After saying goodbye to Brisbane we headed north to Hervey Bay and found a great little caravan park to stay in called Colonial YHA which not only had a pool but a hot tub as well! After visiting the Information to get info on our Fraser Island adventure and to the bottle-o we headed to the caravan park, set up and booked a luxury hummer day tour of Fraser Island for the next day. The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming and in the hot tub followed by dinner and drinks.
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| The Ferry we had to get to Fraser Island |
Next morning up early we packed a bag and waited for our hummer to pick us up for our Fraser Island Trip. We were met by Peter our tour guide and driver for the day. He was kind and introduced us to our hummer and 2 other tourists who were from Japan. We then set off to the ferry where us and a lot of coaches (40 people plus) and other 4WD (groups of 15) were also going across.
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| The view from the ferry |
We got on the top deck and looked at the beautiful Ocean and the landscape of the islands around us. Me and Neil were glad we only had 4 of us in our tour group but were a little worried we would bump into these huge coaches on the island. Once we arrived at the island were quickly escorted by Peter to the Hummer and were one of the first cars to drive of.....
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| The roads..... |
The drive is bumpy as the whole place is a sand island and is the biggest sand island in the world. Peter's expert driving and the brillant Hummer made light work of the bumps and we headed into Cental Station (the rainforest part of the island).
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| Peter our guide and some of the huge trees int he rainforest |
We hopped out and Peter took us for a little tour and nature walk – wish we'd known about this as we started to get eaten by flying insects immediately. He gave us some background on the history of the island – how it was the only place in the world where Satinays grow (a type of tree that was used all over the world, including London docklands, as it resists water rot) and is the only place in the world where rainforest grows in the sand due to a type of fungus in it. Logging stopped in the 90's and it was only made a world heritage site in 1992. We saw lots of different trees and birds, including some sort of rare parrot and goannas and skinks (lizards). Peter left us to take the hummer up to the other side of the nature trail and left us to find our way through on our own. We wandered up this tiny trail, occasionally getting scared by things making noises and falling out of trees and getting thoroughly munched on by the little flying insects.
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| In the rainfores the invisable creek |
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| Me and the Hummer |
We got the the other side and had to wait for the Japanese couple to catch up before we drove off up a side road and Peter set up for our morning tea. This was very civilised as we drank tea and ate cake around a little table, chatting with everyone about what we'd done so far.
After this we were off up onto the beach for a drive north. The beach is actually part of the Australia road network and had speed limit signs on it and stuff. We sped up the sand with no bother, Peter obviously knew the terrain very well so we felt quite safe as he bowled over the creeks and sand dunes.
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| The 75 mile beach |
We stopped at the shipwreck of the S.S.Maheno. This looked very cool and was incredibly photogenic. Over three storeys of the ship is under sand and it is extremely rusted.
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| The Shipwreck |
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| 75 different shades of sand |
We spent some time here and took loads of photos then it was back in the hummer to visit a creek where we changed into our swimmers and paddled up it.
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| Paddle in the creek |
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| Another warning on the Dingo |
We then headed over to a quiet spot for lunch where we had amazing views of the sand dunes and then had a luxury lunch of rolls, cakes, homemad bicuits and rock along with fresh fruit and beer and wine.
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| Lunch is served.... |
After drinking a lot of wine and beer we packed away and headed to Lake Mckenzie for the rest fo the afternoon. When we arrived I literally ran to the Lake (full of excitement) and then saw the most amazing sand 99% silica and the clearest, bluest Lake I have ever seen.
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| The photo of Lake Mckenzie does not do justice to the reality |
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| Neil looks younger already! |
We jumped straight in the water and swim, paddled and chilled out. The water is crystal clear and due to it being freshwater lake it is slightly acidic and means nothing lives on the water. It also is suppposed to have qualities in the water that are meant to keep you looking younger, like a fountain of youth.
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| Me sad to leave |
I had the best afternoon there and when Peter came to call us back I was very sad to leave Lake Mckenzie
but it did make me feel better when we got to have champagne, strawberries and chcolate truffles by the Lake before we headed back to the ferry. When we got to the ferry we were a little late and so everyone was already on the boat, however we were not the last to arrive so while we were waiting we were Dingo watching and managed to see one before we left. We returned back to Hervey Bay and said bye to Peter who was the best guide we had had on any trip we had been on and being so tired out we chilled that evening with some beers.
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| Sunset on the way back home |
Next morning we spent the morning around Hervey Bay before setting off again.
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| Beach at Hervey Bay |
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| Windy at Hervey Bay |
Big THANK YOU to the Corrigan's for there generous present to Fraser Island it was one of the best days we have had on the trip. Postcard on it;s way to you.
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| Champagne and Strawberries...the way the other half live! Thank you Corrigan's! |
Day 7 and 8 Hervey Bay and Fraser Island
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