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Published: July 19th 2006
Hello Fraser Island!
Us 2 at Moonpoint Beach as we arrived at Fraser Island.Hello again.......We are extremely sorry that it has been absolutely ages since blogging, you all must be getting fed up with waiting!!! The time over the past couple of months has gone at a lightening speed so we have fell well behind, but do not despair we will continue with our blogging and will be right upto date ASAP.
When we last left you we were on our way to Hervey Bay. Well, after a 5 hour coach trip (with an idiot girl sitting behind us singing the 'La la la Long' song - our worst nightmare come true - yeah thanks to Inner Circle & 'Sweat'!!!) we arrived at 9pm. We were picked up by our hostel minibus. As we had an early start in the morning we sorted our bags out and got an early night (still unable to get the damn song out of our heads!!!)
Tuesday 30th May
We were up at 5.30am (blimey). We stored all our main luggage at the hostel and were picked up by our tour at 7.30am. We had opted for a guided-tour of Fraser Island, as opposed to the Self-drive tours that they promote to backpackers. We
Lake Garawongera
Lake Garawongera, Fraser Island. didn't fancy being put with 10 other strangers and then driving yourselves around the island (plus we had heard some 'shocker' stories!)
So we were picked up in a big green 4 x 4 vehicle which would then take us round for the next 3 days. There were 2 girls on the bus already - Kerrie and Lucy (from Hull) and we started chatting instantly and hit it off. Another guy joined us - Rudi - and then we met a couple at the ferry - Vic & Julie. And that was our group - 7 of us - and our guide Greg.
We boarded the ferry and had about 45 minute crossing to Fraser Island. We sat on the top deck which was very windy but worth the 'windswept' look as we saw dolphins in the water! Just as the ferry was about to dock we all got back on our truck/minibus thing! The drive off of the boat was quite rough but, turned out to be, only a sign of what was to come! We had realised before we went that you could only drive 4 wheel drive vehicles on the Island as its all sand
(the largest sand island in the world) but, we didn't think beforehand about HOW bumpy it would be. We were wearing seatbelts (or else we would have been thrown around everywhere) but it was so bumpy. We were even leaving our seats at certain points! We were in hysterics - therefore, spent most of the morning laughing at the bumpy journey!!!
We stopped first at Moonpoint Beach - a beautiful beach with white sand and clear water (fairly close to where the ferry dropped us). It was like paradise. We had enough time to look around and take it all in and then we headed to Lake Garawongera. It was a huge big basin lake in a beautiful setting. We had time to relax there. People in the group paddled and Karen 'braved' the cold and went in for a swim. The water had a high acidity level - good for cleaning out those pores but I (Karen) felt more scared of what was in it, rather than the benefits to my skin!!! We sunbathed afterwards and went for a stroll!
Next it was time for lunch. We had a lovely buffet style lunch - a nice picnic
in the trees! After lunch, the tour headed to the Rainforest. Our guide stopped and we got off the truck. He explained all the amazing looking and really old trees. Then he drove the truck further and up and let us walk up to meet him - so that we could take it all in better. The colours were amazing & the canopy of the trees meant that it was quite dark and cooler.
Our next stop was Eli Creek. A beautiful freshwater creek. We spent some time here paddling in the creek. We actually walked up and back down the creek (it was knee-deep) but none of us felt brave enough to swim in it (or float down!) We played 'ball' on the beach with Kerrie and Lucy and went for a wander trying to spot whales (with no luck!) Further down the beach we visited the Maheno Shipwreck. It looked amazing. It is practically the whole ship washed up on the beach (half in the sand) - its about 50 years old.
After quite a full day of sightseeing it was time to head back to the Campsite. We were pleasantly surprised when we got there.
Indian Head, Fraser Island.
The beautiful view from Indian Head, Fraser Island. The camp was great. We had big tents all round in a circle with a huge area in the middle. The tents had polished wood flooring at the front and then a seperate zipped bedroom part. It was more luxurious than the hostels we have been staying in!!! There was a large communial tent as well which had a fully equipped kitchen, massive dining table in the middle and outdoor heaters to keep us warm!
We had some time before dinner to enjoy our camp and the dinner was served. The guide prepared and cooked all the meals for us. It was barbequed steak and sausages (yum yum!) We had a great evening with the group. Alcohol was all provided and we all sat around chatting.
Wednesday 31st May
The next day we were up early. The first stop of the day was Indian Head. A spot was superb views. We spent some time sitting on the rocks (right on the edge!) watching the sealife. We could see turtles and sharks and mantarays. After Indian Head we went to the Champagne Pools. There are several pools and large rocks seperate then from the sea. The waves crach
Indian Head, Fraser Island
Jamie, Greg & Kerrie balancing on the edge of Indian Head! over and make the water in the pools bubble like champagne. We had good fun sitting in them for a while.
We then had quite a long (and very bumpy) ride to another part of the Island to Wathumba Creek. It was good because the self-drive tours aren't allowed to this part of the Island so our group were the only ones there. It was so peaceful. We had lunch just after arriving and then we had a couple of hours at the Creek. We went for a walk. There were sandbanks so we walked across to them and there were billions of Soldier Crabs crawling around. There were so many that it was quite freaky! You could actually hear them. They are the only crabs that can go forwards and backwards, as well as sidewards, so they were scuttling everywhere. They looked like little eggs on legs!!!
We walked further down the creek and met up with Greg who was fishing. There were plenty of reels and bait for everyone to have a go - good news for us but not for the poor old fish!!! We had squid as bait so Jamie had the pleasure of
Champagne Pools, Fraser Island
The Champagne Pools are where people are swimming - the waves would crash over the rocks and create bubbles (lovely!) putting that on the hook! I attempted to cast the line but did quite a poor job. Our bait kept being taken by 'Toadies' - tiny fish like a Puffer fish. When I realised that it was a lot harder than it looks I let Jamie carry on. It was quite funny watching him and Kerrie and Lucy trying to throw the lines out. Lucy managed to catch a 'Toadie'. When you take them out the water they blow themselves up. Julie came along and joined in with the fishing. She hadn't done it before at all either. The first time she caught one of the 'Toadies'. There was a hilarious moment when she suddenly decided that it would be good to use the fish as bait for bigger fish, rather than the Squid. So , bearing in mind she had swung the line round several times before throwing it, she swings the line for her second attempt - with the poor little fish hooked onto the bottom. We were all killing ourselves laughing because it just looked so funny and Julie had appeared to be such a quiet, timid lady!!! When she realised that her 'new' bait wasn't doing
Wathumba Creek, Fraser Island
View of the deserted Wathumba Creek. any good she took it out the water. The fish was still on the hook so she started to swing it round again (fast!) On about the third time round the fish just flopped off and slapped on to the sand (we even heard it!) It was such a comedy moment - we still laugh now when we think about it!!!
After all the fishing excitement it was time to leave the Creek. We walked across billions more crabs on the way back and then had the long drive back to camp. Another great meal and an evening spent chatting . We were having such a great time with Kerrie & Lucy (they made us laugh loads).
Thursday 1st June
Our final day of the trip and we were sad it was finishing. Still, we had one more full day left. Another early start and, after breakfast we left the camp for the last time. First we headed to Lake Wabby. We had to walk across a massive sandblow to get to the lake. It looked amazing but was bloody hard to walk across! The lake was beautiful - the banks of it were really high so
What a Pro (Yeah Right!!!)
Karen fishing at Wathumba Creek. we sat towards the top, looking down at the lake. The 2 of us 'wimped' out of swimming so we sat enjoying the view and soaking up some sun. Kerrie & Lucy swam though and made it right across to the other side!
To our relief, we walked back to the truck a different way - through the bush this time. Lunch today was at a restaurant on the Island. All-you-can-eat buffet so that always scores highly with us!!! In the afternoon we visited the Knifeblade Sandblow and then onto Lake Allom to see some turtles and for another chance to dip in some more pure water! After Lake Allom it was time to board the truck for the last time & another long, bumpy drive to the ferry! We were sad on the ferry ride home as it had all come to an end but we saw a beautiful sunset to cheer us up! We had also arranged to meet Kerrie & Lucy in the evening so it wasn't all ending!
We had a fab night out with them both and a welsh girl - Rian (who was staying in their hostel). We met in an english
Gone Fishing!!!
Jamie fishing at Wathumba Creek. bar &, little did we all know when we arranged it, but it was karaoke! Lucy was an excellent singer and wowed us all with her version of 'Son of a Preacher Man'. Kerrie and Jamie also sang (many times!) Jamie got slightly addicted and it was hard to get him to stop putting requests in for himself! When I finally felt like I had had enough 'juice' to help me - they had run out of time so my name didn't get called!!!
The next few days were spent meandering around Hervey Bay. We had another great night out with Kerrie & Lucy and went for a chinese meal - a more sober night! We were really sad to say goodbye to them as we'd had a fab time in their company.
On the Saturday evening we caught the coach to the Town of 1770 - a really small town about 3 1/2 hours away. We stopped at the town purposefully because it was supposed to be cheap to do things - especially compared to the rest of the East Coast. Cheap it was! On our first day we had a free mini tour of the town
Soldier Crabs!!!
The 'weird' Soldier Crabs at Wathumba Creek! (well its just small so it didn't take long!) As there was so many people on the tour, Jamie had to drive a Jeep with the extra people in (that didn't fit in the truck!) He was happy! In the afternoon we went on a 'Scooteroo' Tour. It was brilliant. About 30 people all had a 'mini' bike each - either a chopper or a scooter. We both opted for mini Harley's but there was only one left so Jamie kindly had a scooter! The very eccentric guide (Rod) then drove us around 1770 in a huge long line. We stopped on the way to see wild kangaroo's. After a couple of hours we made it to the beachfront where Rod had pre-ordered everybodys potato wedges with sour cream & sweet chilli sauce (an Aussie favourite). So we all sat eating our wedges with a beer and watching the sunset!
The following morning we got up early and headed to the local surfshop. We were due to have surf lessons as long as 2 more people turned up. We were lucky - exactly 2 more arrived so the 4 of us went to the beach for some super cheap
lessons ($16.50 each for nearly 4 hours!) It was great - once we got past the initial struggles of carrying the boards anyway! We had the practical lesson given to us on the beach by our old surfer 'dude' teacher. He looked about 70 but claimed he was 48! He was good though and very thorough (very spiritual too). After half an hour or so it was our turn! It was so difficult. Our guide was helping us to catch the waves by giving us a bit of a push so it made it easier. Karen managed to stand up first time and looked like an old pro! (Jamie) Not quite! (Karen) Jamie suffered a rather nasty finger injury as he bent it right back when he was trying to stand up. He sulked for the rest of the lesson and never quite picked it up! Afterwards his finger had turned a nice shade of blue and had swollen to twice its size - so maybe he was right to sulk!!! Overall though we had a great time - we were in the water for about 4 hours so it was well worth it. We even got given surf stickers
"A Dingo Stole My Baby"!!!
...and ate it!!! Dingo on Fraser Island (75 Mile Beach). and certificates at the end!!!
That evening we left 1770 (on the very late coach) and went to Rockhampton - 'Rocky' as its known here. We were using it as a stopover really as we had some time to spare. We stayed for 3 days but we didn't do a great deal. We had a look at the old Customs House (a very nice building) and went to the free Botanic Gardens and Zoo (only free Zoo in Australia apparently!) We saw a snake show there and one of the Carpet Pythons bit the lady doing the display and drew lots of blood. It was quite scary at the time but very amusing (tehre was panic in the crowd!) After the show we had a coffee in the cafe at the Botanic Gardens and got attacked by sugar-addicted Rainbow Lorikeets! They were scary - they weren't scared of humans at all and kept coming right at us to steal the sugar off of our saucers. They were addicted to sugar - they had it all round their beaks and they would do anything to get it!!!
On our last day in Rockhampton (Thursday 8th June) we were walking
Knifeblade Sandblow, Fraser Island.
The amazing Knifeblade Sandblow (its always moving and we could see it moving at the end - fascinating!) in town and bumped into Mick & Morgan purely by chance (the couple that we met in the Blue Mountains) It was great because we had kept in touch and had been followin each other up the East Coast but had never actually managed to meet up. This was our last chance as they were trying to get work and we were meeting mum & dad the following week. What good timing!!! The 2 of us were going for a Steak dinner later on anyway (Rockhampton is the Beef Capital of Australia so we thought we should eat some Beef there!) so we invited them along. The 4 of us had a lovely meal and it was great to catch up. We then left Rockampton at the stupid hour of 3am!!!
On the Friday morning, after a long and smelly journey on the coach (packed full of sleeping backpackers!) we arrived in Airlie Beach. The weather was awful in Airlie - it rained a lot. The Welsh girl who we had met in Hervey Bay (with Kerrie & Lucy) was staying at our hostel with her brother (Gareth) & best friend from home (Katie). It was nice to catch
Fraser Island Company
Jamie, Lucy, Kerrie & Julie and our 'truck' about to leave Fraser Island. up with her and it turned out that they were on our one day sailing trip of the Whitsundays that we did on the Sunday. We had a really good laugh with them. We explored Airlie Beach in between downpours of rain! It was a nice place and we liked it a lot. The Saturday evening was England's first World Cup match so we watched that in a packed-out bar which was fun. The sailing trip on the Sunday was amazing. It started off with rubbish rainy weather so we all sat on the deck with attractive big, bright yellow raincoats on (Captain Bridseyes' minus the beards!!!) but it brightened up later on in the day and, by the time we got to Whitehaven Beach, we had bright sunshine. Our boat was fantastic. It was called the Maxi Ragamuffin and was one the fastest sailing yachts - it had won the America's Cup on two occasions. The sailing was brilliant, although us 2 were downstairs changing jackets when the boat leant over to the side (when it is at its fastest) so we were completely unprepared and could barely stand up to make it back upstairs! Once we were safely
back on deck, the damage was done and Jamie had to dash downstairs to be sick!!! He felt fine again afterwards (he looked a very peculiar shade of green though!) and, once we got used to the boat, we loved it. We stopped for lunch at Whitehaven Beach was amazing - clear blue water and pure white sand. It was so picturesque. It was a brilliant day and the crew were really good.
On the Monday (12th June) we left Airlie Beach and headed to Townsville where, in 2 days time, we were due to meet the parents (Yipee!)....................................................................
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Loulabelle
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About time!
Great to get another blog... finally! However, your timing wasn't so great. Reading about your fab adventures while I'm sat in a non-airconditioned office on the hottest day of the year writing about timber gridshells is NOT FUN! All sounds wonderful though and I'm glad (albeit seething with jealousy) that you're having such a good time! Take care of yourselves and speak soon. x x