Lake McKenzie

A child building a sandcastle know that water sinks through sand a he tries to fill in a moat.

On Fraser Island, a sand island,   there are many lakes and rivers?

These marvels are categorised as perched, window and barrage lakes. Perched lakes form in the natural depressions between sand dunes and a layer of coffee rock underneath forms an almost waterproof shell that keeps the water from draining away. A window lake forms where the ground level is lower than the top of the main watertable (Ocean Lake). A barrage lake  - Lake Wabby forms where a watercourse  has been dammed by sand (Hammerstone Sandblow)

The sand that rings Lake McKenzie is pure white and as the lake gradually deepens the water changes to an exotic shade of light  blue, changing then as the sandy shelf suddenly drops to a dark, deep bottomless blue. It is a great example of a perched lake. There are lots of connecting trails around the spot.

Logs and sawn timber  from Fraser's only sawmill were shipped from the jetty here to the mainland. Nearby the jetty is a former township Balarrgan, a quarantine staion from 1874-1896.

A very popular spot on this wonderful island. Anyone ever interested in writing, be it children's books, thrillers, travel, history needs to come live here for a short time and I am sure the pen would flow very easily!

This island has been making all the higher geography I ever learned all those eons ago much more meaningful! If only 5th year school students  could come here pre-exams then every youngster would have A passes. At least I had "National Geographics" to stimulate and keep my interest in geography and geology..........seems so far away in  a time of  TV, video and the net!