Fraser Island for the day
 

Hello,

The wife and I will be in Fraser island in two days and are wondering if we should take a day tour from kingfisher or rent our own 4WD and venture of on our own.

I like the experience of renting and exploring on our own but am not sure if it's ideal. It's also expensive at $300 for the one day. I also heard the rental companies try to gauge you for the insurance bond.

Can anyone recommend a reputable rental company?

Thx

The question for us to ask is probably 'How experienced are you at 4WD driving?' A lot of folk get themselves into a lot of trouble in 4WDs on Fraser Island, sadly often resulting with deaths and serious injuries.

Never been in a 4wd jeep. But I'm a good driver. How hard can it be?

How hard can it be???
Driving through deep sand is not the same as driving on the open road!

On Fraser Island we took a full day 4WD tour. We had no sooner left the pick-up point than our way was blocked by a novice driver who obviously had no idea how to handle the conditions. His vehicle was being revved up so hard, the ruts in the sand were getting deeper and deeper, eventually his belongings began to fall from the back of the vehicle, burst open and scatter everywhere.

For those of us sitting securely inside our vehicle it was a great laugh, but our driver was obliged to help this mug on his way before we could go anywhere.

There is so much to see and do there, you really need a 'local' to take you to the most interesting sites. That way you get to see the best of the island without any hassles. Di

You really must be super careful there with a 4WD, as stormbird says there's been a lot of tourist accidents there including quite a few fatalities. Having said that we once spent three weeks there camping with 2 4WD's (2 adults and 4 teenagers) without killing ourselves, one thing to watch is the tide, one minute you think you're driving on water's edge, next minute the sea is on both sides of the vehicle.

Don't be the next idiot being rescued because they thought they were a good driver even in conditions they have never experienced and in a type of vehicle they have never even had a trip in.

I would never consider driving myself to Fraser Island. Too dangerous. I have done a tour to it twice though and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I would do the tour. The roads are really very bad and need expert dirvers.

We stayed at Kingfisher for four nights with three full days on the island. We took a tour one day, hiked another day and rented a 4WD at Kingfisher for the third day. We had absolutely no problems driving on the sand and we had a great time exploring parts of the island ourselves.

"Never been in a 4wd jeep. But I'm a good driver. How hard can it be?" I trust you're taking the mickey, bwhizz.

Annoyingly, there are plenty of idiots like the lot AlanJG refers to, who get bogged, tide-locked and do other stupid things that cause great inconvenience when they have to be rescued by people who actually do know what they're doing.

The combination of overestimated competence + unfamiliar vehicle + hazardous conditons can be very expensive. Unfortunately the costs are usually borne by the "innocent bystanders" ... vehicle owners & rescuers in the case of rental vehicles.

That's why rentals and insurance bonds are more expensive in places like Fraser Island. I wouldn't regard a high bond as gouging at all in these circumstances. Rather an essential risk minimisation strategy.

If the vehicle is returned in the same condition it leaves the depot, no cost to the driver. If not, the driver shares at least a very small part of the cost. How is there anything inequitable in that?