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Fraser Island Tour (Wed 18th-Fri 20th March 2009)
We finally got out to Fraser island, a week later than originally planned with our tour operator Trailblazer's. We got pic ked up from Rainbow Beach about 10 am and our tour guide Peda seemed pretty cool! (Peda apparently Welsh for Peter, but we had never heard of it!!!)
We woke up to sunshine and cloud but as we headed to Inskip point to catch the ferry across to the isalnd the weather started to get worse and unfortunately we had a bit of lovw dark cloud for the rest of the day.
Fraser Island is the biggest sand island in the world and you can only get onto the island with a 4x4 vehical and national park permit. Captain Cook sailed past Fraser in 1770 and thought it was a penninsula as it is only 500m off the coastline, so he didnt name it. It got its name when another explorer Captain Fraser sailed by and his boat ran aground half way up the big 75 mile beach. He died but his wife was 'apparently' captured by the aboriginals and abused etc until she was rescued....however when she was saved she seemed to be in perfect health. So the island was named after Eliza Fraser!!!!!
We reached the island and drove onto the southern point of the beach and straight away we saw 2 pure dingoes hanging around a self drive group of backpackers! Pure dingoes are getting rarer due to cross breeding but Fraser has the most purest dingoes in the country and they are so skinny. They are used to human interaction as people have been visiting Fraser Island for decades and unless you antagonise them or feed them, they should'nt harm you!
We travelled north along 75mile beach (on the east side) towards camp for lunch. 75 mile beach isnt actually 75 miles in length, its actually only about 50, so it can only be assumed that whoever was measuring it, their apparatus was incorrect! But the name stuck anyways!
We had lunch at camp in the tiny little town of Eurong and then headed inland towards Birabeen Lake! You dont get anywhere fast on Fraser as its all completely sand, so a 8 mile trip took us about 45 minutes and you all get thrown around in the bus! Its great fun....maybe not so much fun for the car sick prone!!!
Peda told us lots of stories about the area, about the logging that went on during the 1800's which continued into the 1940's until it was banned and Fraser Island named on the World Heritage List. On the beach all the trees are all the same height about 20ft high and thats due to the logging. We learnt a little about the Botcher Aboriginal people who lived here for hundreds of years and also about the vegetation. Things we wouldnt have learnt about if we were on a self guided tour.
We arrived a Lake Birabeen and although the weather was a little dull, the sun was desperately trying to break through but the cloud was too thick :-( the lake was absolutely stunning. So clear and fresh. The sand was the whitest powder like we have ever seen and we were the only ones by the lake.......magnificent. The crystal clear waters stretched 10m and then dropped off to deeper waters, it was beautiful, we just wished we had the sunshine so the lake sparkled. And our photos dont quite do it justice. We stayed there for an hour, had a swim and lay about on the sand, getting to know everyone.
We got back to the bus and headed to Central Station where the logging base years ago was located.....however things changed when we hit something and it snagged a break line!!!! Instead we headed back to camp for a few drinks and a bbq dinner!!! After dinner and (wine!) the Brits of the group, including Katija from Holland all headed to the pub up the road!!!! There was a pool and me feeling fearless with a wine or two inside decided to strip off and jump in the pool!!!! haha, it was hilarious! everyone thought i was crazy, but i got about another 5 people in, including Dazza! It was great fun! Ah well, it was a fun evening although I suffered for it the next day!!!!!!
On Thursday we woke up to torrential downpours which none of us were impressed with! We want a bit of sunshine!!!! Nevermind we were still having a brilliant time! Our first stop of the day was Eli Creek which pumps 80,000 mega litres of fresh water into the ocean every day. The cyclone had changed the direction of the creek and it had also made the beach look a little messy, but we were visiting literally 6 days after the strong winds had died away, it looked like the island did have a littler battering. The creek was wicked.....we took a walk through and it was very rain forest like and got really deep in parts, not great for me!!! haha but it was great fun!
Next stop 10 miles further north on the beach was the shipwreck S.S Maheno which was being shipped to Japan to be scrapped but got caught up in a cyclone and ended up lying on the shoreline of Fraser Island. This all happened in 1935 and definately gives the berach a little bit more character. Apparently we were not allowed withing 3m of the wreck but people were stadning inside it and everything. The rangers are really strict on the island and can give you fines for things like that.....Darren touched it! haha naughty naughty! We took lots of pics and enjoyed the surrounds.
Next stop up the beach was the the coloured sands 'The Pinnacles' where experts say there are 52 different colours. It was very pretty and simmilar to the cliffs of Rainbow beach. The sand get stained because of the oxides below the ground, sounds complicated to me!
We should of carried on to the northern point of 75 mile beach to see Indian Heads, the only solid rock formation on the island, but the weather was grim and Peda didnt want us to treck up a big rock to see grey skies......we would of liked to see it rain or shine but the vote went the other way and we ended up going to central station for our rain forest walk. (We had lunch at camp first) First of all we saw the invisible creek, cant remember the name, but the water was so clear you could have missed it! And your not allowed to walk in it so it looks very foresty and natural......Daz took some good pics. We took a 30 minute walk through Pine Oak rain forest where Peda told us alot about the plants and wildlife. The trees were huge and it did rain a little in the rain forest, good timing for that!!!!!
Fraser has so many natural beautiful things to do and see, the cyclone winds must have been strong as trees had fallen down.
After the walk we were supposed to head to Lake Boomajin, a red lake about 12 miles away, but Lake Mackenzie (the most famous lake of the island) was closer, so we had a vote and we went there instead and we were glad!!!!! So we headed along the bumpy tracks for 30 mins and arrived at Makenzie.....simial Birabeen but just had a something extra which made it lush!!! It was a busy lake with lots of tourists chilling on the sands and in the turqouise waters....Daz took a dip, it was a little cold so I took the pics! It was just a shame we couldnt hang around there and chill out and enjoy the weather......we want to come back now and see it when the sun is shining!!!
We had a good meal back at camp and I had an early night!
Our last day came around far too quickly!!!!! The weather picked up slightly and we actually had some sunshine! Yey!!!!! We headed just up the beach and had to take a 45 min walk inland to Lake Wabby where we indulged in some fun sandboarding!!!! We crossed a huge sandblow to get the the lake which was incredible and you certainly dont feel like your in Australia! Lake Wabby is quite far inland and is slowing dissapearing due to the sand blow making its way inland......experts believe it will have gone in the 10-15 years time, so maybe its lucky we have seen it as its the only lake you can have some real fun at!!!! Peda carried the boogie board and we boarded down a big sand dune into the lake!!!! Daz went first and fell off about 5m before the lake and tumbled into the water! Hilarious! My first two goes were interesting....we filmed them, so you guys can have a laugh!!!! (Nix....I wore the bikini for you, so dont laugh!!!)
After a few goes everyone got the idea and we were all zooming down into the lake, it was brilliant fun, could of done it all day and was good exercise as we had to carry the board back up the sand dune for the next person!!!!! Some of the europeans didnt want to do it, so us Brits (there were 8 of us!) were having a ball!!!!! Lee from Leeds (the daddy of the group) did some great tummbling down the dunes into the lake. It was a very peaceful area surrounded by forest, we loved it!!!!!
We stayed at Wabby till late mornning and then walked back to the van. We stopped in Eurong to buy some souverniers and ice creams and then parked ourselves on the beach to eat our lunch. We spotted more dingoes on the beach and then headed back to the barge. We arrived back in Rainbow Beach around 3pm and then our Fraser experience was all over! It went so fast, we could of spent another 3 days on the island!!!!!
We really enjoyed it and would love to go back! We met some fab people and learnt lots. We stayed another night in the tent a Pippies and then on Saturday headed back down to Brisbane, awaiting the arrivial of Mum and Dad on Sunday!
We were really lucky we could go back to Fraser Island a week later, where as so many people had to cancel it because they didnt have enough time!!! what a beautiful place!!
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