Sand, Sand, Sand!

  Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia
Friday, August 22, 2008

Getting towed away from high tide

The pictures I'd gazed at in the guidebooks and brochures of Fraser Island showed people swimming in clear lakes, fishing in sparkling seas, careering in jeeps along sand tracks through forest ferns, racing along a dazzling shoreline... but not a sign of anyone sweating whilst digging their vehicle out of deep sand, with the rapidly advancing tide creeping too close for comfort. Hmmm... they said driving on the sand was easy in a four-wheel-drive... they didn't account for those with an extra gas tank attached to the undercarriage, which is the Johnmobile! The first time we got bogged in the sand (minutes after leaving the boat!), I put it down to lack of experience and, after a hearty push from a group of fishermen, we continued on our merry way. The next time, leaving the beach to head inland to escape the imminent high tide, we realised we had a problem! We dug it out and retried and dug out and retried again but the sand was soft and deep and, because of the gas tank, we hadn't enough clearance so all we got was spinning wheels and a stranded underbelly. Fortunately, the next jeep to appear contained four generous souls with their own past experiences of tricky sand issues, who towed us out of the danger zone. Even more fortunately, they headed the same way as us, and so were able to repeat the procedure on our next grounding!


We eventually reached the campground and pitched the tent in the shade of the towering rainforest trees.

Lake Mac Kenzie

I felt like the great Aussie adventure had finally begun, after days on the highway - we were on an island, camping, and getting stuck in sand - yeehaaah! Having already stopped at the tannin-stained glowing orange waters of Lake Boomanjin, the largest perched dune lake in the world, so after emptying the car of everything bar tools and tow ropes, in an attempt to lessen weight pressure on the sand, we headed out to sit on the fine silica banks of gorgeous Lake MacKenzie. We were relieved to make it back in one piece, though poor John felt as though he had done a week of driving in a day, so tough had it been on the unpredictable trails. (Sometimes it's great being a passenger!)

cruising the beach at low tide

the Meheno wreck

Kookaburras sing in evenly-pitched triplets so regular that I thought I was being woken by an alarm clock in another tent the next morning, as the dawn chorus began. It was the perfect wake-up call, enabling us to hit the beach while the tide was still low enough and cruise a few miles up to the wreck of the good ship Maheno, now gathering

through the beach creek

Dune at Lake Wabby

barnacles and rusting dramatically in the waves. I had been too chicken to brave the steering wheel on the inland tracks but I had a blast whizzing up the beach with waves lapping the tyres and spray from the rivulets and creek crossing. Later in the day, we hiked up to Lake Wabby, the reward being views of the deep green water backed with forest on one side and, on the other, a slowly encroaching dune of rippled sand.

whales!

and my nose!

Arriving off the barge this morning, back on the mainland at Hervey bay, John was ready to kiss the ground, it being smooth, firm asphalt with nary a grain of sand in sight! Not that we stayed on terra firma for long, though - we spent this afternoon on a whale watching boat in the bay, blessed with the company of three pods. At one stage, we were circled by five of these

my best side

flick of the tail

incredible, sociable creatures, rolling and spinning in the water around us, raising their mighty heads and flicking their huge tails as they dove deeper. There is no sense of their immense size in the photos but they were big - very big! Some perspective was given by the captain who announced that they were only teenagers but already their lungs are nearly the size of cars!