Wednesday, 2 April 2014

Australia. Fraser Island

I booked myself on a tag along tour of Fraser Island which left on the 31st March. This is mix of self drive with guided tour of Fraser Island. The cars are 4x4 as you are diving on the sand. I had to watcha safety video about how to drive on sand and general safe driving technique before I left at a hostel just along from the one I was staying at. I was really surprised that I was the only one there and leaving from Rainbow Beach. I got collected and joined a car full of Germans and one Canadian. After they all started speaking German and I had no idea what they were saying I jokingly said that my German was not that good and I couldn't understand them. The Canadian looked at me happily and they then spoke mainly in English. Emily the Canadian girl later told me that they had been speaking in German the whole way from Noosa in German and she could get involved in any of the conversations. Together we later decided that it was not ignorant of us to expect people to speak English, as we were in an English speaking country.

After a couple of stops we drove to the ferry terminal, which was a completely picturesque stretch of beach from which you could see Fraser Island very nearby. After come awkward car grip photos we waited for the ferry. After looking back at the photos it seems so funny that we weren't so friendly as we got on so well!



We boarded the ferry and made the 10 minute crossing to Fraser Island! 


We arrived on Fraser Island and it is so weird that you are driving on the beaches. There are no roads, only the beach and some inland sand tracks. The whole island is a sand island apart from a couple of volcanic rocky outcrops. 


We drove along the beach and made it to our base camp. We are camping on the island and there was a pemenant camp set up. We also met some other group members who had come from Hervey Bay. After lunch we set off up the beach to a sand blow and to Lake Wabby which is a ever moving enormous sand desert which has created a freshwater lake in it. On the way to the lake we stopped on the beach and were told about shellfish called wongs. These are like clams and they burry themselves into the sand. You can tell where they are by the small round patch of raised sand above them. We dug down and found these shellfish. When you pick them up they squirt water at you! We collected afew each for dinner. 


We then headed off for Lake Wabby. 
After a bit of a hike we made it to a sandblow. This is a high area of sand form by the wind blowing sand up from the beach and it looked like a high desert! 



At the edge of the sandblow was Lake Wabby. Wabby means crow. The lake was pushed up against a forest and was beautiful. My photos don't do it justice. We went of a swim and got nibbled by lots of fish! After we got out our guide then told us about the fish life in there, from the tiny to the foot long catfish. Argh!



After the hike back we drove back to the camp and got the BBQ on! The sunset was amazing and our camp was right next to the beach so it was amazing to see it and see the reflections made my the water on the flat sands. 



After the BBQ the drinking came I to full force! There is nothing to do after dark so  drinking and drinking games commenced! It was team UK against the world! Before bed some of us went to the beach (with our dingo sticks!) and gazed drunkenly at the stars. They were spectacular. The Milky Way was out and we tried to decipher some constellations from a phone app. It was brilliant. 

After a terrible nights sleep from being scared about the whole made in our tent from a dingo trying to get at my bag earlier in the evening (whoops my bad) and the heat and humidity we got up for a long day ahead of us. After a great camp breakfast and a cold outdoor shower we set off. 

We drove past a makeshift aeroplane landing strip on the sand and we stopped and our guide asked if anyone wanted to take a trip for $75. I did! A few of us did and it was amazing! We were in a little 6 seater plane so we all got a window seat and we used the beach as the runway! We did a little joy ride along the coast and inland. We saw so much and I am so happy I did it. 





After this then headed off to Eli Creek. This was a freshwater creek which was so clear! It had been filtering through a huge sand dune for the past 400 years and making it's way out to the sea. The water has a pretty strong current so you can float down the creek. It was so relaxing looking up as the rainforest above. 



We then carried on driving northbound up 75 Mile Beach. We passed the Maheno shipwreck on the beach. Maheno means paradise in Maori and the aboriginal name for Fraser Island is Kari which means paradise too. It was shipwrecked during a cyclone in the early 1900's on its way for melting down in Japan. It could not be moved so has just stayed there. 



Not the most exciting stop, an old boat. We carried on further north for our next stop which was Champagne Pools. These are a group of rock pools which are supposed to look like champagne when the waves crash over the rocks into them. The champagne was a bit flat when we were there but still good fun and beautiful. There were loads of colourful fish in the pools. 





We then drove a little back down the beach to Indian Head. This was a rocky outcrop that was so named by Captain Cook as when he was sailing past he saw a bunch of aboriginals standing on there and he though that they were Indians. The views was fantastic and we saw a turtle and a ray and dolphins riding the surf from the top. 




This was the last tourist stop of the day, but our guide had a couple of surprises to show us on our return to camp. The first of which was a whale skeleton! The whale had been beached a year ago and was not able to be rescued. It's body was moved off the beach into the dunes to be feasted on by the animals. 


The next surprise was some bubbling sand pools which were created by the fresh water being forced up to the surface. They were about knee deep and had humate at the bottom which we learnt was like fossilised organic matter and was impermeable to water so the water was forced upwards. This humate created the base of a lot of the lakes on the island. We were also shown some black patterned sand which was mineral sand. The sand was mined to create titanium. It was a very pretty pattern!


After this we made our way back to camp and got a much better nights sleep  as it was so much cooler and less humid :)

Our final day was made up of driving inland. This meant driving on tracks in the forests aposed to driving on the beach. The tracks were single track and very bumpy. It was much more fun to drive on these. We stopped in the bush for a quick photo opportunity and the chance to see some kaori trees. Just like the ones in NZ, but much smaller! 




We then drove to Lake Mackenzie. This is a sandy fresh water lake and one of 20 on the island that is above sea level and there are only 40 in the world. The humate is what allows for the lake to stay out. It was a beautiful crystal clear turquoise lake on super fine white quartz sand. It was idyllic. Would be amazing if there was no one else there!




After lunch of yet another wrap, we took a very short rainforest walk along a stream where the aboriginal women would have come to give birth. I can see why they chose it was it was incredibly tranquil. You couldn't hear the water moving and the vegetation was stunning. 




Our tour pretty much ended here. The group split up and those heading to Hervey Bay left to catch their ferry whilst we waited and then got ours to Rainbow Beach. 


The trip was awesome and definitly the high point was the aeroplane ride. Definitly a trip I'll never forget and especially the dingo!! Argh!!





















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