Thu 13tf - Fri 14th Sept - Fraser Island.

Picked up at 7:40 in time for the 8:30 ferry over to Fraser. Our tour is being conducted by Brett, a former truck driver who adores his 4WD Unimob Mercedes bus, which has a little stairway which opens at the back of the bus for getting on and off. Landing on the beach, felt a little bit like we were storming the beaches at Normandy. I'm looking forward to seeing the island over the next 2 days. For those who don't know, Fraser Island is an enormous sandbar, measuring 120km by 15km, the worlds largest sand island. Brett gave us a safety speech before letting us out and about, which included a few interesting bits of info. The island is home to 6 of 8 venomous snakes that live in Australia, although hopefully we wont be seeing any of them.

Availed of the opportunity to go on a scenic flight of the island which really gives a fell for the size of the island. I couldn't get over the amount of vegetation which covers the island. Apparently it takes any trees or plants up to 4 times longer than normal to grow here, because of the lack of nutrients in the sand. The vegetation is interrupted by a number of inland freshwater lakes as well as some 'sandblows' which are basically large sand dunes. Unfortunately we didn't spot any marine life from the air.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Happy Valley and then went on to visit Ely Creek and the Moheno Shipwreck. At various points along the beaches here, fresh water literally seeps out of the ground and runs out into the ocean. One of these such places is Ely Creek, the water was pretty shallow (and cold), so I decided just to walk it, up to my knees in the water.

The Moheno has been stranded on Fraser island for 72 years and is gradually decaying. A large chunk of the wreck is below the sand level, with the rudder stuck out on its own with no remnants of the ship in the immediate vicinity.

At the end of day one we paid a visit to the Champagne pools and Indian Head, before heading back to our camp site for dinner. Normally you can see sharks and stingrays in the water from Indian Head, but unfortunately the visibility in the water isn't god at the moment as a result of some stormy weather that hit the week before last. The tents we're staying in are really comfortable, they have floor boards and proper beds, and once the zip is closed it doesn't really feel like you're in a tent at all.

Sitting round at dinner was good craic, our group is made up of an interesting mix of holiday makers (both Australian and International) and a few backpackers. The night ended with a bottle of scotch being consumed by some of us which was produced by Karl, a larger than life South African guy who's here with his wife.

Day 2 was all too short. Up at 6:45 for breakfast, then we headed for Lake Waby, one of the inland freshwater lakes. Getting there involved a 2km walk, first through forest and then up hill through what is probably best described as desert. Most of us went for a swim, which was very refreshing after the walk through the hot sand. After having some time to dry off, we then had another 2.5km walk through hot, soft sand back to the beach to meet Brett and our tour bus before heading on for a picnic lunch.

After lunch we headed to another of the inland lakes, Lake Birabeen which has sand similar to Whitehaven beach in the Whitsundays, i.e very fine white sand. After a swim there, and some more time to dry off, unfortunately we had to head back to catch our barge back to the mainland. Great few days though.