Fraser Island

Today we visited Fraser Island, an island completely made of sand 175km long and 25km wide. The island has a number of lakes and is covered to a large extent by eucalypt forest and rainforest. As the island is completely formed from sand it is only accessible by 4 wheel drive, consequently our tour bus looked like a converted lorry, with giant tyres (see the picture below)! We started the day on a barge travelling the 10 minutes from Rainbow Beach (where we’re staying) to Fraser Island, and then driving the 30km to our first stop, Lake Mackenzie. The lake is completely filled from rainwater with a number of beaches surrounding it. After taking a dip in the lake (up to our knees!) we headed into the rainforest for a walk along a creek, which runs silently as it runs over sand. Also in the rainforest we saw lots of epiphytes, strangler plants and white trees which strip their own bark! In the afternoon we drove along the beach in our lorry to see a 100 year old shipwreck which sits on the beach – apparently the boat was used as a hospital during WW1. We also saw a dingo (the wild ‘wolves’ that live on the island) eating a fish, which apparently is something we should have been excited about! What we did get excited about was seeing a shark! It came in really close to the shore, so that as the waves rose we could see it swimming just below the surface about 5 metres off the beach. Surprisingly enough swimming off the beaches of the island is not recommended! After our shark encounter we visited a fresh water creek which we waded down before relaxing in the pool at its mouth. Luckily we made it back to our hostel before a horrendous storm that has lasted for the last hour or so – the lightening looked like strobe lights going off every few seconds, and the thunder made Carrie jump every time it sounded! A scary end to the day!