As part of our east coast tour we had booked a 3 day 2night 4 WD
safari on Fraser Island. We had an option to do a self drive tour but
opted for the guided version which supplies all our meals and
accommodation. Within the 1st half hour of day 1 we realized what a
great choice we'd made!
We were picked up from the Noosa backpackers at 8am by Brett, our Oz
guide for the next three days, in what can only be described as the
'big Daddy' of 4x4 tour buses. After a few more stops to pick up the
rest of the party (12 in total) Brett mentioned that because the tide
was slightly in our favour we would be taking a short cut to the barge
at Inskip Point, along the beach!
Fraser Island, a world heritage site, is the worlds largest sand
island at 127km in length and stretching to 24km at it's widest point.
The roads are pure beach sand made of 98% silica, soft and treacherous
to the point that a recent self drive tour ended with a number of
passengers seriously injured and one fatality!! It became clear from
the Offset that Brett knew the roads and the beaches well. On some
stretches of the beach our 'blue bomber' was doing 100km an hour but
when the sand became too soft the gears would be lowered all the way
into 1st to grind through. Brett's apparently been driving since the
age of six so we felt fairly safe all three days and found it amusing
every time we drove past a self drive tour that got stuck in the sand.
Day1 included trips mostly on the 75km east coast stretch to Indian
Heads where the views were simply surreal! Found an Osprey nesting in
the cliffs and drove past the wreck of the Maneho, a luxury liner that
had once been used as a hospital boat during WWI but was ironically
sold to the Japanese for scrap metal. On it's final journey it was
beached by a cyclone on Fraser Island. The remains seen in our pics
are only the top deck and another 5 stories lie buried below the sand.
Supper on day1 was a night of many introductions. My 1st 'goon'
experience (a 4litre red wine papsak @ $10) and getting to know the
rest of the tour group. Amazing how a few glasses of red and a deck of
cards can break the ice. Our accommodation happened to have the only
pub on the island adjacent to it, happy hour beckoned! As the evening
came to a close we made our way home in the dark along the beach under
and incredibly bright starry sky, Kimmy still managed to navigate her
way into a bush losing a stokie in the process.
Day2 was spent inland driving to the various lakes. Brett found great
joy in watching the passengers of the 'blue bomber' spending time
airborne off our seats for most of the trip as he negotiated the
narrow sandy tracks with.......let's call it, enthusiasm.! This
exhuberance was amplified with AC/DC and Guns 'n Roses tracks
emanating from various ipods streaming through the 'blue bomber's'
radio.
The first of numerous biology lessons for the day had Brett explaining
why the brown watered (but crystal clear) lakes were completely devoid
of any life forms. Surrounded by a species of teatree, these lakes
absorb the fallen leaves resulting in an acidic pH level. Many healing
properties for humans but still too cold to test whether a dip would
cure the 'goon' hangover. I was the 1st one in the water at the 2nd
lake and can confirm that it works! We ended the day taking a
beautiful walk through the forest along the 'whispering creek', a body
of water that although constantly moving, does so in complete silence
due to the fine sand found at it's bed - all really fascinating in
gorgeous surroundings.
Biology lesson 10x: Goon and beer - the lethal combination
More card games and pool in the dorm saw Kimmy and I as the last men
standing at 3am (we're getting booze fit again) showing the youngsters
how to party the South African way!
Day3 was slightly shorter as we needed to get dropped off at our
overnight stay at Rainbow Beach so we only had time for one more trip
inland to Maddy Lake. Brett dropped us off and the rest of the way had
to be done on foot through a stretch of bush initially but, the last
km of the trail was a massive set of sand dunes. Been a while since
we've done that much exercise but, there was a little more to come.
The dunes converged at the lake with a 100ft drop on a fairly steep
angle - the use of the body board that we had dragged with us on the
hike had now become clear! Only a few of us tried the slide to the
bottom, some a little more successfully than others, much to Kimmy's
amusement. Christopher, our resident research scientist (in applied
mathematics) managed to make it all the way down only to lose his
board in the last meter - the only part of body to make it into the
lake was his pip, to his credit he shrugged off the comedy act and
made it onto the lake with board and all on his second attempt.
The 3 days on Fraser Island were way to short. If not for the
beautiful scenery then certainly for the lack of time spent with Orla,
Cameron and Mike. Amazing laid back people that Kimmy and I clicked
with from the 1st introduction on the bus. Guys, we sincerely wish we
had more time with you and hopefully our paths will cross again someday.
Added to their great company they've also given is a lot of insight on
our coming travels to Indonesia and SE Asia and eased our mind about
the cost of living for the second half of our travels.
To Brett and John Boy, thank you for showing us Fraser the way it
should be done - in the safety of the Blue Bomber with AC/DC pumping
in the background!
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