Greetings from the largest sand island in the world!

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If I say propeller aircraft does that fill you with horror? If the answer is no then it’s the same for me ! How good is that ? For those that know me well that is a huge move forward . My second flight from cairns to where I am now was on a smallish propeller plane from Brisbane that took us down the coast over an amazing coastline. And what is more fantastic , I was able to look and take pickies admittedly the bleedin camera has this blur in the middle which I will try and have sorted ( does anyone have an idea what it might be ? is it terminal?!). But you will get the feeling. Arriving on the island by catamaran after a long day and a very early start was something else. While my first impressions were not entirely positive as the resort was teeming with people , with not an inch to spare , I later learnt that this destination is very popular with the locals who come out for the day to this Eco - friendly world heritage first class resort - and it was a Saturday evening.

Fraser island is off the middle coast of Queensland and is the largest sand island in the world ( another first for me !) it is about 125 kms long and 15 kms wide and is home to a huge range of mammals , birds, wild dingoes, snakes, insects, tropical forests and one or two rather nice young knowledgeable biologists, It sells itself as a conservation and Eco friendly resort and as such prides itself on the educative element of what it provides . So I walked the beaches learning about marine shore life with hunky oz rangers ( that was hard!) listened to the history of the local protected dingoes, braved the insect infested mangroves and learned about the local aborigine tribe and about the more recent logging history of the island. . It is a lovely place , idyllic in the extreme. .

I booked a tour that took us to the Island’s major attractions ,we went in an amazing 4 wheel drive coach driven by yet another desirable ranger who was heroic in the extreme and an ex snake catcher!. There are no tarmac roads (except those around the resort) just sandy windy tracks with huge ruts and wealds that rocked the coach from side to side touching the trees - "OH MY GOD" how many times have I written this on my travels - too many I fear. The terror for me was almost as bad as the scenic sky rail . The driver told us when to expect the coach to reel and on what side so we wouldn’t bang our heads on the windows!!! We encountered several smaller 4 wheel drives that couldn’t make the hilly dunes and needed assistance to get them going - you get the picture!! I learned later that a group of inexperienced japanese tourists had hired a small 4 wheel vechicle the day before and had had a rather nasty accident turning the car over which killked one of them and badly injured the 3 others. it turns out that none of them were wearing seat belts. I saw it reported on the local news and truly horrible it looked. If i had seen it before I had boked the day I probaly woulnt have gone.

Still our ranger /driver/Guide was very experienced and we drove on the sandy foreshore of the pacific along 75 mile beach which was wonderful and where if you launched a boat the next stop would be the coast of South America some 15000 kms away. This beach seems to be the M25 of Fraser Island as there were quite a few of us racing up and down.- jeramy Clarkson beware! We visited the Pinnacles where wind sea and rain erosion had produced beautiful coloured striations in the rock and walked around the wreck of the cruise liner Maheno which went aground in the early 1930s. Finally we swam in one of Fraser islands beautiful fresh water lakes set in a natural dent in a large dune some 70 metres above sea level. All making for a most memorable day

The resort itself isnt quite as spectacular , as i think the accalades portrayed but neverthe less another great stay and i got to sample emu, kangaroo and crocodile but perhaps not again eating the animals that is!

Tomorrow I make my way to Noosa which is south about 200kms and which I understand is a very trendy upmarket place so thats going to be difficult ! And then its to mark and tans on 19th for Christmas where Jules et al will come too. looking forward to that immensley

love caro
xx

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Photos

the track from the coach
this does not really tell it as it was!

75 mile beach
the traffic was awlful!

Comments

[patricia]

Eating habits .....
Another great blog - keep up the good work!! All settling down with my emotions here......and am off to eat kangaroo and crocodile at Maribels - she also does a good ostrich in mushroom sauce but really allthose meats are available here in thevalley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now isn't that a surprise...... have a hapy travel to Sydney. xxxxHugs and love as usual

[Jenny Tedd]

Well done Caro
I'm very impressed with your bravery re: prop plane Caro. I remember the trip back from Islay, enough said, well done. And, all I want for Christmas is an Aussie ranger - no, Nige will do very nicely xxxx