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Lake Birrabeen (General)

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stomps
stomps
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Lake Birrabeen

  • May 21, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by stomps from Houston, Texas
Lake Birrabeen

Most people on Fraser Island make a beeline to Lake McKenzie (the lake most often seen in photographs of Fraser) as soon as the Manta Ray ferry lets them off. Our group never made it to McKenzie, however, opting for Lake Birrabeen instead. The tour does this because Birrabeen is just as picturesque and perfect as McKenzie is, but with so many less people. In fact, when we first arrived at Birrabeen, we were the only people there.

On the way to the lake, James explained to us the mechanics of having a lake on an island composed solely of sand. Birrabeen, like all other lakes on the island, is a “perched” lake, meaning that matter has decayed and formed a harder layer of peat underneath the lake that holds the water on top of it. While some of the lakes on Fraser turn the color of peat, a wonderful brownish yellow color, Birrabeen and McKenzie have not, instead taking on a crystal clear deep blue color.

We walked down to the lake through some forest and kept getting little peeks of it through the trees, but it was startling when we finally saw the entire thing. The lake is really just too perfect to be true—you dream of sands that fine and white, and water that blue, but rarely do you see it. Taking a camera here is a must, and you can easily leave it on the shore when you take a swim since I doubt there are too many thieves in such a secluded location.

The water in Birrabeen is slightly acidic, making swimming in the lake good for your skin. The lake gets very deep very quickly, as we found out, but treading water feels a bit better on the feet than standing in gooey brown stuff. While it was a bit chilly when we first jumped in, mostly because it was May and more winter than summer, it was warm enough that the body got used to it quickly, rather than leaving you shaking. I think James said the temperature was around 25°C.

The whole visit to the lake could be termed a “spa experience,” because not only is swimming good for glowing skin, but if you sit on the beach and stick your toes in the water, little tadpoles come up and bite dead skin off your feet. This sounds painful, but it was really just incredibly ticklish. The sand on the beach is so incredibly fine that you can rub it on your skin and it leaves it feeling really smooth. The end result of all this was rather amusing: most of the girls coated themselves in sand, washed it off, and then laid out.

We spent at least two hours at this beach, alternately lounging, bathing, and playing soccer or catch. It was the perfect day—barely a cloud in the sky—at the perfect location, and an absolutely perfect start to our Fraser vacation.

From journal Fraser Island: Literally Paradise

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