Fraser Island: There's sand everywhere!

Hey everyone!

Time has come to let you in on my last leg of my super trip.  We made our way to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world!

Day 8

We left Cairns in the mid-afternoon to arrive in Brisbane.  A quiet city, Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia after Sydney and Melbourne.  We had a taxi ride to our hostel, which was very nice.  Once there, we decided to explore the city a bit.  We found a pub that had $5 burritos and enjoyed even more texmex in Australia!

Day 9

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to catch a Greyhound bus to Fraser island.  One bonus to waking up that early is that I got a wonderful view of the Brisbane skyline in the morning:

Because it was raining, we were able to see a glorious rainbow as well:

Maybe I should go back to Brisbane...

The trip took some time (7 hours) but it was nice to see the beautiful Queensland countryside.  Though the ride was beautiful, we had some confusion when we arrived in Hervey Bay, the nearest city to Fraser Island.  We caught a cab to catch a ferry to the island where we were staying.  When we arrived on the island, we found out that, due to our traveling, we would only be able to participate on one day of our three day tour.  We were obviously very disappointed because we had spent a lot of money on this tour and were a bit angry and out booking agent, who we felt didn't inform us completely that we would be missing so much.  Everyone was tired, there was sand everywhere, and worst of all the hostel rooms we stayed in were not very nice.  Needless to say, all three of us were on edge.  However, we found some really nice staff members in the kitchen who helped us out and gave us some other options to make our time worthwhile on the island.

Day 10

The next morning, still a bit on edge, we headed out on our tour at 8 am.  We had no idea what was in store for us.  We started by four wheeling through the rainforest to the east side of the island, which is basically a 90 km (50 mi) straight beach.  There we passed the Maheno Shipwreck, a part of the island since the 30's when it crashed into the island after being towed through a storm and lost at sea.  No one was hurt, and now it's just a cool part of the island.

Next we made our way up the coast to the northern part of the island where there were some large sand dunes.  Large enough to jump off and get some serious air.  Here's one of Dani, Susan and I all taking a jump.

My favorite part of this picture is Susan's look of terror.

I think my favorite shot of me on this trip

After we got tired of flying, we made our way over to the Champagne Pools which is a group of rocks immediately at the edge of the ocean so the waves smash about it and make some cool turbulence in the pools.  Dani had some fun standing in front of the waves as they crashed about us.

We then made it up to the Indian Head, which is a rocky outcrop sticking out into the ocean.  It's one of the few rock formations above sea level on the island.  Driving down the coast, we passed by the Cathedrals, a collection of red/orange colored sand that has collected there over the eons.  Then we made it down to Eli Creek where we relaxedly floated down to the ocean.  It turned out to be a fantastic day with wonderful weather.  We were feeling much better about our decision to come to Fraser Island when we got back to the hotel.

Dani and Lilani

That night, the three of us met up with Lilani, who was Dani's maid when they lived in Singapore many years ago.  Dani had not seen her since she was 8, so it was a wonderful reunion.  Lilani lives outside of Brisbane and traveled to Fraser Island with her husband Arunot to visit Dani.  It was an absolutely wonderful night!  Both Lilani and Arunot are delightful and were gracious enough to treat us to a three course meal.  It was insane.  I've never eaten so well before.  I had kangaroo meat and I have to let you know, it was pretty good.  They left on the last ferry of the night, and we couldn't ask for a more friendly pair of people to spend our time with.

Day 11

Our last day had arrived.  Because we couldn't go on the tour, we instead hiked out to Lake McKenzie, a huge freshwater lake on the middle of the island.  It has a high pH of 3.4, about the same as orange juice, so nothing really lives in the lake and it is extremely clear.  I had some fun with my underwater camera and enjoyed swimming in such a clear lake.

We had a quiet lunch there and made ready for our two hour hike back to the hotel.  Though it was long, it was incredibly beautiful and I couldn't help but look around all the time and enjoy immersing myself in God's beauty.

Finally, the trip back.  We took a ferry to the mainland, a bus to the airport, a small turbojet plane to Brisbane, and a proper jet back to Melbourne.  All in all it took 8 hours, but by the time we got back we were just glad to be home.

In reflection of my trip, it was a wonderful experience.  I got to travel up and down the coast of Australia, dive on the great barrier reef, sleep on a beach near the rainforest, jump off dunes 60 feet high, and see one of the most beautiful countries on earth, all with the companionship of two good friends.  I would say that I'm pretty lucky.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my adventures.  Who knows where I'll go next?  Once I find out when I have finals, I would like to go to Tasmania, the Outback, and the Great Ocean Road.  All await.  And I can't wait.

Sunset over Hervey Bay

Cheers!
Paul