Fraser Island, Tin Can Bay, Rainbow Beach
Tin Can Bay and the nearby Rainbow Beach are two popular little hamlets offering great fishing, boating and surfing. A Four Wheel Drive tour is the best way to see wreck of the Cherry Venture and the colourful sand cliffs and beaches from which Rainbow Beach derives it's name. Both towns also offer excellent accessibility to the Great Sandy National Park and the very unique Fraser Island.
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world (124Km long and covering an area of 163,000 hectares) - to the 4WD enthusiasts, it is the ultimate off-road experience With an amazing variety of landscapes - pure white surf beaches, sand dunes, cliffs and gorges, and dense rainforest, winding streams, and salt pans with eerie mangrove forests - it's a must see.
Scientists believe Fraser Island has developed over approximately 800,000 years. The sand coming from the tablelands of northern New South Wales - washed into the sea by the big rivers and carried it northwards by the strong sea currents.
Fresh water has allowed the growth of rainforest through the sand, surviving on nutrients from the breakdown of other plants.
The beaches, forests and freshwater lakes are the habitat of more than 230 species of birds - including the Australian Stork and the Jabiru. Isolation from the mainland has also ensured the purity of the island's dingo population, and a unique species of tortoise.
