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Fraser Island Vegan Guide 2023

From sleeping under the stars to driving a 4×4 along the beach, encountering wild dingoes and swimming in crystal blue lakes, the days I spent on Fraser Island were some of the happiest of my life. In case you didn’t know, Fraser is the largest sand island in the world with no phone signal, no roads and limited electricity supply – it’s the perfect place to go off-grid and properly explore some of the best natural beauty in Australia. I’ve visited Fraser Island twice so I can definitely vouch for how epic it is. The first time we visited on a 3-day tour with friends and a few months later we went again for a day-trip with my family. Being vegan, I wasn’t sure what food I would be able to eat in this remote place, but both trips I went on offered great vegan options throughout – scroll down for my Fraser Island Vegan Guide 2023.

3-Day Trip with Pippies

Departing from Rainbow Beach, we booked onto a tag-along-tour with Pippies that saw a group of 30 of us cross the strait from the mainland onto Fraser in a convoy of 4×4 jeeps. As long as you have a valid driver’s licence & are over 21 years old, you’re able to drive the 4x4s as much as you like during the trip. Not many trips to Fraser offer this experience and it was SO MUCH FUN – picture driving along miles of beach with the windows down, splashing across shallow creaks and racing through the rainforest on inland sand tracks.

4x4 tag along tour on Fraser Island
4×4 tag along tour on Fraser Island

Breakfasts

Breakfasts on the trip were simple but delicious – a selection of white and wholegrain toasts with toppings such as peanut butter, jam & orange marmalade. This was always accompanied by fresh orange juice and steaming hot black coffee.

Lunches

Lunchtime was always a lovely experience on this trip. We would set up a table in a grassy area somewhere on the island and put out a buffet style spread for everyone to tuck into. The vegan option was Mexican bean medley in a seeded wrap, to which I added lettuce, cucumber, tomato, sweetcorn, red onion & sweet chilli sauce.

Evening Meal

After long days of exploring, evenings were spent at Pippies beachside camp drinking wine, playing cards & eating great home-cooked food from the camp kitchen. On the first night we had a bbq of Morrocan veggie burgers and soft fried onions on a seeded bun with garlic potatoes & various salads. The next evening we had a super tasty vegan spaghetti bolognese with chickpea, zucchini & mushroom and a huge hunk of vegan garlic bread.

Snacks

Snacks on the trip were way better than expected and included endless supplies of delicious vegan friendly chocolate chip cookies as well as fresh fruit.

Lake Wabby on Fraser Island
Lake Wabby on Fraser Island

Activities

The best thing about Pippies Tag-Along-Tour was the sheer amount of places we got to visit over the three-day period that went way beyond the well known landmarks like Lake Mackenzie, the Maheno Shipwreck & Champagne Pools. My favourite moments of the trip included floating down the natural lazy river at Eli Creek on inflatable rubber rings and trekking up to Fraser Island’s sand dunes with breathtaking views over the ocean. As expected, seeing Lake Mackenzie was a once in a lifetime experience, but we also visited some beautiful lesser known lakes like Lake Wabby, where little fish nibble on your feet. If you want to really properly explore everything Fraser Island has to offer, I would definitely recommend Pippies tag-along-tours.

Day Trip with Fraser Island Adventure Tours

When my family came to visit me in Australia I wanted to show them Fraser Island but we didn’t have much time. Therefore, I chose a jam-packed day trip run by Fraser Island Adventure Tours. Picking us up from our campsite in Noosa, we drove all the way from Noosa to Fraser Island on the beach. The 4×4 bus drove all the way up Noosa Northshore alongside the ocean and then passed the famous ‘coloured sands’ rock formations at Rainbow Beach. The day was full-on but we were so lucky that we got to see all the best bits of Fraser and we enjoyed a perfect bbq lunch on the shores of Lake Mackenzie.

A visit from a dingo via Fraser Island Adventure Tours
A visit from a dingo via Fraser Island Adventure Tours

Morning Tea

For morning tea on this trip I enjoyed a packet of tasty energy balls with blueberry, cacao & almond and black coffee.

Lunch

Lunch was a falafel burger on a sesame bun with unlimited creamy vegan potatoes, spiced chickpea salad, sweetcorn salsa and greens with a balsamic dressing. We ate our feast on the shores of Lake Mackenzie so it was a really wonderful lunch experience.

Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island
Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island

Afternoon Snack

Afternoon snacks were enjoyed at Eli Creek and I tucked into sunflower & strawberry bites by the natural lazy river.

Activities

For a day trip, we sure managed to see a lot of Fraser Island. We spent a good two hours at Lake Mackenzie and a decent amount of time at Eli Creek, as well as visiting the shipwreck, an aboriginal heritage site and completing a rainforest walk. Driving all the way from Noosa to Rainbow Beach on the sand was also an epic experience that we weren’t even expecting.

Maheno Shipwreck on Fraser Island
Maheno Shipwreck on Fraser Island