Day 13: Fraser Island Part 1

An earlier than expected start as Rob set the alarm an hour earlier than planned (Rob - oops). Tom, as ever was ready to start the day. It was still a mad rush to get to the bottom of the drive by 6.50 am, blazing sunshine and about 25 degrees. Sarah missed breakfast as we had trouble waking her up. Picked up by little mini bus and then proceeded around Hervey Bay collecting other 'explorers'. By 8.30 am we're on the barge, Fraser Island bound. Instead of deep blue waters, the water is sludgy brown (like Charlie and the Chocolate factory according to Tom) a result of all the flood water. Hervey Bay got 3 inches of rain in one hour on Sunday. The weather gods are definitely smiling on us as this is the best day in the past week according to the Emeraldene where we are staying. Sarah spies the on board cafe and ends up having cheese and onion crisps and a banana for breakfast (bad mother!). Sarah sang jingle bells non stop and her and Tom end up having a barney as to the exact words.

50 meters from the shore of Fraser Island, you can already hear the insects!

Once on the island, we board a monstrosity of a 4wd bus and get to meet some of the other 2-day explorers. The bus is custom build out of a truck.






We are almost last on the bus and end up at the back, just over the wheels - nice and bouncy! A short bumpy ride later we arrive at Central Station.






The insect noise comes from cicadas, the racket swirls around the tree canopy in waves as they seem to encourage each other to get louder. When they go off it's impossible to hear what the guide is saying. Apparently it only happens for a couple of weeks a year before they mate and die off. Here's one of their empty shells.








Can't remember what this plant is, but apparently they love them in australia and any garderner worth is salt has one as they take ages to grow.





we start a 30-40 minute walk along a creek which has beautiful clear water. Tom races on ahead to catch up with other children on the tour. Sarah soldiers on bravely but in the end I end up carrying her and a nice young german man offers to carry my back pack for me :) Rob is taking pictures somewhere. Tom has found his friend for the tour, Rosie 6 from Northern Island.

On the coach trip, the driver fills us in on some dingo tales, the one where the 9 year old boy gets bitten by a dingo and dies. Death theme continues and we hear about an american chap who got drunk and went swimming in the sea and drowned only the Thursday before. A guy who broke his neck dune jumping, a chap that got bitten by a snake.......

As we are a bit early for lunch, we zip down 75 mile beach for a spin. cool. More tales of woe, about inexperienced drivers flipping over their 4x4s. Queensland has just changed the laws for Fraser and now 4x4 hirers must follow an experienced guide. The speed limit on the beach is down to 80km from 100. The beach is the main highway. This was taken from inside the 4x4.






After lunch, off to Lake Mackensie (fresh water). Amazing blue water and and perfectly white powder sand. Enough said. Pictures say it all. Tom spent 2 hours with Rosie playing in the water. Fab swim, it's like being in a bath.


















































--Rob edit for the tech camera buffs: The sand was so white and the sky such a dark blue, the camera didn't have the dynamic range to cope, so I've taken lots of bracketed exposures I'll tart up with a little HDR magic when I get back.


An hour trip back in the coach. Still no Dingoes though Rosie's Dad, Anthony thinks he sees one.

Back to the 'resort', can't help but feel we've stumbled onto the Dharma Initiative set....the TV programme Lost if you don't know. We're on a jungle island. There are mini bus type things zipping about. There's a place in the jungle called central station. People have light brown uniforms. The hotel complex we're staying at has ageing satellite dishes. There's an electric fence around the complex. And finally an electrified cattle grid at the entrance.













It turns out that the fence and the grid are there to keep dingos out.

After freshening up, we bump into Rosie's family on the way to dinner. So quick diversion to the beach bar for some well deserved cold beers, bliss. The place is covered in graffiti (encouraged), as Tom can read now, it's probably not a good idea for him to start reading it. Sarah is entertained by Rosies two older sisters.













Dinner, more beers followed by a gaze at the stars (cool shooters) and an early ish night.

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Location:Fraser Island