Fraser Island
Trip Start
Sep 08, 2005
1
28
36
Trip End
Nov 29, 2005
Fraser Island,
Australia
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Got the bus at 6.30 AM to go to Fraser Island.
Our guide for the day was called Matt and he was a lovely guy. Really keen on wildlife and nature and very knowledgeable also. We saw some wild kangaroos on the way to the ferry. There were 18 of us on the bus. We got the ferry over and we saw some turtles on the way. Fraser is the largest sand island in the world measuring 122 km X 22 km!!! The place is huge.
The bus we were on was specially converted to accommodate the terrain. It was very very bumpy - Matt called this the whoop-de-doos (and if your bum left the seat it was called a super-whoop-de-doo) which added to the adventure. We drove up 75 mile beach and it was beautiful. Our first stop was Lake Wabby which we had to hike over huge sand dunes in the scorching heat to get to. On the way over the dunes we found some aboriginal shells and rocks that had been uncovered due to the recent winds. Cool. Well ready for a swim when we got there. It was crazy coz big catfish were just swimming right up to you. This was when we were introduced to horse flies which make mosquitoes look like lady birds. Seriously these things are massive big flies that bite and leave a very nasty lump. The only way to get rid of them is to let them land on you then smack them and kill them. Matt started to do this then feed them to the catfish who loved them.
Took an easier way back to the bus then headed on to Eurong Resort where we were staying for the night. We had a bar-b-q lunch which was lovely and then left for Central Station (set in the rainforest right in the middle of Fraser).
Champagne Pools
This place was gorgeous. We took a walk along Wangoolba Creek and stopped there for a while. Matt asked us all to listen quietly and it was honestly the most peaceful place we've ever been. The trees were about 100ft tall and we could hear the bees in the canopy making the honey above us. It was crazy too because the water didn't make a sound due to it being sand at the bottom so it didn't have any rocks to spill over. Went on a 35 minute walk right through and saw native birds, fish, lizards but no dingos :(After this we headed to Lake McKenzie which is stunning - really beautiful place. We spent about 1 1/2 hours here just swimming, sunbathing and relaxing. Matt told us that the sand was silica sand and would bring up any dirty jewellery really well so we tried it and we're raging we didn't bring any back with us.
Went back to Eurong for a buffet dinner - mmmmmm. After dark we headed down to the beach. The sky was really clear and the stars were everywhere. Matt wanted to show us a few of the creatures that live on the beach so he caught a small fish that lived in the sand and used it to lure sand worms out. These looked initially like a small crab but when he pulled it out it's head was tiny but the body was about 6ft long!!!!!!!!!! Freakiest thing we've ever seen. Apparently one of these worms is $4 to buy in a bait shop and can catch up to 6 fish. Some guys actually make a very good living catching them. Crazy!!!
Really magical night. We even scraped off the sand and saw some phosphorous glowing in the sand. We also saw some dingo tracks and found some cray toads.
Finished off the night in the bar and playing pool with Tierry ($20 deposit for the cue!!!!)
Up early next day and on the bus for 7.45. Headed up 75 mile beach to Indian Head. On the way we stopped off to look at some pippi's which are a bit like oysters. They wash up on the shore and you crack them open and eat them. EEEUUUUGGGHHH they looked disgusting. But if you don't eat them they dig themselves back into the sand! We then went to the Maheno Shipwreck which is 100 years old and has been shipwrecked on Fraser for 70 years. There are 5 floors on the ship (4 of which are buried under the sand!!).
We stopped off then at the Pinnacles (coloured sands) and then climbed up Indian Head. The views were stunning. Saw a lot of turtles but no sharks or dolphins. Just missed the whale season apparently. After this we went to the Champagne Pools before heading to Eli Creek for lunch. This is a freshwater stream which runs for about 1 km. It dumps 4 million litres of fresh water into the sea every hour!!!! so we swam down it. Cool.
Then started the journey back to Noosa. Ferry & driving for about 3 hours in total. Very tiring but definitely worth it (even the bites).
Checked back into Halse Lodge and were so tired we were asleep for 8.30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
