Capricorne Caves, Hervey Bay and Fraser Islands

  Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia
Tuesday, April 14, 2009

13.04.09: Driving in Australia sometimes is like driving in the large Nothingness. Having only 18 million people, there are kms and kms with nothing but land and a bit of cattle. Sometimes you pass by a small town with twenty houses and a church. Some of these towns look like the ones in the western films. You just expect a cow boy coming out of the bar with the swinging doors. Then you see more fields of sugar canes...

the sunset

We visited the lovely Capricorn caves, at the North of Rockhampton (also called Rockie -mais rien a voir avec le voisin). The most amazing room was the cathedral cave, where there is a chapel. They are hosting weddings and soon there is an opera show. The guide put on a light and sound show, that was great. We stopped in Rockie for a Big Mac as we were a bit hungover and continued all the way to Hervey Bay, getaway to Frasier islands.


14.04.09: The weather seems to get a bit better this morning for our trip to Fraser islands. On the ferry to the islands, we even managed to spot a couple of dolphins. We are in a 4x4 bus because the roads of the islands are all made out of sand. The driver was German with the thickest accent ever. Sean reckoned he was overdoing it for the tourists! The original itinerary had to be modified because of the storms of the last few days and the unusual high tide. Some parts of the islands were not accessible. The islands are 80% bush, 5% rain forest, rest is sand. 

life on mars

The island is also famous for the dingos. They look like nice doggies but in fact they are wolves. There used to be thousands of them on the island but they are now around 50. When you camp on the island, you need to put your food in special cages, like for the bears! There have been attacks in the past.("the dingo ate my baby" story). We started with lake Boomanjin, lass famous than lake McKenzie, but just as beautiful.

where is the dharma initiative?

 The water is see-through and PH neutral. The Aborigine women claim the water is good to make you younger so, I decided to apply some around my eyes. Can't hurt!. We passed by Central station. It does not look anything like a station, but is just the starting point of many walks in the islands. We had a small one and were shown many different plants of the rain forest. For example, the king ferns date from the dinosaurs area.

We had a nice buffet lunch with the group and had a nice chat with a Welsh couple. We visited the sand-blows of the Rainbow gorges. They are gigantic dunes and rocks, shaped by erosion and wind. They look like you are on Mars! We kept going on the highway. What they called the highway is the beach at low tide all around the island!! You cannot go swimming there as the currents are so strong and some nasty animals live in the water. We were dropped on the beach, at Moon point for the ferry to pick us up. It was funny, it looked like a group of people lost on a deserted island..I think I have seen this somewhere....