FRASER ISLAND

One of the side trips I did on a previous visit to Anne and Jack's was a coach tour to Fraser Island. After being collected from Noosa Heads in a mini-bus, we met up with a big 4-wheel drive coach just north of Noosa and headed up towards the largest sand island in the world - Fraser Island.

The first surprise was when we were driven straight down onto the beach and up the ramp onto the vehicular ferry which was to take us across to the island. As we were crossing the strait we were told by the guide that on some crossings, whales, dolphins, turtles and dugongs had been seen but unfortunately, not on our trip.



Fraser Island has native turpentine trees with some of the hardest wood known which after the end of WW2 were used to rebuild the docks in the Pool of London as well as being used to repair the foundations of the floating city of Venice.

Our tour guide told us that the concrete road we were travelling on had been built by the loggers many years ago. At one point, he suddenly told the driver to stop the coach and he jumped down and dived into the scrub at the side of the road and came out with this snake. He encouraged everyone to touch it since it was a harmless carpet snake and while the children were eager to do so, quite a few of the adults decided to give it a miss.



Shortly after we saw the snake the coach turned off the road and headed onto the beach where the tide had ebbed enough to allow us to use the main road on the island - the beach. We drove for quite a way on firm packed sand with the surf rolling in towards us and the wheels of the coach sometimes ploughing through the water. We saw a turtle which had crawled ashore to lay its eggs but had died before it could return to the surf and after crossing a creek several dingos came out of the bush to wander around looking for something to eat.



Being an island made completely of sand, the rainwater is well and truly filtered by the time it reaches the many creeks and was some of the clearest and purest water I have seen. Many times I didn't realise that there was water in the creek bed until the light caught the ripples. There are several freshwater lakes on the island and while quite a few of the coach party went swimming it was extremely icy cold so I gave it a miss.



After leaving the beach we headed towards a settlement built in a clearing in the bush where we had lunch before continuing on towards the lakes. We came across another pack of dingos after the coach had parked and remembering how dangerous these native dogs can be we gave them a wide berth - if they wanted to fall asleep in the middle of footpath then far be it for us to make them get out of the way. In fact not long after our visit the rangers on the island had to cull a few of the dingos after one attacked a tourist.



Before very long it was time to head home again, once more driving along the main road - the beach. As we turned onto the beach a surprise was in store for us with a pod of whales just out beyond the line of breakers. Once the guide saw them he contacted another ranger and as we drove off, a light plane took off along the beach to give another group of tourists a bird's eye view of the whales.

We could see a storm brewing as we headed south but fortunately it bypassed us and before long we were in the queue wating for the ferry to take us back to the mainland.





Instead of going back to Noosa by the inland road, the tide was far enough out for us to use the beach on the mainland as a road and as the wreck of the Cherry Venture appeared, the coach stopped for us to have a closer look at it. This was a ship that had been driven ashore by a cyclone and over the many years since, it has been driven even further ashore but now the bottom has rotted away I think it has found it's final resting place.





The sun was setting as we approached Noosa and it was dark by the time we arrived back at Sugar Cane Farm. It had been a marvellous day and one which I intend experiencing again in the not too distant future.