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Fraser Island
It was Friday 5th November and we were up ready and packed for our trip to Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island (over 100 km long!!). We were picked up by 4wd minibus and taken to Rainbow Beach where we got the barge across to Fraser Island taking just 7 minutes!
Unfortunately, it was raining on and off today but we didn't let that ruin our day as we knew it was jam packed with activities.
Our first day consisted of driving along 75 mile beach.......actually on the beach itself, stopping off for tea, coffee and biscuits, and jumping around on the beach for some photos. We also got to look at the Maheno ship wreck (the boat ran aground in 1935 and has been rusting ever since. It was also hit by two Australian army torpedos as part of a training exercise), view the coloured sands and have lunch at Cathedral Beach whilst dingos (crossed between a fox and a dog) roam around the national forest. We were told not to feed them or get close as they bite! We were more worried about the Death Adder and Taipan snakes on the island! These are two of the most venomous snakes in the world. Could they kill a human....yes. Enough said.
After lunch we took a walk up to a sacred Aboriginal site, Indian Head, which is located at the top of a steep hill. We navigated our way across the many wet rocks en-route to the top. When we got to the top we saw views of the ocean and the sand dunes. It was here it started to rain.......and then poured.......so the views weren't overly spectacular! We're sure they would have been in the sun. Although it was raining, we were lucky we had our macs with us. That said our shorts got completely drenched as the macs weren't full length. Our t-shirts were dry though unlike a Finnish girl on the trip who was sodden throughout!!!
Afterwards, we walked back to the vehicle to dry off before arriving at Eli Creek. We took a relaxing walk along the boardwalk through vegetation listening to the wildlife.
On our way back to camp, our driver took us to see the sandblow. This is caused by strong winds blowing from the sea causing sand dunes to form over the vegetation. We then had a quick stop at the supermarket for provisions and then onto camp.
We were looking forward to relaxing in the "great accommodation" and swimming pool that the travel agent had described when we booked. We were therefore more than a little surprised when we pulled into a campsite with basic single-storey accommodation blocks. It turns out that the site is leased from a university which stays on the island occasionally to do some field research. The tour company hasn't used the other accommodation for over 3 years. So it turns out that we were in a twin cabin room with a functional communal kitchen and basic lounge area (emphasis on "functional" and "basic"). A few blocks away were the showers and toilets. At least we were reassured by the fencing around the site to keep the dangerous dingos out (generally ok on their own but dangerous when in a group). That was until we saw 5 of the dingos near the toilets.....good security fencing. So toliet trips meant travelling in pairs......just in case. Let's just say you realise at times like this how infrequently you need to visit the dunny/thunderbox (Australian for toilet......we sound like locals now). We were even more surprised to see a dingo at the bottom of the three steps to our cabin when we were having a quick snack with the door open. We didn't do that twice!!!
That evening the group met at 6:45pm for a bbq dinner. The food was great consisting of chicken, steak, burgers, fish, pasta and salad. It was all cooked by the tour guide who we sat with chatting to over dinner. He was very appreciative when Mark lobbed him a beer while he was cooking.
As we were chomping through the food, Lisa saw a dingo in the kitchen looking for food. Our tour guide had to chase it away. God these dogs are relentless. We were a little frightened of them, especially when walking around the campus alone given the various signs dotted around talking about attacks.
The rest of the evening was pretty boring as the group didn't bond well. Everyone was having there own little chats. Mark normally starts the group chatting but this was even beyond him so he didn't bother!! To put the evening into context, the highlight was when we helped wash and dry the plates. A mad night it wasn't. We gave up at 9pm and went back to our room. What a fun evening that was!
The next morning the alarm sounded, it was 6am, we got showered and had breakfast at 7am and left on the tour bus at 8am.
Our guide took a route that even the 4wd wouldn't get up due to the sand track being too dry.......a bit strange as it had rained heavily the prior day. We therefore had to reverse down a hill and change the plan!
We were taken to Lake Birrabeen for a 30 minute wander where we saw a lizard hiding in a bush and then onto Lake Makenzie for a paddle and some lunch. Both of the lakes are made from the accummulation of rainwater and are surrounded by sand, which is really fine. It's actually 98% silica, which can be used for cleaning jewellery so Mark polished his ring........wedding ring that is.
Our lunch consisted of chicken or tuna salad wraps. Yummy yummy!
After lunch we headed back along 75 mile beach and onto the barge to Rainbow Beach arriving at 3:30pm. We collected our luggage and checked into Pippies hostel for the night. All things considered it had actually been a great trip.
Read on to see what we did in Rainbow Beach.
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