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Published: August 30th 2009
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After leaving Noosa we took a two hour drive to Rainbow Beach. A bit of the beaten track but we had two reasons to go there. The first one was Michelle and Danny’s(Michelle’s friends we met in Sydney) sisters were working there, Sinead and Ruth. The second was to visit Fraser Island just off the coast. It was good to meet up again with people from home and have a few drinks. Its not that often we go out so it was good to get out for a few nights. Rainbow Beach itself is a very small town, it has no bar or nightclub, but the hostel the girls worked in had one that stayed open until 10pm. It has a beautiful stretch of beach though(as does all the east coast) so we spent or days relaxing there.
We had two options to get to Fraser Island. One was a self drive for 3 days with 8 others(strangers) or a day tour to see all the main highlights. As time wasn’t on our side we had to go with the day tour which cost around €90 each. It wasn’t cheap but it came with a big bbq that we made
sure we got our monies worth! The island itself is amazing and has a 75mile beach on one side, although it is advisable not to swim in it as there are Bull Sharks and Sting Rays all in the area. The kind that might want to hurt you. The highlight of the trip was to Lake Mackenzie. A fresh water lake surrounded by white soft sand. The water was so clear it was like it was from a tap. We had a swim and although it was cold at the start we got used to it pretty quick. The sand is said to be excellent for cleaning jewellery but not advisable as many rings have disappeared after slipping out of peoples hands. We also got to see and old shipwreck from 1904. The island is also the largest sand island in the world. Strangely it has a dense rain forest that has grown out of the sand and the island is covered in trees. We were hoping to see some dingoes but they have been killing them off as they are dangerous to the people visiting the island. This is where I have a problem. The dingoes were there first
and are at the top of the food chain on the island. They might have a bad reputation, which apparently is unfounded, but this is their island. Dingoes don’t bark either and only howl. I also found the island over run by people and everywhere we went there were too many. You couldn’t enjoy the peacefulness or beauty of it. It is a world heritage site and it is a shame that the Australian government haven’t put stricter controls in place. Maybe their should be a daily limit on the amount of people per day. The day we were there we were told it was a quiet day and we left frustrate at the amount of people there. Also the self guided tours are basically 10 strangers put in a 4 wheel drive and given the freedom of the island. Most would never have driven a 4 wheel drive never mind on sand as there are no roads on the island. It’s sad, as what’s basically happening is you have this beautiful island with some people just running riot. There are places for that and I don’t think this should be one of them. Don’t get me wrong, I would
love to go with some friends for three or four days, see the island, fish and have a few drinks around a bbq in the evening. Its just some treat it as a piss up for three days on a island and couldn’t care less about what they are there to see.
Next up is a trip Airlie beach and a visit to the Whitsunday islands and the Great barrier reef. We fly to Singapore on Tuesday so our days here are numbered.
In a bit. DH
Song of the blog: Oasis - Live Forever (Sad day me thinks)
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Loretta Kelly
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Fraser Island
You go Darren!!!!! You should start a petition! You're damn right. Cant believe ye've so little time left tho! Hi to Michelle!