Qantas makes Australia's Fraser Coast more accessible
Qantas Airlines has announced Hervey Bay, the gateway to Queensland’s World Heritage-listed Fraser Island, has been added as a regional stopover on the Dreamtime Plus airfares to Australia – allowing travellers the chance to visit one of the world’s most stunning holiday locations with greater ease.A ‘must see’ on any Australian itinerary Fraser Island, just south of the Great Barrier Reef, is the world's largest sand island with massive sand blows, coloured-sand cliffs and 120km of spectacular ocean beach and is full of hidden surprises.
The island supports more than 100 fresh water lakes and towering rainforests with rare plants and birds and is easily explored from the comfort of your accommodation house – Kingfisher Bay Resort.
Kingfisher Bay is a fully-integrated, large-scale ecotourism property, which whets the appetite for natural adventures. Interpretive, expert rangers take guests exploring Fraser Island’s World Heritage wilderness, tell tales about the island’s natural and cultural heritage, unearth Australian bush food and spot native wildlife along the way.
With the addition of Hervey Bay airport to the Dreamtime Plus fare schedule, it’s easier than ever to explore the stunning, natural surrounds with a Fraser Island Adventure Package including a two-night bed and breakfast package at Kingfisher Bay Resort, catamaran transfer from Hervey Bay to Fraser Island, airport transfers from Hervey Bay Fraser Coast airport and a full-day Fraser Island tour.
For more information and bookings, log on to Qantas.com.au.
QANTAS DREAMTIME FARE:
Qantas Airways’ Dreamtime fare includes return international flights from London to any one of the seven gateway cities into Australia – Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin or Cairns – plus two free domestic stopovers.
A sample fare could include London-Sydney – Hervey Bay/Fraser Coast – Brisbane – London which costs £1274 per person, valued 15 Aug-30 November 2008 and 16 Jan-31 Mar 2009.
TOP TEN THINGS TO DO ON FRASER ISLAND:
1 - Although it is the world’s largest sand island Fraser surprisingly supports over 100 fresh-water lakes ringed by white, sandy beaches perched in sand dunes. Discover Fraser’s beauty spots on a 4WD Ranger-guided or personalised tour from Kingfisher Bay Resort or hire a 4WD from the resort and explore the lakes at your own pace. Lake McKenzie’s sapphire-blue waters are ringed by white sandy beaches and a rich blackbutt forest.
2 - Dundonga Creek is one of many fresh water creeks on the western coast of Fraser Island and a stunning beauty spot for nature lovers. The creek has its origins in rainforest five kilometres inland and the fresh water supports an abundance of wildlife. Its mouth, 400 metres north of Kingfisher Bay Resort, is fringed by a diverse community of mangrove plants and animals. Exploration of the mangrove community can uncover some amazing features and is easily done with a Ranger-guided canoe paddle – which leaves daily from Kingfisher Bay Resort.
3 – Stunning Seventy-Five Mile Beach, on the eastern side of Fraser Island, is flanked by strikingly coloured sand cliffs - which have sculptured by prevailing winds - and desert-like sand blows. There’s plenty to see along its shores.
Rainbow Gorge, on the edge of Kirrar Sandblow, features towering sand cliffs, striking coloured sands and a small natural spring that flows for only a few metres before disappearing into the sand.
Driving further along the beach highway (either self-guided or on tour) will unearth the wreck of the cruise liner Maheno, which ran aground in 1935. It is here that’ll you find picture post card shots and if you’re extra lucky you may also capture a wild bird of prey or one of the island’s purebred dingoes going about its business on the eastern beach.
4 – Eli Creek - from the Aboriginal word eeli, meaning sand crab – is a popular watering hole for visitors on their Fraser Island adventure. During the warmer months, visitors indulge in the popular pastime of floating down the fast-flowing creek as the water, from this natural outlet, rushes to meet the shoreline.
5 – Fraser Island contains many sites of archaeological, social and spiritual significance. Middens, artifact scatters, fish traps, scarred trees and camp sites bear witness to the lives of the original inhabitants.
Timber loggers discovered a rainforest wilderness and plundered it for its bounty of soft and hard timbers, which were used for everything from furniture to piles to line the banks of the Suez Canal. Logging stopped in 1991, so today you can experience the peace of Central Station, a former logging camp, which is now a Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service Ranger Station with an excellent interpretive centre. There are stands of huge kauri pines, satinays and brushbox trees towering over an under storey of palms and rainforest plants.
Walk along the banks of Wanggoolba Creek, as its clear waters flow silently through rainforest. The King Ferns growing on this part of Fraser Island are a relic from when tropical rainforests were more widespread and are not found in anywhere else on the island.
6 - Climb Indian Head, the best lookout point on the island, for spectacular views along Fraser Island’s eastern coastline – during certain times of the year, whales, dolphins, turtles, sharks and huge rays can also be spotted from here along with an abundance of bird life. The name Indian Head was given to the headland in 1770 by Captain Cook.
While in the neighbourhood, don’t miss a swim in the Champagne Pools on the eastern side of Fraser Island. These natural rock pools are likened to a Jacuzzi because bubbles form by waves crashing into rock pools on the edge of the surf.
7 - Fraser Island Great Walk Circuit allows you to literally follow in the footsteps of the traditional custodians, the Butchulla people, through the island’s diverse natural habitats. The Fraser Island Great walk circuits literally explore the surf, sand and stunning scenery of the world’s largest sand island.
The circuit combines challenging and remote routes for experienced walkers, with shorter, easier strolls for day or overnight visitors, which gives walkers flexibility to choose the duration and intensity of their walk. And when the walking is done, pamper yourself at Kingfisher Bay Resort.
8 - Trek across the stunning Hammerstone Sand Blow from the eastern beach to swim in the fresh water of Lake Wabby – an oasis in a desert. The beautiful twin emerald green lakes which form Lake Wabby are surrounded on one side by a massive sandblow and on the other side by eucalypt and rainforest.
Wabby is the deepest of all Fraser Island's lakes and supports more fish than all the other lakes. Enjoy a swim and explore the sand blow and lake surrounds. You can walk to the lookout for great views or walk across sandblow to Seventy-Five Mile beach.
9 – Exploring Fraser Island takes on a whole new meaning when viewed from above. Local operator – Air Fraser Island – conducts scenic flights – which take off and land on the eastern beach. Marvel at lakes which look like silver butterfly wings when viewed from the air, and gain a perspective of the size mighty sand blows tracking their way across the ocean and the golden beach, which stretches as far as the eye can see. You can also spot migrating whales as they breach and come up for air in the ocean waters and dolphins at play.
Tours and self-drivers can stop on the beach and arrange a suitable time with the pilots or with staff at Kingfisher Bay Resort.
10 - Meet the locals. Cruise and search for migrating whales in the calm waters of Platypus Bay, in the Great Sandy Strait marine park, from August until the end of October. This is one of the best areas in the world to see whales in the wild - protected by Fraser Island; the calm, safe waters attract hundreds of whales who frolic in the warm waters. Daily whale cruises depart from Kingfisher Bay Resort during the season.
The diverse range of habitats also makes Fraser Island a bird watchers paradise with an incredible 354 recorded bird species, some considered rare or vulnerable and many are subject to international bird migratory treaties.
