Advertisement
Published: June 28th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Dingo Spotting
This is not a cute dog. It is a wild animal. And unlike a normal wild animal, when it sees a car, it will run up to it - "Keep driving Sidd!" I fully agree with the old adage,
“you are only as old as you feel” - on some days, you feel like you can easily conquer Everest, and on others, it is an effort to even get out of bed! Sidd’s maternal grandmother is a testament to this saying and the belief that one should always stay young at heart. At the spry age of 84, Baa travelled from India to Australia to spend some time with her grandkids in both Sydney and Brisbane - and by herself! Despite some terrible weather, we had a great time showing her, Kavita and Yagnesh around Brisbane and were treated to some wonderful home-cooked Indian food (including tons of rotis to freeze). We also had a blast lawn bowling, a great activity for everyone, although I think Baa enjoyed kicking the balls back to the starting point more than the actual bowling!
Shortly after Baa’s visit, Sidd and I headed off to Fraser Island, a world heritage listed site located about 300 km north of Brisbane. The island is about 120 km long and has beautiful crystal clear lakes and lush rainforests. There are few sealed roads and travel is done at low
Our Little 4WD
Stubby Stu Senior. Small but gets the job done. tide on the beach, or through very rough sand roads. Unfortunately, Fraser Island is surrounded by treacherous, shark-infested waters which does not make for good swimming and has been the resting ground for many a ship. But the more real danger for tourists on Fraser Island are the dingos…
Sidd had been to Fraser Island a few years back and while he had enjoyed his trip, he commented that he didn’t like camping on the beach as he was scared of the dingos. Given that Sidd is afraid of all dogs, including tiny fluffy lap dogs, I scoffed and told him that he was being a wimp -
“how can you be afraid of a dingo?” However, on the short ferry ride over to Fraser Island, I noted that there were signs warning tourists to walk in groups of at least 2 or more and to ensure that “smaller adolescents” not be allowed to walk alone. Sidd immediately lumped me into the “smaller adolescent size” and laughed that I would be eaten by a dingo. Clearly I should expect no protection from Sidd…
There is a saying in Australia:
“A dingo ate my baby!” and sadly, there is
"Road" to the Ferry
You have to remember to lock your wheels and put the car in 4WD. some truth to it. While there are over 400 documented dingo attacks on Fraser Island, most are thankfully minor incidents, although there have been some casualties involving younger children. The blame lies with well-meaning tourists. There are many reasons why you
don’t feed wild carnivorous animals - it makes the animals reliant on humans, more likely to root through garbage and generally disrupts the natural order of the food chain. More importantly, it also makes the animal more aggressive and less afraid of humans!
After driving for a short time on the beach, we encountered our first dingo. Quite excited, I rolled down my window and told Sidd to slow down so I could get a photo. Leaning out, I was shocked when the pair of dingos (much larger than expected and grinning with sharp, pointy teeth) started running
towards the
moving car! Giving me a meaningful look, Sidd gunned the engine and asked,
“Still want to camp on the beach?” I didn’t respond, scanning the map for a campsite protected by dingo fences…
That night, feeling somewhat emboldened by a few bottles of wine, we strapped on our headlamps and decided to try venture outside of the
PB n' Banana
Sidd fixing us some lunch while on the 10 min. ferry ride. protective dingo fence for a walk along the beach. The sky had finally cleared and the stars were bright in the sky. Battling some uneasiness, we made it all of 50 metres. Then we bolted back, admitting defeat and retreating behind the safety of the fence…
“who’s afraid of dingos? Oh right… I am.” Fortunately, we did not have any further encounters with dingos during our stay on Fraser Island, despite cooking on the beach (what great views!) and staying the second night at a campsite without a dingo-fence (we camped really close to a large tour group for protection). Although it was quite chilly at night and the lakes were generally too cold for prolonged swimming, our trip to Fraser Island was fantastic. Sidd loved pushing our little Suzuki Sidekick to its limits on the rough sand roads and I found it a paradise for photos, particularly the Maheno Ship Wreck. It was also good fun to drag random pieces of driftwood into the surf for photos!
As we were waiting for the ferry to pick us up, I found myself staring at a sign warning that there was an aggressive dingo in the area. I pointed
Eagles
We spotted a pair of these massive birds from a distance on the beach. They were munching on the fish (next pic). it out to Sidd and our first thought was the same -
“so why don’t they shoot it?” Must be a streak of the redneck Albertan coming out?
Advertisement
Tot: 0.538s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 11; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0658s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb