely fit through the one-way sand tracks throughout the island, which I wouldn’t even call ‘roads’ because they’re merely pathways carved out through the sand and trees.

This made for a super exciting ride, though. I was sitting at the back of the bus and literally caught air a few times on the way home. And this was while our tour guide blasted Justin Bieber and the whole bus was screaming along to the lyrics. It was a lot of fun.

About Fraser Island, or K’gari

Fraser Island is part of Great Sandy National Park, a World Heritage protected site due to the unique ecosystems present there. Our tour guide told us that Fraser is a “Stage Four” sand quay – meaning apparently that it is the most advanced of sand islands, complete with its own vegetation and plant and animal ecosystems.

It really is completely composed of sand – all the plants and full-on rainforests grow right out of the sand and all the pathways are sandy. I’ve never seen anything like it- it’s really fascinating, and a must-see when discovering Queensland.

K’gari is Fraser Island’s original name. This means ‘paradise’ in the local aboriginal language, and you will soon see why they called it that. The pristine waters, soft sands, and adventurous roots are just some of the many things that will ‘wow’ you on your Fraser Island day tour.

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Booking Fraser Island Day Tours: Best Options

If you are looking to book a Fraser Island day tour, they generally leave from Hervey Bay, although you can sometimes find a tour from Noosa. I recommend the day tour below from Hervey Bay which is top-rated, all-inclusive, and visits all the stops below:

However, if you have more time, I strongly recommend doing a 2-day tour to Fraser Island. You can take one tour for the whole 2 days where everything is organized for you to and from Hervey bay including boat rides, coach transport, accommodation for one night, food, and all the stops below! If you have time, you’ll want to stay on this beautiful sand quay longer – that’s what I did!

Fraser Island Day Tour Stops: Lake Mckenzie

The first place to expect on a Fraser Island day tour is Lake Mckenzie – which has been apparently voted one of the best places to swim in Australia! The water is stunningly clear and pure, and the silica sand is so fine that it is supposed to make your hair and skin softer if you rub it on yourself (which we of course tested out.)

The lake formed from dead vegetation mixing with sand over years and years, creating a solid rock under the lake that keeps rainwater from seeping down through the sand. So, it’s essentially a lake comprised of pure rainwater sitting on top of sand… which makes for some pretty nice views.

It’s now only popular to swim here, though – many people grab a SUP stand-up paddle board for even better views and adventures. Many also, on the other hand, choose to catch some hot Australian sun rays on the sand! Learn more about Lake McKenzie.

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Fraser Island Day Tour Stop 2: 75-Mile Beach Sand Highway

The next place you will visit on any Fraser Island Day Tours is the famed 75-Mile Beach. This is a long, flat, smooth beach that doubles as a highway… and even a plan runway (more on that later). And yes, it really is 75 miles long.

The tour companies that run these Fraser Island Day Tours all have massive 4WD busses with huge wheels that look quite silly until you understand what they’re for. We saw a wild dingo or two on our way out to the famous 75 Mile Beach, where the ride quickly went from bumpy to smooth as we started to jet along the wet sand of the beach.

It’s such a surreal experience to drive along a massive beach like this in the first place, but doing it in a monster-truck-like bus makes it even better! The waves lap up at your wheels as you pass by other busses and backpackers crammed into Land Rovers also zooming along the beach highway.

Our bus actually drove quite quickly, and I watched the scenery wizz by as we sped down the beach, easily missing busses going the other direction because there was so much space!

Fraser Island Day Tour Stop 3: Maheno Shipwreck

Fraser Island has a famous shipwreck called the Maheno Shipwreck at the north end of its long beach, which has been there since 1935. This boat was built in Scotland, used as a medical boat in Africa during WW1, and bought by the Japanese for scrap metal. They ran into some trouble when a storm hit on the way back up to Japan… and I think you can guess what happened there.

This massive hunk of metal has been a tourist attraction on the beach for over 82 years now, and was even used for target practice for pilots during WW2. It’s a necessary stop on any Fraser Island day tour and so cool to explore! These days you aren’t allowed to touch it, just admire it from afar. My favorite view of it was from the sky – but I’ll get to that later!

Fraser Island Day Tour Stop 4: Eli Creek Floating

One of the best places that all Fraser Island day tours will stop at is Eli Creek, where the thing to do is to walk up the creek, get in the water, and FLOAT! Bring an inner tube or accept the challenge to float down this awesome, chilly water stream that hastily makes its way from the hills to the ocean.

I think I floated down it about four times before joining some girls playing volleyball on the sand. There were tons of people who drove their jeeps up to the creek and got out their speakers and barbecues for a chilled out beach sesh between the creek and the sea.

This is definitely a great chill spot on Fraser, and I would have stayed longer if I had time! However, it’s the largest of MANY creeks along 75-mile beach, so there are plenty more to explore, to.

Fraser Island Day Tour Stop 5: Forest Hiking/Walking

After some beach and lake time, the next obvious Fraser Island day tour stop is the incredible rainforest that grows here right out of the sand. There re plenty of hikes and trails on the island, and the day tour will choose an appropriate one for your trip.

Fraser has some of the most beautiful forests and rivers in the center of the island. We went on about a 30-minute walk through the vegetation and walked along the clearest stream I have ever seen (pictured above)! This river was so clear it looked like there wasn’t even any water in it at all, if that makes sense… it looked invisible!

A friend and I walked along a log that had fallen across the river and drank straight from it because it was that pure. We saw some trees that were over 2000 years old on this scenic walk too – it took five or six of us to make it all the way around!

And finally – a Flight From the Beach!

When offered to take a ride on a small little plane that would take off right from the sand, I couldn’t really say no to such a unique experience! I mean, where else in the world does a beach double as a highway and a runway?! I’m all about getting the most out of any experience, and the flight just put the cherry on top of my awesome day on Fraser – most Fraser Island day tours will have this quick scenic flight as an optional activity.

It was such a thrill taking off from the sand, seeing the tour bus get smaller as we rose up. We flew right over the shipwreck, over five or six of Fraser’s iconic lakes and sand dunes (which formed from beach sand blowing up over the forest and slowly burying it – pretty cool), and the gorgeous 75-mile beach.

It was insane to watch little tiny cars speeding along the beach (see if you can pick out the cars and blue busses from the photos!) from the front seat of this little 9-seater plane, which I of course claimed as soon as I had the chance! I would definitely recommend doing this activity on Fraser island; it kind of brings the whole day of experiences together being able to see all the places you visited from high up in the sky.

And those are the most important stops on any Fraser Island Day Tour! Did you enjoy the tours I recommended? Would you stop anywhere else? Let me know in the comments below! Below are some more photos from the jaw-dropping scenic flight.

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