Fraiser island

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Didnt have as good a sleep as the first overnight bus to arlie beach but thats because our bus landed in Hervey Bay, Fraiser island at 6:50am, wayyyy to early. The bus dropped us off at a bus terminal and ten minutes later our bus to take us to frasier island appeared. we got lucky that our overnight bus wasnt late and that our pick up bus wasnt early.

We got on the bus and for a bit went around picking up other people from their accommodations. We then got to a barge with a huge ferry that carried heaps of people along with private cars. I made friends with a guy from Sweden and sat with him for the hour long ride as the girls went on the top deck and sat there. It was interesting to talk to him and hear of his journey, he seemed to be making it up as he went along.

We got to the island and were told to find our color coded group, we were white and found the guy with the white t-shirt. We put our stuff under the bus and boarded. We sat in the last row with some people from germany and italy.

Our bus was a 4-wheel drive. They told us we should probably put our seat belts on bc he was going to go about 80k through the island which was pretty fast considering the bumpy terrain. I figured it would be more of an adventure without my seatbelt.

On our way our driver informed us that they have a woody forest along with a more tropical rainforest. You can actually watch as it changes from woody pines to more traditional rainforest vegetation. Kinda cool actually.

Our first stop was Lake McKenzie were we got some time to walk down to the lake, go in if we so wished and walk around a bit. I decided to ignore the idea of going in the water once i realized how freakishly cold it was. I walked around in anticipation of seeing some wildlife; aka a dingo or turtles. I didnt see either. However I did see some fish which is pretty significant because fish are very rare on the lake. The lake has a high acidity level so fish dont usually get bigger than two inches... i saw some 5 inchers! HAh.


Here are some Fraser Island Facts: Fraser Island , the largest sand island in the world, was inscribed in the World Heritage List in 1992 in recognition of its outstanding universal value as: An outstanding example representing significant ongoing geological processes and biological evolution and, An example of superlative natural phenomena. The massive sand deposits that make up the island are a continous recod of climatic and sea level changes over the past 700,000 years. The islands towering dunes, beautiful lakes, crystal clear watercourses, patterned fens, and surprised variety of vegetation types growing on sand, including impressive areas of rainforest, all contribute to its World Heritage status.

After Lake McKenzie we got back on the bus to drive to a location to look at some trees and the most famous fern in the world. We got off at Wanggoolba Creek where he pointed out some different trees (you can see two different types in the pict to the right). The one tree on the left which has woody bark smells like molassas. The tree on the right was used as polls on a ship for the sails. The trees are very straight and useful for that purpose.

The image on the right is a picture of the well known, biggest king fern ever. It holds the guiness book of world records for this fact. We were told about it before we saw it and well, i thought it would be a bit bigger. But none the less, its pretty cool.


We then kept walking in the forest a bit until we came out to where we started. On the way I got a cool image of river bed and trees (R). You would look in the stream and it looked like you were just looking at sand. You really couldnt see the water bc it was soo clear. It was kinda amazing.

Once we escaped the forest path and came to the bus agin he pointed out the different layers of the island. At one side of the island the sand is white where as on the other side the sand is yellow. This is because the yellow sand is filled with metal which has rusted, turning it yellow. As the sand makes its way across to the other side of the island it is purified and used by nutrient seeking plants. The sand is mostly comprised of quartz grains (silica) at 98% with less than two percent being other minerals such as rutile and zircon.

The island consists of Coastal heaths, eucalypt forests, rainforest, and wallum heath lands.


Here is a picture of the layout of the island and you can see its size.

Before getting on the bus I snapped a photo of a fern basket (remember them from cape trip?). Cept this one is way big.


And an image of the sign warning against dingos!
"A dingo stole my baby!"






Next stop was lunch where we went to the central station for a good meal. It was buffet style and they had heaps of food. It was such an improvement from the cruise food. I seriously ate 3 plates of food and probably only stopped bc we were going to miss the bus. God i can be such a fatty sometimes. hahahaa.

Next was a long drive on the "seventy five mile beach". This beach is a most amazing beach highway where all road rules apply, the speed limit is 80k and you must give way to airplanes landing and taking off. Spot the birds of prey and sea birds that make their home on the east coast and keep an eye out for dingoes. the fishing is excellent, but the strong undertow and sharks make it unsafe for swimming.

We saw some wales as we went. It was pretty sweet, going 100k on the beach. Things we saw included coffee rock, named not because thats where coffee comes from, but rather because when you break off a piece it crumbles like coffee.

It was cool, from the beach you could really see the sand dunes. It amazes me that a whole island is made from sand and not washed away.


We drove for a bit and then came upon the Coloured sands- comprised of 72 different colours, mostly reds and yellows. the colours are caused by the leaching of oxides that coat each grain of sand, causing bands of colour.
While most of the sand that makes up Fraser Island has come from the far south-east of Australia, some of it has traveled for thousands of kilometers and millions of years from Antarctica, stating its journey before Australia and Antarctica split from each other.









The yellow sand practically matches my yellow shirt!

Next stop was the Maheno Shipwreck: Build in scotland in 1905, the luxury cruise ship Maheno sailed between Sydney and Auckland. She was one of the first turbine-driven steamers and one of the fastest ships of her time, setting a record for the quickest crossing of the Tasman in 1907 (2 days 21 hours). During WWI she was commissioned as a hospital ship in Europe and also served in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. After the war the Maheno was recommissioned as a cruise ship. On July 8,1935 while being towed to Japan for scrapping, the Maheno was struck by an out of season cyclone and washed ashore. During WWII the wreck was used for air force target practice and by Z Force special unit who practiced planting limpet mines on her prior to the raid on Singapore Harbor.









When i uploaded the photos, alyssa saw the one with me inside the ship. She was a bit put off to know that I went inside when it had a Danger do not go inside sign. But i didnt go inside, I just had some stranger stick the camera through a port hole while i stuck my head through.

Our next stop was Eli Creek; which flows on to seventy five mile beach at a rate of about 4.2 million litres of water every hour. It is the largest fresh water creek on the east coast of Fraser Island and popular for swimming.

We were told we had some time to either go in it or walk on the board walk next to it. We walked one way on the board walk and then decided that even though it was a bit cold it didnt come up too high on us so we braved it out for the sake of the idea that we would never have an opportunity to do it again.

L: the creek facing the pacific ocean.

R: Anu and Alyssa in the creek facing away from the ocean.





We finally boarded the bus for the very last time while we were entertained with stories and passing wildlife. On our way we saw something I had been keeping my eyes pealed for all day....a DINGO!!!!!

This was very exciting.

Some stories we were told:

" European History: Fraser Island was first sighted by Captain James Cook in 1770 while traveling up the east coast of Australia, Cook named the island "great sandy peninsula" in the mistaken belief that it was connected to the mainland. In 1799 Matthew Flinders in the 'Norfolk' explored parts of Hervey Bay and discovered the peninsula was, in fact, an island. In 1836 Captain James Fraser on the brig 'Sterling Castle' was wrecked at the Swain's Reef, north of Fraser island. The survivors traveled south in a life boat and eventually found themselves marooned on Fraser Island. Of them, only Eliza Fraser, the wife of Captain Fraser, survived. Europeans named the island after Captain James Fraser. "

"Logging History: Logging was stated on Fraser Island in 1863 by 'Yankee Jack' Piggott and continued until December 1991 when the island was nominated for World Heritage listing, the first trees taken by the loggers were kauri pine, hoop pine and cypress pine. In the early 1900's hardwood species such as tallwood, blackbutt and brush box were targeted. In 1925 satinay became the major timber logged on the island after it was found to be resistant to marine borer and became popular for use in marine conditions around the world. "

"Aboriginal History: The Butchulla people are the indigenous peple of Fraser ISland. the tribal lands of the Butchulla extended from Burrum River in the north, south to Cooloola National Park and west to Mount Bauple. The Butchulla peoples name for Fraser Island was K'gari, pronounced Gurrie, which means paradise. "

Once we got back to the Ferry we boarded and all huddled in the one dry enclosed area bc it was raining. I slept on the floor as we made the journey. It was soo crowded, i felt like an immigrant making a long journey. We got to the mainland and had to find our bus. Anu and Alyssa started boarding the wrong bus so I grabbed them before getting on the proper bus. The driver dropped us off at Hervey Bay again. On the ride we were told how this one couple had booked the wrong trip, and didnt get to see the destination of their honeymoon that they had years and years ago. It was a bit sad.

At Hervey Bay we had to sit around for hours till our bus came in at 1:30am. We went to the shops so that Anu could use the computer for an hour. I walked around and then sat down to figure out what to get everyone for xmas. At around 7pm we went to subway for dinner- meatball sub and cookies. After dinner I had to use the bathroom and totally not paying attention walked into the handicapped, walked out of the handy capped and walked into the mens room, walked out of the mens and into the womens (how incompetent am i?). We sat there for a while in subway until we figured we had been there long enough and then anu went to take a nap and we tried to get Alyssa some lip balm. The shops closed minutes bf we got there. I sat with Alyssa and wrote postcards until a guy from Canada came to wait and we chatted. The bus finally came at 1:30am and I was soo ready for it so that I could sleep.