Australian East Coast - Part Two: Fraser Island
If this is true Fraser Island is the hugest sand island in the world. It's quite close to the land so you get there by ferry in aproximately five minutes. As you probably don´t want to walk the 75 kilometres along the beach you should consider to take a jeep then. We did so and had three great days on the island.
Like this one. You can drive on the beach and through the inland. The beach is easy and fast, for the inland you need some time. It´s only sandroads and you probably get seasick more easily than on a nutshell on the ocean.
This is the first inland track from the place where the ferry docks to the sandy beach. This was the most comfortable inland road. Wide and not too bumpy.
We squeezed eleven people in one jeep. Three in the front, 8 in the back. Sounds like a lot, but it worked fine. The luggage is on the roof. The main rule: the further you sit in the back the more it bumps up and down.
On half way on the beach you find a shipwreck.
It had seen better days as by the saltwater it is moldering quicky.
So after about 75 kilometres on the beach we arrived at the Indian Head, a nice lookout where we had a great view over Fraser Island. As one can see on the traces in the sand we are not the only ones who came here by car.
Looking down into the water from the lookout you can in fact see a lot of animals you may be not used to. We saw two dolphins, one stingray, two turtles and a shark. So this was one more reason why we did not have a swim there. The other reason was the really strong undertow of the surf. However, there is a nice place to take a bath in the champaign pools where the waves break into a closed rockpool and makes the water look and feel like sparkling wine. No pictures, sorry. And sorry for this picture. I just couldn´t deny myself because of this and this and it´s probably not the last one in this series.
Romantic, isn´t it? The Indian Head on sunset ...
... and just before sunrise. I really manages to get up at 4am. Surprisingly it was not that hard. The day and night rhythm makes one feel sleepy way before midnight. It gets dark around five or six and the light again at half past four.
Like on this beautiful day. It´s nothing you could catch with a snapshot.
So we left the indian head again ...
... to head a little bit back on the beach and go to an inland track. Maybe for someone it was too early to get up but only Andreas could manage to really fall asleep in the rocking car.
After about three hours for 16 kilometres including getting stuck in the sand we arrived at a real oasis within the rainforest. Lake McKenzie is a beautiful and perfectly clear sweetwater lake. The sand is white, the water is 98% clear so you just can open your mouth and drink a gulp. Delicious, but too warm.
It´s better than in any bathtube.
And the one or another reptiles like it, too. Fortunately it´s free of crocodiles.
Just this curious one was around. Including the long tail I estimate it to be one metre in length.
We passed a few other lakes when the next day and after a nice night swim in Lake McKenzie we made our way back to the ferry. As you can see shadow was important on our 3-day-trip.
Through a beautiful landscape. Except that we were travelling by car here which could not be more unsuitable you feel like it looks like the Shire in The Lord Of The Rings.
A quickly done small panorama picture of Fraser Island.
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