Fraser Island
Trip Start
Sep 12, 2006
1
26
33
Trip End
Ongoing
Fraser Island,
Australia
Saturday, March 29, 2008
I caught the over night bus from Airlie beach, and this time the bus was much nicer as it was an old McCaffertys bus and not a minimal greyhound one... and they played a movie too - now thats luxury!! This time I also poichased one of those inflatable neck pillows for the trip, and that did wonders!! I also managed to reunite with my bag that they managed to leave in Townsville which was a relief.
My neck pillow was so good I ALMOST slept through my stop!! I arrived at 7am, and was then picked up by my tour from the bus stop at 7.20am... so I was cutting it pretty fine, but all went well. I caught the ferry across no worries and met a lovely and very attractive sweedish girl on the ferry over called caroline who I ended up spending most of the trip with. We started by getting into thie mammoth 4wd bus, which was totally necessary as the roads there are made of sand, and quite possibly the bumpiest EVER! We were also instructed to wear out seat belts... and for good reason too. If it wasnt for the seat belt there would have been several occasions where I would have hit the roof or head-butted caroline in the face. Im sure Caroline being the typical perfect looking sweetish girl she was didnt want her face rearranged either.
Our first stop was at a place called basin lake. Its unreal when you show up, you drive through rain forest growing out of white sand. The lake is fresh water, is absolutely crystal clear and actually makes great drinking water... all surrounded by beautiful white sand. Swimming in it was awesome too as it was just so clear! After the swim it was a walk through some rain forest. And as exciting as this was there isnt really too much to say. It was awesome walking through the massive trees mixed in with palms and ferns - all growing out of white sand. In the middle of it was a creek which is just impossible to explain, but ill try.. It was a white sandy bottom, and well... you couldnt see the water it was SO DAMN CLEAR!! The water is pushed up from a massive under ground water table the fraser island has through a natural spring, and is about 12 degrees in temperature. Its absolutely stunningly clear and pure to see. From what i remember I think Frazer island has an underwater table of roughly 30 times the capacity of Sydney harbour... and if you ask me... thats a LOT! This is also where we found leeches. One of the girls was unlucky enough to find one attaching itself to her foot, but we did manage to get it off in time!
Next stop was lake McKenzie which is another natural lake on the island, once again with stunning crystal clear water on white sand. This lake is the most popular spot on the island, and the most photographed. It also has a ph balance of about 5 - 5.5 which is about equal to human skin, and hence makes it a very nice sensation to swim in. The sand in this area is also very fine and excellent for exfoliation or cleaning jewelery, so you can really have a bit of a beauty make over here! It is also home to some fresh water turtles, however I didnt manage to spot any.
This was the end of day one, but this also meant the beginning of night one. We all stopped to get some incredibly important alcohol, and for the two irish on the bus it was just an opportunity to replenish the beers they had been drinking all day... those crazy irish. :P I was lucky as we had a good group who mixed well so we all got together before dinner for a few drinks... and after diner for some drinking games!! The accommodation standard on the island was 1st class too! I was very impressed considering it was domitory styled accommodation. We had nice bathrooms, and the use of all the resort facilities including tennis court, volleyball court, and heated swimming pool - although we didnt use any of these as I found getting drunk with the foreign girls much more interesting... haha.. ahh the joys of being young and traveling!
The following morning wasnt has hard as I thought it might be, and was kick started with an awesome beakky. And to go off on a tangent the food on this tour was fully comprehensive and just down right good! AND I got to stuff myself.. and that I did. Our first stop today was a wreck on the beach that I had fogotten the name of. It did used to be however, a fast service passenger ferry between Sydney and Auckalnd. Then during WW1 it became a hospital ship, and was painted white with a big red cross. After the war it went back to ferrying people between Australia and NZ. After it started to become a little older and slower it was the converted to a luxury liner and was decked out with the flashest of flash furnishings and chandeliers etc. Once it started to get a bit old, it was then sold to a japanese shipping form for scrap metal. The Japs sold the propeller on the vessel and decided to tow the ship back to japan. During an out of season hurricane the ship broke off the lines and washed up on fraser island. They thought, no worries, we'll tow it out at high tide. High tide came, and it wouldnt budge. They then thought, next tide. They tried again and nothing. They then thought.. ahh... no worries, we'll wait a month untill king tide. King tide came and still nothing. Long story short they tried this for almost a year until the realized they werent going to get the ship out, and so thats where it has been ever since. Another interesting point is that during ww2 the Aussie airforce used the ship as target practice for bombing. Itonically they dropped something like 200 bombs, and only 2 hit the ship. Gives you confidence in the airforce huh?
Our next stop was Eli creek, which was another amazing crystal clear creek. Unfortunately I managed to get an "uber" splinter in my foot... and this sucker was huge.. and went almost an entire inch into the ball of my foot, so I proceded to spend all my time here with a pocket knife and scissors trying to get the damn thing out. I did manage to in the end, but it wasnt fun. Right when I got it out it was time to leave for the next spot too, so they only part I saw of Eli creek was to wash the blood from my foot. Nice.
Next on the list was Indian head. Some say it was called indian head as when Captain Cook sailed passed he saw it and though it looked like an american indian with his head decoration on. The more accurate story (or so believed) is that he saw some aboriginals on the head, and he said they looked like the native american indians. ANyway, its a beautiful spot to climb up and look over fraser island. I dont know what was going on, but it was almost like nature was putting on a show for us as we managed to see a few big fish swimming in the ocean below, a number of large sharks, one with a baby in tow, a number of turtles, and a pod of dolphins!! The water was so clear you could see almost anything in the water, it was amazing.
After lunch it was a stop at bunch of rock pools called champagne pools. Champagne as when the massive waves break over the rocks and fill the pools it feels like you are swimming in champagne bubbles! I thought the champagne was a little salty for my liking. :P
This was our last stop in the island, and it was another mission drive back to the resort for another great dinner. We also got to sample to the pools where were pretty damn nice to watch the sunset in! After this it was back to Hervey Bay where I would stay a night before catching the bus to Brisbane in the morning. Another bus trip... YAY.. or not.. :P
All in all this trip was fantastic and I really had so much fun! Part if this was due to the good group we had, but the tour guide, Chris, was the main catylist as he was th best! Cheers Cooldingo, and cheers Chris!
Once again, to check out some piccies... try looking.... um... here... http://picasaweb.google.com/mrphillipthomas/20080329FraserIsland
