Moreton Island
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2007
1
62
188
Trip End
Jan 08, 2008
Bulwer, Australia
Friday, June 15, 2007
No, I'm not joking, my day started with a car crash, and I felt very guilty because Kevin was only there because I needed to get to the Bus Station and his ute got bashed. The only upside was that it was not his fault. A taxi ran into the back of him, because someone else cut the taxi up as he tried to change lanes. Unusual turn of events that - the taxi not doing the cutting. Anyway, it didn't really wake me up, I was still semi-comotose in the departure lounge, and was barely lucid enough to call shotgun when we finally started getting into the car
Sandboarding.
. But I have been sand driving before and I know how bumpy it can be. The front seat is definately comfiest.Moreton isn't as far from Brisbane as Fraser is but the ferry crossing takes considerable more time, though I think that it was not so long as it could have been as I refrained from steering the ferry in circles this time - unlike my trip out to the GBR! I like to think such restraint helped.
We reached Moreton at high tide (which is something of a habit with me and sandy island tours) and made our way inland to the Desert, which is helpfully signposted as such at the fringe, as if you couldn't guess with all the sand blowing around. Though technically it is a sandblow rather than an actual desert. It looked fairly desert-like to me. The dunes here are beautifully steep, which suited our purposes excellently. We were here to sandboard, and you go faster, naturally, on steeper dunes, though the sand was a little wet, which was going to slow us down...
I was thankful for that in the end, as racing down a steep sandblow face first on a sliver of shiny-backed MDF (the equippment for sandboarding is really technical) is rather terrifying.
And Bumpy.
I still have the bruises, and a large quantity of sand in my trouser pocket, and I;m not entirely sure how it got there. Basically sandboarding is simple, as you have probably seen from the video. You lie down on your sliver of MDF and hold the end up in an arch so that the board doesn't dig into the sand (I told you it was technical) and then you get pushed down by the guide (which is why the video begins with a shot of my backside - it was not my preference!). After being pushed, you gain speed at a rather alarming rate and collect bruises on the riges in the dune as you hurtle down the drop. At the bottom you begin laughing somewhat hysterically, and I am not sure if it stems from having had a blast, or from just being alive to tell the tale... I only went back four times to attempt to reason it out, and I think the matter deserves some deeper scrutiny... Maybe in New Zealand...
But that was not the point of the trip, we were here to see Moreton and there is more than the desert to the second (or third, the title is contested) largest sand island in the world. Also, sandboarding is hard work (or climbing up the dune is) so we needed to eat lunch, and do some sightseeing, so while we had lunch prepared for us (there are some good points to being on tour) we went to have splash around in the Blue Lagoon on the island. Or I did anyway. Everyone else, rather sensibly, decided that the water was a little bit too chilly to swim in, but having declared (foolishly) my intention to swim, my pride wouldn't let me back out, so I stode off into the water.
It actually wasn't bad. Once you were completely numb, which happened fairly quickly, and made my swimming a little jerky. That could also be attributed to the sudden fear of crocodiles that I experienced whilst swimming, despite Moreton's croc free status. It is a very English fear I think, and I am beginnig to wonder if I have a serious problem with snapping jaws as the thought crosses my mind every time I get into the water in this country. Still, I get in, so it can't be so bad - unless that makes me loopy? Nevermind. I swam, and froze and took photos of the impromtu sandcastle competition that the others had while I was freezing in the water and putting the English Stiff Upper Lip on the whole experience.
I may be more immune to snapping jaws than I think actually. LAter on I was wandering barefoot over a tiny track in the dunes, with lots of undergrowth everywhere and it wasn't until I was halfway across that I thought about how silly it was to do something like that when there are snakes around. I had deliberately worn walking boots to protect my feet and then I wandered across brush with no shoes on. Loopy is looking quite promising...
Still, I didn't get bitten and we went up to the lighthouse for some whale watching, seeing some kind of shark and a whole pod of dolphins in the swell at the bottom of the rocks. Then it was on to the northernmost point of the island to play on and in the rock pools (champagne pools again, like on Fraser) and wander around the point to Honeymoon Bay, which is a truly idyllic little beach that would be quite secluded if it wasn't for the tourists like me, who tramp all over it. I spent about ten minuters trying, in vain to get a good shot of the waves crashing over the rocks off the bay, but I always took the picture on the wrong wave in the sequence, so it never quite worked, though I did see a fisherman get drenched by one of the waves that I missed taking a photo of, so it wasn't all bad.
Then we got back in the truck and trundled back to Brisbane, where you will be pleased to know, I made it back to Kev and Vi's without being involved in any further crashes.
