FRASER ISLAND, AUSTRALIA
We began the day with another talk from Crocodile Chris, who gave us instructions for driving a 4WD through heavy sand, as well as how to extricate ourselves if we get bogged. He then played us a rather sobering video of news footage about recent 4WD fatalities on the island (tons of people visit, so there are a lot of accidents). We then loaded up our beaten-up white Toyota Land Cruiser and drove to the ferry, which took us on a 30-minute trip to Fraser Island.
A bit of background: Fraser Island, at 120 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide, is the world's largest sand island, supposedly containing more sand than the Sahara Desert (although I'm a bit skeptical about that last part). In addition to big sand dunes and nice white beaches, though, it also has some extensive forests and more than 200 freshwater lakes. It's also home to lots of wild critters, most famously dingoes (Australia's wild dogs, introduced from Indonesia thousands of years ago). The dingoes on Fraser are considered the most genetically "pure" in Australia, as they haven't interbred with domestic dogs as they have in other parts of the country.
On arriving on Fraser, we made our way on sandy trails through the forest to our first stop, Lake McKenzie. It was a rough ride, as the trails are uneven, deep sand, and although I hate to say it, our first driver, Yanay, was completely bloody incompetent driving a 4WD. We eventually made it to the lake, although for awhile I thought there might be a bloody coup before we got there.
Anyway, the lake was amazing--it's one of several on the island that are completely swimming-pool blue, with crystal-clear fresh water and snow-white sand. No plants, no fish, just deep blue water, which made for some great swimming. We also had our first wildlife spotting: A big goanna (monitor lizard), about three feet long, skulking around the parking lot.
We then had lunch at the picnic area there--Sven, Brett, Camilla, Chris and I made ham sandwiches, while the Israelis, in what would become a regular habit, got out the gas stove and pots and pans, and cooked a complete meal. Which was admittedly impressive, but took forever. The whole cooking thing would eventually cause some friction, as it made us late for everything.
After lunch, we switched drivers to Brett (thank god!) and drove the rest of the way through the forest to the east coast, where we proceeded north up the beach. Driving on the beach was much smoother, and we could travel much faster (the speed limit on the beach is 80 km/h), but we had to be on the lookout for washouts (where creeks meet the sea), as well as other cars and airplanes (the beach is also a designated runway!), and rising tides.
Along the way, we saw a dingo on the beach! They're really beautiful yellow-orange dogs, a little like shepherds, but very lean, almost like greyhounds. They're pretty shy--this one ran off behind the dunes when we drove up. We also drove past The Pinnacles--some colorful sand cliffs--and the shipwreck of the Maheno, a passenger liner that ran aground in 1935 en route to a Japanese scrapyard. Now it's a rusting hulk, half-buried in the sand.
We stayed the night at an Aboriginal-owned campground, where we set up our tents and cooked dinner. At first it seemed like this might be a disaster: We had been told there was a grill at the campground, so Brett and Sven had bought steaks, potatoes and sausages for a proper Aussie BBQ. But on arriving there, we found out that the grill was inoperable, as it was missing some vital pieces! To top it off, while we were trying to figure out what to do, a mouse jumped from behind the stove and took a bite out of one of the steaks--yikes! In the end, we improvised by broiling the steaks (sans mouse), frying the potatoes, and cooking the sausages in a pot. Not the same as grilling, but they tasted pretty durn good, anyway.
After dinner, one of our hosts, a really friendly 22-year-old guy named Smiley, did a traditional dance for us in full body paint, and told us a little about Aboriginal culture, which was very cool. Most of us then walked to the beach, hung out, and drank goon (that's Australian for cheap boxed wine). The moon was so bright that everything on the beach was casting shadows, and the water was reflecting light just like during the day--really an amazing sight.
We began the day with another talk from Crocodile Chris, who gave us instructions for driving a 4WD through heavy sand, as well as how to extricate ourselves if we get bogged. He then played us a rather sobering video of news footage about recent 4WD fatalities on the island (tons of people visit, so there are a lot of accidents). We then loaded up our beaten-up white Toyota Land Cruiser and drove to the ferry, which took us on a 30-minute trip to Fraser Island.
A bit of background: Fraser Island, at 120 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide, is the world's largest sand island, supposedly containing more sand than the Sahara Desert (although I'm a bit skeptical about that last part). In addition to big sand dunes and nice white beaches, though, it also has some extensive forests and more than 200 freshwater lakes. It's also home to lots of wild critters, most famously dingoes (Australia's wild dogs, introduced from Indonesia thousands of years ago). The dingoes on Fraser are considered the most genetically "pure" in Australia, as they haven't interbred with domestic dogs as they have in other parts of the country.
On arriving on Fraser, we made our way on sandy trails through the forest to our first stop, Lake McKenzie. It was a rough ride, as the trails are uneven, deep sand, and although I hate to say it, our first driver, Yanay, was completely bloody incompetent driving a 4WD. We eventually made it to the lake, although for awhile I thought there might be a bloody coup before we got there.
Anyway, the lake was amazing--it's one of several on the island that are completely swimming-pool blue, with crystal-clear fresh water and snow-white sand. No plants, no fish, just deep blue water, which made for some great swimming. We also had our first wildlife spotting: A big goanna (monitor lizard), about three feet long, skulking around the parking lot.
We then had lunch at the picnic area there--Sven, Brett, Camilla, Chris and I made ham sandwiches, while the Israelis, in what would become a regular habit, got out the gas stove and pots and pans, and cooked a complete meal. Which was admittedly impressive, but took forever. The whole cooking thing would eventually cause some friction, as it made us late for everything.
After lunch, we switched drivers to Brett (thank god!) and drove the rest of the way through the forest to the east coast, where we proceeded north up the beach. Driving on the beach was much smoother, and we could travel much faster (the speed limit on the beach is 80 km/h), but we had to be on the lookout for washouts (where creeks meet the sea), as well as other cars and airplanes (the beach is also a designated runway!), and rising tides.
Along the way, we saw a dingo on the beach! They're really beautiful yellow-orange dogs, a little like shepherds, but very lean, almost like greyhounds. They're pretty shy--this one ran off behind the dunes when we drove up. We also drove past The Pinnacles--some colorful sand cliffs--and the shipwreck of the Maheno, a passenger liner that ran aground in 1935 en route to a Japanese scrapyard. Now it's a rusting hulk, half-buried in the sand.
We stayed the night at an Aboriginal-owned campground, where we set up our tents and cooked dinner. At first it seemed like this might be a disaster: We had been told there was a grill at the campground, so Brett and Sven had bought steaks, potatoes and sausages for a proper Aussie BBQ. But on arriving there, we found out that the grill was inoperable, as it was missing some vital pieces! To top it off, while we were trying to figure out what to do, a mouse jumped from behind the stove and took a bite out of one of the steaks--yikes! In the end, we improvised by broiling the steaks (sans mouse), frying the potatoes, and cooking the sausages in a pot. Not the same as grilling, but they tasted pretty durn good, anyway.
After dinner, one of our hosts, a really friendly 22-year-old guy named Smiley, did a traditional dance for us in full body paint, and told us a little about Aboriginal culture, which was very cool. Most of us then walked to the beach, hung out, and drank goon (that's Australian for cheap boxed wine). The moon was so bright that everything on the beach was casting shadows, and the water was reflecting light just like during the day--really an amazing sight.
posted by John Kuge at 11:40 PM
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