A whole lotta sand...

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Back on the road. Stuck around Cairns for quite a while (almost 2 weeks in the area), but have finally prised myself away, and flew down to Brisbane just over a week ago, intending to use the city as a base for visiting the nearby by natural features of The Great Sandy National Park, namely the everglades around Noosa and Fraser Island, the worlds largest sand island.

As the name implies, there is indeed more sand than you could possibly imagine in one place, Fraser Island itself allegedly containing more than the Sahara Desert. It manages to get everywhere; vehicles, clothes, food, bodily crevaces, nothing is left free of sand.

I spent 3 days on Fraser Island, a very beautiful place that i wish i had a few more days to enjoy. Along with 9 others, i went on a self-drive camping trip. Driving along the beach was sweet - although i was the first person to succeed in getting the vehicle stuck in sand. Damn. Never mind.

The islands highlights, as from the haribo loving dingos, were Eli Creek (named for my buddy), a beautiful clear creek along which you could drift on your back, looking up at the blue sky through the trees), on its way to the sea. Despite the sizable and slightly scary eels, this was a joy. The islands acknowledged highlight was Lake McKenzie, a 'perched lake' (above sea level), and one of the most pure sources of water in the world. A quick swim in the totally clear waters made you feel like you had a shower complete with soap and shampoo - in no way should this affect your perception of my masculinity, but my skin did feel softer after leaving the lake.

The trip was generally good times, the group was good, and camping was uncomfortable but fun. A late night walk along the beach to the shipwreck (i forget its name) was entertaining.

I then moved on to Noosa for a canoe trip along Upper Noosa River through the everglades. The area was beautiful, but the group was comprised of fairly lazy people who had never been near a canoe, and a total of 3 and a half hours of actual canoeing was all they fancied doing. Such is life. The trip was good none the less, and i saw a snake swim past my canoe, which was pretty sweet.

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