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Big 4 Fraser Resort, Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia. 2263 km

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Australian word of the day: Dummy – a baby’s pacifier. “Don’t lose your dummy” means don’t lose your temper and can be used for adults as well.

We just got back from a magnificent 2 day guided tour of Fraser Island. This is the world’s largest sand island, having formed over millions of years, one grain at a time. The island has a variety of vegetation and wildlife including ancient rain forests and dingos (Asian wolves). There are no paved roads, only sand on the island, so the only vehicles that can manage on the island are 4×4. To get to Fraser Island you take a 30 minute ferry from Hervey Bay.

Two ways to see the island – you can either book a guided tour or rent your own jeep. We checked both options carefully and finally decided to take a guided tour. Pros – guided means someone will tell us what is going on; I don’t need to deal with the hassle of a jeep; everything is taken care of for us including meals. Cons – less freedom to do what we want; Possibility of too big a group of 30 people in a 4×4 bus.

When we arrived at Hervey Bay on Wednesday afternoon the forecast said rains were due for the next few days. It rained all night and on yesterday morning when the transfer bus came to pick us up. How disappointed we were. Our luck changed for the better as we crossed the few km to the island. It appears that the climate on Fraser is completely different than on the mainland and the skies cleared up in honor of our visit. For the next 36 hours not a drop of rain.

Our luck continued to shine as we landed on a good tour – only 6 more people, a great driver/guide, and the aforementioned good weather. The only bummer was our crappy bus, but we’ll get to that later.

We started the tour of the island in a place called Central Station. It is a unique rainforest found nowhere else on earth because it has grown on sand. We did a 2km hike along a nice crystal clear creek. Along the way we saw a goanna (giant lizard), fresh water eels and 2 kookaburras fighting each other in the water. It turns out that these birds, symbols of Australian birds are considered the “bastards of the bush”. They eat the young of other bird species, steal other birds’ nest, never build their own, and also fight each other for no apparent reason.

The hike was easy for Ron but Shir and Orr can only walk a few hundred meters before it’s time for “oopah”. I took one on the shoulders, the other on Paola and slowly we finished the trail. Unfortunately Orr and Shir get jealous of each other. If one is on daddy, the other wants daddy too. If one is walking with mommy, the other wants too. So we had a fair share of crying as well.

We had lunch and all the ensuing meals in Eurong, where we also slept for the night. Food was mediocre at best, buffet style, but we didn’t come with high expectations to begin with.

After lunch we headed north along the sandy eastern shore of the island for 70km. Along the way we spotted a dingo walking along the beach. Dingos are wild dogs, or more scientifically Asian Wolves. They are wild animals that are very controversial because a few years ago a dingo attacked a 10 year old boy and killed him. Ever since signs are posted everywhere for people to beware of dingos and have young children close by. Ron saw the dingo from the safety of the bus while Shir and Orr napped. The grownups got out for some beautiful shots with the ocean in the background.

Speaking of ocean, the sea here is lethal as well and nobody swims in the water. Aside from the strong undertow that can drown you, the waters are infested with unfriendly sharks. Many people do fish here though. And as for swimming, wait till you read about the lakes here.

As we drove up the coast we passed 10s of jeeps, 2 light airplanes and one shipwreck. We reached a rocky headland called Indian Head that has great views of the ocean and the island but since all three of the kids fell asleep only I got to climb up for the view. We returned south and stopped at several nice places including the Maheno shipwreck, a 400ft piece of rust form 75 years ago. Shortly after, our bus made some bad noises and we had to stop. Shir Ron and Orr enjoyed an hour of fun in the sand while we waited to see what is going on. Our knowledgeable guide Patrick, also half mechanic, managed to somehow fix the problem, at least temporarily, and get us into the resort before dark.

At dinner we got to know our tour mates. A newlywed Italian couple from Rome on a 3 week honeymoon in Australia, a Danish mother and daughter traveling for 2 months together before the daughter continues to South America solo, and a newly-met couple that really didn’t communicate at all with us the entire trip.

I got up today at 5am to get some shots of the sunrise. Nice. Even nicer was going back to bed until the kids woke us up at 7. We got a new bus this morning and drove an entire 4km to our first of two lakes for the day. We then hiked 2km through forest then sand dune to get to Lake Wabby, a beautiful oasis of emerald water perched between a steep sand blow and rainforest. The water temperature was just right and we enjoyed a nice dip and rest before hiking out through another path of 2.5km back to the Bus. Again, Orr and Shir were unwilling to walk too much and ended up strengthening Paola’s and my upper body muscles. On the way back to the resort for lunch we spotted another dingo along the beach.

After lunch we switched back to our original bus which had been fixed, or so we thought, and drove to what many consider the highlight of Fraser Island – Lake Mackenzie. It is a beautiful pure water lake surrounded by white sands and forest. The only water coming in is rain water and it can only escape through evaporation. Since there is no interaction with ground water, the water is pure and clear. We spent two hours at the beach which is 98% silica, meaning the dreamy granular white sand you always see in postcards. I don’t remember ever being in a beach with such brilliant sand and water.

The bus ride to the lake and later to the ferry port was interrupted every so often by crunching noises coming from the gear. The gears would randomly decide not to shift and our guide had a rough time getting the bus to move. In the end we made it in time for the ferry, which was running a bit late.

Halfway to Hervey Bay the clouds and rain returned with a vengeance and thunderstorms. Luckily when we got off the ferry the rain stopped and a spectacular 180 degree rainbow over the water bid us farewell.

The kids were all very tired by the time we got back to our RV and campground and were all in bed rather quickly.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 11:32 pm and is filed under Australia, Big Trip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.