RV FEATURE
trucks and buses. Stay below the 35km/h limit
and always drive to the conditions. Make sure
everything in and on your vehicle is well tied
down. All the usual road rules apply.
VEHICLE IMPACT
4WDs have a major impact on the island’s tracks
and therefore its ecology. The Fraser Island
Defenders Organisation estimates that as much
as one tonne of sand on the island’s tracks is
shifted for each visitor, with a number of negative
results including run-off into the lakes.
Tracks are impacted by wheel-slip, the volume
of traffic and the weight of the vehicles. Skilled,
experienced drivers with the correct tyre pressure
and proper load adjustment, with an even use of
power and low speed (not low range), and who
are not towing a caravan or trailer and are able
to reverse back into a passing bay to give way to
others have the least impact on the tracks.
Stay between the low and high tide line on the
beach; this often means waiting out a high tide to
avoid driving through soft sand and disturbing
or even killing nesting and resting birds and
damaging important barrier vegetation along the
foredunes.
metre of sand along the eastern camping zones,
contaminating the ground water in those areas.
One obvious solution is for all beach campers to
bring their own portable toilet. Any waste from
portable toilets must be disposed in ‘Dump Ezy’
facilities on the island or back on the mainland.
Never discard chemical waste into toilets, in the
bush, on the beach or in the sea.
Nappies and personal hygiene products should
be bagged and placed in provided bins or taken
off the island with you.
WASTE MANAGEMENT Human waste is not the only problem. The annual
4WD Queensland Fraser Island Clean Up collected
seven tonnes of rubbish over one long weekend,
including 131,000 pieces of hard plastic. There
are now recycling stations at Eurong, Cornwells,
Central Station and Happy Valley.
The environmental impact from beach-camping
is greater than from organised campgrounds.
Estimates are that every beach camper adds
4.3kg of poo and 18L of urine to every lineal So bring along some large, heavy-duty rubbish
bags and take all rubbish, including what you
find left behind by other campers and items
washed up on the beach, to the bins
provided at Cornwells, Maheno,
Red Canyon, Waddy
About 90,000 of Fraser’s annual visitors camp on
the island, equal to about 1000 campers every night.
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