Thursday 31 October 2002

We were picked up from our lousy accommodation at 08.05 AM by a German named Sven. Apparently we were on a bi-lingual tour. English and ... you guessed it, German. So most of our group (we were about 15 people) spoke German.

There seemed to be some problems with the regular ferry connection to the island, so Sven had to drive us to another docking area. Of course this meant that ALL the tours would have to go from that same docking area now. Needless to say, the ferry was packed! Almost to African/Asian proportions, we were only missing a couple of chickens and a goat. This also meant we would embark in Wanggoolba Creek instead of in Moon Point. So he had to make some last minute changes to our tour schedule.

Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island. It is 124 km long (N to S) and approx. 27 km accros at its widest point. It is listed as a World Heritage site (in the company of The Grand Canyon, The Great Barrier Reef, Taj Mahal, The Great Pyramids and ... Bruges ;-), because of its unique flora and fauna. The rainforest, transitional forests and coastal bushlands are all growing in sand! Just sand ... Amazing. Fraser Island also has many fresh water creeks and even lakes.

We drove from Wanggoolba Creek towards the east coast, through Central Station and Eurong. We were warned it would be a bumpy ride ... Really, you can't imagine. Luckily we were on the exclusive tour, with comfy leather seats and decent suspension which made it bareable. At Eurong we 'hit' the beach! The famous '75 Mile Beach', to be exact. A very broad and very long stretch of white sand, which even made it possible for little planes to land here. It is actually an official part of the Australian highway system, so occasionally the police come down to the beach to check for speeding (yeah right! sunbading!!!).

We drove along '75 Mile Beach' (Sven had to be constantly on the lookout for landing aircraft ;-) towards Happy Valley, a had a little breakie there. Then it was a further drive along the beach towards Eli Creek . The largest fresh water creek on the east coast. One of the many fresh water creeks on this unique sandisland. Some folks went for a swim. We walked around the boardwalk and took in the beautiful scenery.

Our next stop along the beach was the famous Maheno Shipwreck. A luxuery cruiseliner that stranded here in 1935. They even had a wedding in it while it was stranded at the beach ... laying in a 15° angle. (???) After almost 70 years all that is left is this rusty skeleton.

At Cathedral beach we had ourselves an 'Aussie BBQ' and then it was back along the beach, passing the Coloured Sands (a sacred aboriginal site) and we then backtracked towards Eurong and stopped at Central Station for a rainforest walkabout. Then we continued towards Lake Birrabeen. The largest fresh water lake on the island. Where JJ took a dip ;-) We stayed at this marvelous lake for an hour and a half almost. Just soaking up the scenery ... and the sunshine. Beautiful place. A perfect ending to perfect day.

After that is was back to the mainland for a sunset crossing on the dreaded ferry.

Back at Hervey Bay we were smart enough to stock up some food at Woolworths (seeing as there is no decent resto or eaterie in the area) and turn in early.

ciao,
Radica & JJ