Fraser Island

Trip Start Sep 05, 2004
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Trip End Sep 24, 2004


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Flag of Australia  , Queensland,
Thursday, September 16, 2004

We took a ferry this morning from Hervey Bay to Fraser Island. Mandy came to the island with us but spent the day at a resort. Ally and I got in our 4WD tour bus for our trip around the island. The bus driver told us that if we wanted a bumpy ride we should sit at the back of the bus, so Ally and I headed straight for the back row. The bus filled up pretty good and we were on our way. To exit the parking lot we had to go up this big hill of sand. Fraser Island is a sand island so everywhere you go is sand. But unfortunately our bus couldn't get up that hill and the transmission blew. So we all shuffled off the bus and got on another. This time we weren't so lucky to get the very back row but we did go as far back as we could and we did get to enjoy some four-wheeling along the way!

Our first stop on the island was at Basin Lake. This is a beautiful clear lake and the sand grains here are perfectly round. They are apparently good for exfoliating your skin so Ally rubbed the sand all over her legs. The water was too cold for me so I only went in briefly to clean my jewelry Ally in Basin Lake
Ally in Basin Lake
 . Our guide told us that the round sand pebbles are also excellent for buffing up your diamonds and I couldn't miss out on that!

Next we saw (or maybe didn't see) the Invisible Creek. Very appropriately named, the water in this creek is so clear you can barely see that it is there! This is from the sand filtering the water naturally as it flows to the creek.

Fraser Island is covered in trees. It is a massive forest. So naturally we stopped to check out some of those trees. We saw some very tall white trees that are black at the base of the trunk. Leave it to the Aussies to call them "black butt trees".

Then we hit the beach. Our bus roamed along the 75 mile beach, a well known highway along Fraser Island's beach. Along the highway we stopped to check out the Maheno shipwreck sitting right there on the shore. We also saw the Coloured Sands Pinnacles above us.

You are not allowed to bring anything but 4 wheel drive vehicles on the island and for good reason. But the beach highway isn't just a highway. It's also a runway for airplanes! Our driver/guide announced to everyone that we could take a flight over the island if we wished to for a reasonable fee. Ally and I were all over it of course!

We got out of our bus and into the small plane. The bus left us to show the tourists something - who cares! Our little plane took off and we were up and soaring above the trees. It was amazing. The flight lasted about 15 minutes and we got to see the shipwreck from high above, and then the pilot came down nice and close to it for us. He also took us over a lake you can only access from the air, called Butterfly Lake. You can see from the photo how it got this name.

The experience of seeing that seemingly never-ending beach and the thick forest was so worth the price of the flight. I highly recommend it if you ever have the opportunity.

Once we were back on the land our bus came back for us and took us to the last stop of the day, Eli Creek. The creek runs right through the beach to the ocean surrounding the island. I thoroughly enjoyed my day on Fraser Island, it was absolutely amazing and we had so much fun.
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