17 February 2010

Fraser Island

Will you believe me when I say that we took two pictures on Fraser Island before the camera battery died? I guess that cord is good for more than uploading photos - it's also necessary for charging the camera. Crap.

BUT! Go right ahead and type Fraser Island into Google Images, and you'll see what we saw today, and pretty close to the pictures we would have posted. I considered jacking some pictures to post here as "stock photos" but, well, reconsidered.

EDITED TO ADD: I was wrong! There were a few more than I thought, and I'm posting them below.

Our day started out with the bus picking us up from our caravan park at 7:20am. No problem, we're early risers around here. Nate was thrilled to see that it was a double decker bus, so up to the top we went. There were a few stops after us, picking up more people along the way, and then we were at the vehicle barge to take us to Fraser Island.

The ferry ride lasted about 35-40 minutes (according to the announcement). You can see Fraser from the mainland, but you're seeing the wild side, not the beach side, so it's hard to believe that under all of those trees is sand. We got off the ferry and onto our big 4WD bus for 40 people, and it was full. We were the only family with kids so we got to sit right up front, Eli and Maya safely strapped into their carseats, to avoid the worst of the bumpiness.

The "street" sign read "Speed limit 30 on tracks, 80 on beaches". You don't see that every day. The track was pure sand. Our driver/guide/commentator (Brad) said that the rain we have had over the last few days makes it much easier to drive on sand since it compacts down. Well there's one plus anyway. It also encourages little bugs that like to suck blood, but I swear I'll try to avoid the topic for the rest of this post :o)

Our first stop was Central Station. Not a thriving train station as its name might have you believe, but an old ranger station. We went for a walk on the boardwalk admiring some amazing trees and plants, and there was little Wanggoolba Creek on our left. Brad explained that this creek is a sacred spot to the local Aboriginal women - because it is crystal clear and maintains a steady temperature of 18 degrees, it is where they traditionally give birth (or I dare say WAS where they traditionally gave birth, now that there are steady streams of tourists to break up the peaceful solitude).

Next stop, the amazing Lake Mackenzie. Wow. Please Google it and check out the pictures. Here, I'll make is easier for you. It really does look like that, except that today was very overcast. The sand is white, the shallow water is that tropical light blue, and the deeper part is sapphire. The water is absolutely crystal clear. It is warm and clean and wonderful. Nothing feeds it except rain water, and nothing goes out either. We had a swim there for about an hour, and it was awesome. Nate said, "I'm having such a great day! Thanks for bringing us here!"

Here are some photos:





Fraser is famous for its wild dingoes. The only two pictures we took before the camera battery died were of some dingo safety signs. One illustration on the safety sign was of some parents frolicking in the water while a small child played alone on the beach with some sand toys, silently being stalked by a pack of dingoes. Brad said that recently a 7 year old boy was "taken" by dingoes because his parents hadn't been watching him. I felt a bit sick about that for awhile. Sobering stuff. We learned that if you find yourself in a confrontation with a dingo, you should maintain eye contact with the dingo, fold your arms across your chest, and slowly back away. Never turn and run. Never wave your arms and yell or do anything else that might excite the dingo.





We did see one dingo today. Brad said he hoped to find one feeding at the tip (where the rubbish from the resort goes) or on the beach, but there were none to be found. We chanced upon one (don't panic Mom, it was from a distance!) as we walked to the bathrooms to put our swimmers on before hitting Lake Mackenzie. It was in a parking area and there were people all around. It only had eyes for one thing though - the bag of rubbish that someone had left behind their car (despite all of the warnings not to leave food or rubbish about for this very reason). But a man got to the bag first and put it on top of the car, and the dingo took off. I must say, we were very vigilant at the beach.

After Lake Mackenzie we got back into the bumpy bus for a drive to Eurong Resort for lunch. Buffet! Too bad the food sucked. No fruit, no veggies aside from the iceburg lettuce, tomato, cucumber and grated carrot salad. Pasta bake, pasta salad, weird curried potato salad, scarily pale looking Asian beef something, cold chicken, stodgy white bread rolls, unrecognisable cold cuts. It was all very below average. Nate got himself a bunch of pasta salad (which was actually the tastiest thing) and ate half before saying he was still hungry but didn't want anymore of that. I extolled the benefits of a buffet, and he took a new plate to suss out his next move. He examined everything carefully and came back with a large mound of grated carrot. It was a bit like that. The upside is that I usually overeat at a buffet, but not when the food is crap.

From lunch we headed up the east coast of Fraser via 75 Mile Beach, which also happens to be the main highway. Brad told us about what's happening in the ocean - stingrays and bluebottles in the shallows, a few varieties of sharks a bit deeper, and a treacherous tide that wants to carry you right out to sea.

We went right up to the Coloured Sands, aka The Pinnacles and got out for our photo op. Well, those of us with working cameras did anyway - the rest of us got out for a closer look. Google it, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Next, down to the Maheno shipwreck. In 1935, the ex-luxury liner had been sold for scrap and was being towed when an out of season cyclone broke the rope and it ran aground. It's really incredible. I've seen bits of sunken ships, like a mast sticking out of the water at Byron Bay, but never a whole ship on the shore, partially buried in the sand. It is all rusted out now, but you can imagine how impressive it would have been 70 years ago.

Just another few minutes' jaunt in the bumpy bus to Eli Creek! We had about 40 minutes there to frolick in some more crystal clear water. The guy at our caravan park that sold us the tour told me that the water that flows into the creek takes 4 years to pass through the sand, all the while absorbing the abundant minerals and being filtered to perfection. If there weren't so many people traipsing through it every day, it would be beautiful to drink. It was a lovely traipse as well. Eli was crazy for it. We stripped him down to his undies because he pointed at the water and shrieked, "Water! Jump!" and off he went, happily doing just that. Maya and I walked along the creek on the boardwalk and then walked back down in the creek. Gorgeous.

And back again into the bumpy bus, back towards the ferry to take us back. It was at about this time that Brad asked if there was anyone French on the bus (it was in context, trust me), and Eli exclaimed into the silence, "Meeee!" It was very funny.

We all had a really wonderful time. It was a nice change, letting someone else do the planning and researching and driving. I had never been on an organised tour before and I kind of loved it. If I ever come to Fraser Island again, it will be in a 4WD camper, I'll bring all of the supplies I need, and I'll stay for 4 or 5 days and check it all out slowly. I'll fish in that treacherous ocean, hunt for pipis on the shore, and bring lots of toxic mozzie spray. Oh come on, you really didn't think I'd make it through the whole post without saying "mozzie" did you?

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