A Fraser Island tour is one of the top to dos on the Australia East Coast Trail – the promise of tearing around on the beach in a 4×4 is something that many are keen to experience…and who can blame them?! But picking the best Fraser Island tour can be a tough job – there are so many to choose from!
I recently jumped on the Nomads Fraser Island tour (my second trip to Fraser) with Stephen from A Backpackers Tale to check out the worlds largest sand island – so here’s how we got on!
REVIEW; Nomads Fraser Island Tour
Contents
4WD Tag Along Tour Format?
Incase you didn’t know the 4WD tag along tour format means that you join a convey of 4×4 trucks heading around Fraser Island – which form your tour group. Each tag along tour has a guide (who drives the 4×4 up front) and then anyone who fancies driving takes it in turns to drive the other trucks in the convoy – although you do need to be over 21 and have a valid driving license with you.
So not only does it make the whole thing a lot safer, it means you get to experience more of Fraser Island and don’t have to worry about things like getting bogged down in the sand, tides and figuring out where the hell everything is!
Plus being able to drive around the beach and bounce around in the back on these type of Fraser Island tours is way more fun and adventurous than sitting in an air conditioned 4×4 tour bus!
We had a pretty small group for our trip (about 12 people in total, it can run with up to 60 people!) and with 5 drivers – each of us got plenty of driving time, but its down to the group how you split it up.
Just plug in the tunes and hit the road!
Fraser Islands Must See Stops
One of the best things about having an awesome guide showing you around is the fact you don’t have to worry about finding and making enough time for all the Fraser Island must see stops!
Our trip ticked them all off – including the stunning Lake Mackenzie, Indian Head Lookout, the Champagne Pools, Eli Creek, the Maheno Shipwreck and Lake Wobby.
Personally my favourite stop has to be Lake Mackenzie – it’s just an absolutely stunning location and the perfect spot to cool down and relax after a rather warm and bumpy ride through the rainforest to get there!
Basically the trip packs in heaps of awesome places to explore, so make sure you have your camera charged and lots of space on your memory card!
If you’re heading there between June and October you’ll also be keeping an eye out for some whales too as they migrate along the coast – we were lucky enough to see heaps jumping really close to the beach and it was amazing to pull over the trucks and watch them play around in the ocean!
…check out the video edit for some of the awesome footage I shot of them too!
Accommodation
The first time I headed to Fraser Island was with Dingos and I was stoked to be camping on the beach. The Nomads Fraser Island tour on the other hand is based in hostel style dorm accommodation within one of the resorts.
I was slightly wary about this as I didn’t want it to ruin the sense of adventure but in the end it did provide a better nights sleep and the onsite bar had a pretty good vibe.
The downside to being based here though is that you cant bring your own booze. Now for anyone on a budget that not great and despite the drink deals (which were surprisingly cheap actually!) and the fact you can buy drink from the onsite bottle shop to consume by the dorms it’s hard to beat spending $15 on 4 litres of goon for budget partying!
I will admit that backpackers being backpackers myself and a few members of the group did manage to sneak in some booze, but I didn’t tell you that…!
The bar did put on some drinking games to keep us busy, including a very competitive tournament of beer pong, but the bar did shut pretty early on our second night. This is more down to our small group size though – so we ended up having a dorm party instead, which is always heaps of fun!
Is It Worth It?
The bottom line is that I had a really fun time on the Nomads Fraser Island trip. Our guide was awesome, I met heaps of new travel buddies and as always Fraser Island delivered its amazing natural beauty.
Even if we didn’t manage to spot any dingos!
The lack of camping didn’t turn out to be a big issues and it was kind of nice to be able to have a hot shower and charge your camera ready for another day of taking heaps of pictures! But if you are keen on camping check out some of the best Fraser Island tours here
The 3 day, 2 night option will set you back $519AUD (roughly £305) which includes – you can also bundle in some pre and post tour accommodation at Nomads Noosa too or do the cheaper 2 day, 1 night option for $369 (approx £230) personally though if you can afford it the 3 day version is the better option!
Plus save 10% off either option when you book through RTW Backpackers using promo code FRASERSAVER
