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Lake Wabby

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stomps
stomps
First Reviewer
5 out of 5
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2
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Editor Pick

Lake Wabby, pt. 2

  • May 25, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by stomps from Houston, Texas
Lake Wabby, pt. 2

This review is a continuation of my Lake Wabby review.

The German in our group was definitely the most adventurous, surfing down the hill and only falling off when he hit a bump about 5/6 of the way down. This was really quite an impressive effort, and one that no one, even him on a later try, came close to matching. I didn’t dare try that solely because of my ability to injure myself in bizarre ways.

After we had been boarding for awhile, another tour group came along and attempted to hijack our track. This was a little annoying because since they hadn’t spent the time moving around all that sand, they didn’t treat it quite as well, so we ended up with a bunch of bumps and holes in the track (the reason Gerard fell off while surfing). However, once they made their own track, it was quite fun having races down the hill. I had never tried sand boarding before, and I loved both the rush and getting to try it in such a spectacular location!

The lake was a beautiful place to be, even if you were just lounging on the beach. The water wasn’t quite as clear as Lake Birrabeen, being more of a cloudy greenish color, but as soon as you got in it was obvious the water was exceptionally clean. This lake, possibly because it is closest to the edge of the island, had a lot more wildlife, including large schools of catfish that looked like they would make a great dinner, if only we were allowed to catch them. They weren’t shy fish at all, and would swim right up next to you—which really freaked out a girl that sand boarded into the middle of one of the schools!

Wabby was about the same temperature as the other lakes we swam in, and luckily, as we arrived, the towering thunderheads parted and the brilliant sun came out, making it just warm enough to dive in. The water got very deep very quickly, to the point that most people who fell off their boards into the lake couldn’t touch the bottom.

We could have stayed at Wabby all day, but our guide had a set time for us to be back near 75 mile beach, so we sadly relinquished our track and headed out. We took the forest track back to the beach, which was slightly longer but was covered from the sun, and had a much more stable footpath. By this point, we could recognize and name many of the gum trees we walked past, especially the scribbly gum, which really looks like people have scribbled all over it.

This path ended at the same place as the sand blow path, in a little grove of trees perfect to lounge under and have a lazy lunch. Worn out from all our boarding and walking through sand, we took full advantage of this and enjoyed our last hours on the wonderful island of Fraser.

From journal Fraser Island: Literally Paradise

Editor Pick

Lake Wabby

  • May 25, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by stomps from Houston, Texas
Lake Wabby

Our last destination before departing the wonderful island of Fraser was Lake Wabby. Wabby was much closer than any of the other places we visited on Fraser, being only a short drive up 75 mile beach. Our guide let us out there, and handed us a boogie board before heading back to the beach houses to clean up.

There are two main tracks to Wabby—either through the forest or across the sandblow. To get there, we took the 1km track straight across the sandblow which had walled in Wabby between itself and the forest. I really felt like I was in one of those movies where people are lost in a desert, because all I could see around me were dunes of sand. Eventually, we climbed the last dune and found a steep dropoff into a greenish lake.

Unlike Garawongera, since Wabby is bordered on one side by a sand dune, there was plenty of space to spread out and do whatever you like on the sand. We quickly put our boogie board to good use, making a track down the steepest part of the dune to ensure maximum velocity while sandboarding into the lake below. The track took a little while to get right—like remembering to put a little ramp at the end so one does not go plowing straight into the lake—but it was a work of art when it was done.

Then came the fun part. We hiked up the slope to the top of our track, which was a very good exercise in strengthening the calves, then took a few running steps, hopped on the board, and plowed our way down the hill. My friend and I went together, sitting down on the board, and even that was a rush. It was a bit difficult keeping my feet from grinding into the sand and slowing us down, but we still hit the lake at a fair clip and made a nice splash. Even more of a rush was going it skeleton-style, with your chin inches from the sand as you fly into a wall of water. We had managed to construct our track so flying into that wall wasn’t nearly as painful as it could have been, with the more skillful of riders actually skidding across the top of the lake.

Everyone in our group, whether boarding or sitting from the great vantage point near the water, had a blast and time flew by like the riders on the sandboard. At one point, we attempted to beat the record of 5 people on one board, but that didn’t quite work. We ended up with the interesting spectacle of two guys lying on top of each other flying down the dune instead!

This review is continued in Lake Wabby, part 2.

From journal Fraser Island: Literally Paradise

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