Day One
The tour I was in had a coach of about 30 people and one guide (Greg), he was really knowledgeable and entertaining.
Our tour started as soon as we arrived, first went to Basin Lake and then Lake McKenzie. These are both perched dune lakes, they contain fresh water and are about 100m above sea level. The water is trapped by an impenetrable layer of composted organic material deep within the sand.
The weather wasn't brilliant, it was overcast but still quite warm. It remained this way for the whole trip, with the occasional shower and an hour or two of sun. This actually aided our trip, there aren't any roads, just sand tracks. If it had been sunny we would've spent half our time digging the coach out of the sand.
This is a picture of me at Basin Lake.After the lakes, we had lunch a Central Station. This used to be a logging village with its own train station. It now just contains an eating area.
The majority of Fraser Island is a world heritage listed nation park, and there are strict rules we have to follow when on the island. The main things to remember were general stuff like no littering, but also we had to be conscious of the Dingo population on the island. So we couldn't leave food anywhere, or even leave the coach unattended with the door open.
When the logging stopped in 1991, there was a big Dingo population and they scavenged for food. Their natural fear of humans had gone and there were numerous attacks, any offending Dingos were killed. The 200 Dingos now living on the island have retained their fear of humans, and they no longer seek out humans for food scraps.
After lunch we went on a 30 minute walk through a section of sub-tropical rain forest. This rain forest is a long, thin strip of the forest in the centre of the island. The rest of the island is mainly eucalypt forest.
A view from the rain forest
The rainforest was spectacular, there was a fresh water stream running through it. All the water has been filtered through the fine sand and was crystal clear. The water is so pure there is barerly any kind of life in there.
After the walk, we went to another fresh water lake, then back to the resort in the evening. We all headed to the bar for drink & food in the evening. The group was quite a mix, Canadians, Americans, Brazilian, Korean, German, Italian.... I spent most of my time with a couple from London (Richard & Helen) and two girls from Cardiff (Sarah & Sophie). I'm waiting for Richard to send through the groups photos - they were all taken on his camera.
Day Two
The majority of the second day was spent on 75 mile beach on the eastern side of the island. It's no good for swimming because of the vicious currents and sharks. It is one long stretch of beach ( actually 62 miles long not 75), and is the main way to get around on this part of the Fraser. It is the only beach also registered as a national highway and had an 80kph speed limit.
Me on 75 Mile Beach
We drove all the way north to Indian Head - an outcrop of volcanic rock - and spent lunchtime at the Champagne Pools. They are a set of huge rock pools, so you can actually do some protected swimming on the dangerous east coast. We were warned that the rocks are extremely sharp, I only managed to get waist deep before a wave pushed me towards a small rock and gashed my foot pretty badly.
Greg said he is always patching up people who swim in the rock pools here, pretty much everyone in our group had some minor cuts on their hands or feet. Mine was quite spectacular and dissuaded anyone else from taking a dip. It was about 500m back along a wooden boardwalk to the bus and the first aid kit, and my two inch cut left a bloody trail all the way back!
After lunch we drove back past Indian Head and walked up to the top, it was named by James Cook when he first sailed past. Hundreds of Aboriginals gathered on the rock to see his ship sail past, he thought they looked like Indians - hence the name.
Heading back south down the beach, we stopped a the Maheno shipwreck. The ship was wrecked in 1935 when it was being towed to Japan to be sold as scrap. It was originally a lot taller than this, but the boat has gradually decayed.
The Maheno was a luxury cruise liner, after several attempts to re-float it they auctioned off the parts. Some of the beach houses here were built from the timber of the Maheno.
Next we stopped at Ely Creek, this was fast flowing shallow stream - due to my foot injury I didn't take a dip.
The girl in front of me had just stepped in the creek when this eel came out to say hello. He was easily a metre long and didn't seemed phased by our presence at all.
We drove all the way north to Indian Head - an outcrop of volcanic rock - and spent lunchtime at the Champagne Pools. They are a set of huge rock pools, so you can actually do some protected swimming on the dangerous east coast. We were warned that the rocks are extremely sharp, I only managed to get waist deep before a wave pushed me towards a small rock and gashed my foot pretty badly.
Greg said he is always patching up people who swim in the rock pools here, pretty much everyone in our group had some minor cuts on their hands or feet. Mine was quite spectacular and dissuaded anyone else from taking a dip. It was about 500m back along a wooden boardwalk to the bus and the first aid kit, and my two inch cut left a bloody trail all the way back!
After lunch we drove back past Indian Head and walked up to the top, it was named by James Cook when he first sailed past. Hundreds of Aboriginals gathered on the rock to see his ship sail past, he thought they looked like Indians - hence the name.
Heading back south down the beach, we stopped a the Maheno shipwreck. The ship was wrecked in 1935 when it was being towed to Japan to be sold as scrap. It was originally a lot taller than this, but the boat has gradually decayed.
The Maheno was a luxury cruise liner, after several attempts to re-float it they auctioned off the parts. Some of the beach houses here were built from the timber of the Maheno.Next we stopped at Ely Creek, this was fast flowing shallow stream - due to my foot injury I didn't take a dip.
The girl in front of me had just stepped in the creek when this eel came out to say hello. He was easily a metre long and didn't seemed phased by our presence at all.
Well it's taken me almost 2 hours to post this, so I'll do a day 3 update on Sunday when I return from my sailing/diving tour.
1 comment:
Yikes, nasty looking injury! I hope it heals up soon.
The island looks fantastic! I love that the beach is a highway, very Australian :)
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