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Blog Day 158 Tues 11th October 2011
An early start today see's us up & out of bed by 6am. A breakfast of cornflakes & a coffee (that Trish manages to throw all over Dan) later & we are on our way round to have a safety briefing & watch a safety tape before we can head of in the 4wd vehicles. Once the briefing is over we collect our food for the next few days. Our group still seem content on just standing around and not saying anything to one another. So Dan sorts out the butcher while Trish goes off to sort out the shopping with the rest of the group in tow to help carry it. Once the cars are loaded up Fabian takes to the wheel & we are on our way to the ferry terminal. The journey across on the ferry to Fraser Island takes about 30mins & on the way we spot some dolphins. Dan isn't feeling to great today & goes down to sit in the car for the duration of the crossing.
Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island, made up of magnificent coloured sand cliffs, rocky headlands, cool freshwater creeks & lakes and some of the most beautiful beaches to be found anywhere in the world. It is a World Heritage listed island with a huge diversity of flora & fauna, over 325 species of birds & Australian native animals including the dingo. (Leaflet Info again)
One piece of information that we are told is that there are only three points of the island that are made of rock, the rest is sand. These are not tiny rocks either more like gigantic cliffs that protrude from the sea. Well it is because of these rocks, and an ancient river system flowing from the main land, that Fraser Island is here today. They rocks form a natural barrier stopping the sand being carried up the coast and with the river systems stopping the sand from joining the mainland, Fraser Island was formed. It is said that if those three pieces of rock weren't there the sand would be free to travel up the coast and the Great Barrier Reef wouldn't exist today.
Anyway that's enough education, back to the 'fun' stuff!
The only way to get around on the island is by 4WD, so with the tyres slightly deflated and the little gear stick in the right position we're off! Our first stop is Lake Wabby, one of the many freshwater lakes on the island. Here we all jump in, play some ball games and throw a Frisbee about. Kev, our guide is really cool and is making a great effort to get everybody involved. Our group seem to have livened up a little now.
After about an hour at Lake Wabby we jump back into the cars and head to 75 mile beach (the second longest beach in the world) for a spot of beach driving. On the wet (hard)sand driving is simple, however when we drive through patches of dry (soft) sand the back end kicks out and we slip and slide all over the place. Fortunately we don't get stuck. We pull up on the beach for a spot of lunch before walking 2.5km inland to the Carlo Sand Blow. It's basically like a desert in the middle of a rain forest, and very impressive. As we walk along we see wooden poles sticking out of the sand and Trish can't resist striking a sexy pole pose, for a picture of course. The sand blow gets very steep in places and at the bottom of one of the dunes is a gorgeous lake, with some huge fish in it. The fish were relaxing before the Canadian lads decide to run full tilt down the dune and belly flop into the lake. Funny but painful!
After the sand blow we make our way back through the forest to the Jeeps. On the way back we get talking to Curtis (one of the Canadian lads) who turns out to be a real cool guy. Our next stop is the Maheno Shipwreck, a massive liner that washed up on the Fraser coast. It was being towed by the Japanese up to Japan, where it was going to be broken down and sold for scrap metal. On the way past Fraser a storm hit and the towing lines broke, seeing as there was no propeller the Maheno ended up here. The Japanese then washed there hands of it as the said it would cost them more to recover it than it was worth in scrap. And now we are standing next to it taking photos!
Our camp for the night is only about 5 minutes up the beach and as luck would have it, it's the only camp on the island with permanent toilets and hot showers. Happy Days! Also we have been upgraded to bunk beds rather than a 10 man shared tent. DOUBLE HAPPY DAYS!
For some reason Dan still isn't feeling 100% so after a nice warm shower, a fantastic spaghetti bolognaise and a beer we make our excuses take ourselves off to bed.
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