Lake Allom (also known as the Turtle Lake) in Fraser island is the perfect spot if you want some quality time with small and adorable freshwater turtles. There’s a small jetty by the lake and it didn’t take many minutes before the first turtles started showing up. They were just swimming around at a safe distance at first, but they eventually started coming closer and closer to us. Some of them were just decimetres away from us! It was such a good experience that I didn’t want to leave and the rest of my group had to drag me away. There’s even some space by Lake Allom to have a small picnic while you are watching the turtles.

The turtles have previously been hand-fed, so they are used to humans and are naturally very curious to whether you have any food for them. Please don’t feed them though! It will most likely do them a lot more harm than good. They can easily find their own food that is better and healthier for them.

The surrounding trees of Lake Allom give off a special substance that gives the lake its red-brownish color, also known as a ’tee tree lake’. The substance is supposed to be really good for your skin, but it’s better to leave the turtles alone. There’s plenty of other tea tree lakes around Australia.