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Published: January 22nd 2006
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Fraser Island
Isn't it gorgeous? Almost half way point
Away hundred fifty days
Where does the time go?
I can't believe that I've been travelling around for the last 150 days as of today. Seems just like yesterday I was scrambling around getting my bags all packed up and rushing to the airport!
To celebrate (okay it wasn't intentional...just coincidence!) I booked myself a one day guided tour to Fraser Island. Most people opt for a three day self guided tour where you're paired with up to 9 other people, get food and camping gear and discover Fraser Island on your own. Camping under the stars could potentially sound like fun but I hear a lot of the time these things turn into one big booze fest. The one day tour I signed up with Kingfisher had the potential for a maximum of 24 people on tour.
As it turned out there were only three of us on tour. Including our tour guide Alan, that made four of us. It seemed kind of silly to take a big 4x4 bus so we were upgraded to a 4x4 Pajero 5-seater vehicle which was a really smooth ride. Being in a smaller vehicle enabled us
Bon at the Pinnacles on Fraser Island
I'm actually wearing shorts..seemed a little weird after wearing long pants for so many months. BTW, like the t-shirt tan? to change our tour schedule a bit. Bonus!
It was like being on a personalized tour. My two tour mates were Norbert and Julie of Southern New South Wales. They were an older couple but were pretty easy to talk with especially since Julie will talk about anything and Norbert was a bit cynical so that was always good for a bit of a laugh.
To get to Fraser Island we caught the first ferry with all of the Kingfisher Bay Resort employees! It only took me about 5 minutes to realize everyone was wearing the same thing! lol The three of us sat opposite two women and started chatting. It turned out that Louise started working with Kingfisher Bay Resort just last week. Previously she had worked on Kangaroo Island near Adelaide and gave me some pointers for my visit there. She's originally from Tasmania so she told me all about Tasmania as well. It's too bad I will not get a chance to go to Tasmania since it's supposed to be really nice there. Mind you at this time of year it would probably be pretty cold. Chatting really helped to pass the time because it
didn't seem like 45 minutes to cross the waters to Fraser Island!
Once docking we walked from the pier through a little garden and up to the Kingfisher Bay Resort for morning tea. The muffins were really moist and tasty but the coffee extremely weak - let’s just say it looked like tea! During our tea break our guide Alan proposed a bit of a change to our tour. We were pretty agreeable since he knows the island better than we did. lol He kept making it sound like it was a big secret between us. We ended up driving along 75 mile beach (officially designated highway and also used as a runway) up North to Indian Head where it was a short climb up for a spectacular look into the waters. We were hoping to spy some humpback whales. We weren't so lucky but did see some stingrays. We also checked out a large, clear fresh water creek called Eli Creek. We stopped to go on a little walk and saw some people jump into the cold waters of the shallow creek and float on down to the mouth. Another stop was at the Maheno shipwreck. It was interesting to see the decaying ship. We also took a few walks through Central Station (where forestry camps were set up in years past) and Pile Valley (A walk through the rainforest. Who knew Norbert was such a horticultural expert/know-it-all?) We also went to the large fresh water lake, Lake Mackenzie. There were lots of other tours checking out the lake as well. We stopped here for afternoon tea...this time fancy pastries!
Oh yes, forgot to mention the amazing buffet lunch at the Eurango resort. Pretty posh and fancy and even included a free wine or beer! Of course I opted for a coke instead. 😊 They had fancy salads, fruit, cheese, quiche, chicken, pasta and grilled veggies.
There are no roads per se on Fraser Island but there are a lot of dirt tracks that have enough space for one vehicle yet are used for two way traffic. We didn't encounter much traffic ourselves but with all of the self drive vehicles let loose on the island, you can probably imagine how hairy it can get out there. Alan was telling us that the previous week one of the 4x4 buses and a jeep had a head on. The bus was able to stop but Alan didn't divulge the outcome. I didn't ask either for fear the outcome was not so nice. The roads reminded me of the bumpy roads of Cambodia except for the fact we didn't have to weave back and for as much.
We caught the 5PM ferry back to Hervey Bay and lo and behold who did we see but Louise again! So we told her all about our day. The tides were low so we had to take the long route back to shore. A long day but it was well worth it to check out the shores of Fraser Island especially since we had the bonus of seeing some stuff usually reserved for two and three day tours.
I forgot to mention a few interesting facts about the World Heritage listed Fraser Island. It is the World's largest sand island (stretching 120 km at its longest point and 30 km at its widest point) that is home to an amazing rainforest. Fraser Island is also home to Australia's purest population of wild dingoes that roam freely about the island. Apparently Fraser Island is home to over 300 species of birds, duongs (not sure what those are!), turtles and dolphins...not that I saw many examples!
I'm really glad to have joined a guided tour since going on a self guided tour I would have missed out on a lot of history, stories and information about Fraser Island. Mind you going on a self guided tour would have been a different sort of fun. 😊
Oh yes, I must share my favourite question from inquisitive Norbert...
"What's that tree over there with the green foliage called?"
At the time he we were amongst a bunch of trees at the edge of the rainforest. It turned out that the tree he was referring to was a mango tree.
I didn't end up getting home until about close to 7PM so I decided to make a trip to the supermarket before dinner because I wanted some snacks for the coming days bus journeys and wanted to get to Woolworth's before it was too late. On the walk home the one day past Full Moon was really close to the horizon and therefore looked quite amazingly huge and orange. Doh! Of all times I decide to leave my camera behind! So I just enjoyed the moon for what it was since as I got closer to the hostel the smaller the moon became. The photo probably wouldn't have turned out that well anyway since I don't have a tripod for my camera.
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