For Queenslanders, the weather is usually still quite nice which only leads to one thing: barbies. Camping is extremely popular all up and down the coast and many Queenslanders use the long weekend to throw the kids in the ute, pack a few eskies (coolers) with mince (ground meat), rolls, some stubbies (beers) and hit the motorway. Campsites are everywhere along the coast and I don't think I've ever seen so many tents and caravans in my life.
We may not be complete Aussies yet, but we decided apply the 'when in Rome' motto and take a camping vacation. There are several large islands off the coast within a few hours of Brisbane, including Stradbroke, Moreton and Fraser. We heard excellent things about Fraser (pronounced Fray-ser, not Fray-shur, like the TV show) so we booked a three day, two night camping trip via one of the (many) companies that take city slickers from Brisbane out to the islands.
The trip left on the morning of Good Friday from the Brisbane transit center. We got up quite early to make sure we were there by the 6:45am departure. We quickly met our guide, Wes, who absolutely looked the part. He was tan from the Queensland sun, had long hair with big sunglasses, a tank top and no shoes. Actually, we never saw him with shoes. The entire trip. Really, I don't think he even brought any.
Anyway, we met the other eight people on our trip as we threw our backpacks on the roof and crammed in the back of a well loved Toyota Land Cruiser. You can probably picture what our ute looked like - a dirt covered, safari-white truck that had faded to a more of an ivory color, with a roof rack, a big front bar for fending off creatures ten times larger than we would see on the island, rugged looking all-terrain tires and inside benches that go lengthways in the back. This was truly a utilitarian's car - no luxury, all necessity.
Our team of globetrotters included five French science students, a German med student, two Scots on holidays and us. The five French spoke good English but elected to speak French most of trip. The German girl spoke excellent English and somehow just looked very German. The Scots were very quiet during the three hour drive to Fraser but we quickly got to know them once they got a little shut eye. Nobody in the car looked over 35 so we knew we were in for a lively time.
The dynamics of our group were just about as you would expect. The Americans were the first ones in line to go places, while the French were usually last, if they hadn't wondered off somewhere. One of the French guys was constantly falling asleep. On the beach, in the car, at camp, laying down, sitting in chairs... Socially, the French stuck together while the American and Scottish couples seemed a natural pair. We may have just been entertained by each others' accents. The German girl was well liked by both groups but was a bit hesitant to commit to being Franco or Anglo for the trip.
We asked our Aussie guide how long he'd been doing the trips and he said it had been about five years. Before that he was doing aircraft repair and had done some other odd jobs in various places. Just spending five minutes with him you knew he would never work at a desk in his life. So help him, he would run camping tours, work rodeos, mush dog sleds, operate ski lifts or teach surfing lessons if it kept him outdoors under the sun instead of in a cube under the fluorescent lights.
Fraser island is a few hundred 'k' (kilometer is waaaay too long a word for Aussies) north of Brisbane. The motorway was packed but we made a few stops along the way and eventually got to Rainbow Beach on the mainland. The beach was about 30 minutes from the ferry to Fraser and was a nice little beach preview. It was pretty busy, even at 10 in the morning. We ate our packed lunch, enjoyed the sun for a few minutes and headed out again.
I didn't realize just how close Frasier Island is to the mainland until we pulled up to the ferry. The area that separates the island from the mainland is probably a few hundred meters and the ride to the island only takes about five minutes. As soon as we drove off the boat and started heading for camp, Wes explained that Fraser is the largest sand island in the world at over 130k long and 30k wide. I didn't understand what a 'sand island' was until we started hiking around. There is lots of vegetation all over the island but there is no real soil - it's all sand. The trails through the forest and jungle are sand, just as the beach right next to the coast is. The sand changes colors all over the island depending on the amount of nutrients and there are supposed to be 72 different colors of sand. We weren't exactly counting but we did see plenty of shades of brown, red, yellow and white. No roads exist on the island, with the exception of a few very small village roads.
It took all of about ten minutes to spot our first dingo while driving to camp. There are dingoes all over the island and while they aren't dangerous (or friendly) to adults, they can be a legitimate danger to children and adolescents. All are the same copper color and they tend to eat whatever they can find. Despite being wild animals, I really did just want to run over and give one a good belly rub.Arriving at camp, we passed through a dingo fence that surrounded the entire area. The grounds had basic showers and toilets and a few cabins with beds. At the back of the camping grounds was the area used by our company. There was a main area with a few picnic benches, a kitchen grilling area and an old rusty refrigerator, all covered by a tarp. We elected the camping option rather than the cushy cabins, so we claimed a small tent just outside the main area.
The next few days we ended up seeing and doing quite a few things. The island is covered in forests which turn into jungle through some of the interior. There are 1,000 year old giant ferns and huge trees much like the redwoods of California. The trees are unique to the island and are supposed to be extremely resistant to salt water. The wood was logged for many years until the island was acquired by the Australian park service and all logging was banned about 50 years ago. One of our first activities was a jungle hike along the ferns and trees next a creek that flowed pure, filtered water that had seeped slowly out of the water table and through countless layers of fine sand. The creek was completely silent, since the bottom was only sand. It was a wonderful hike, aside from the mozzies.
We left the jungle and headed for Lake McKenzie, a huge and absolutely gorgeous lake in the middle of the island. The sands at the lake are extremely fine, almost pure silica and are a very bright white color. The water was perfectly blue and it was easy to see down several feet through the water. The lake is quite acidic and doesn't support much life. It did however, support bathers really well. We took a dip in the lake and enjoyed the sand. Rubbing it between the hands worked like a pumice stone. The sand made skin instantly softer and would even work to clean jewelry. The Scottish guy on our trip was wearing a pretty tarnished silver ring that came out looking quite a bit more sparkly without any effort. I would the lake was easily the most picturesque place we visited the entire time we were on the island.
We headed back to camp, ate a surprisingly tasty meal and headed to bed early. We got up at 5am the next morning to watch the sun rise. A few clouds were out but it takes more than a few clouds to stifle the beauty of watching the sun rise over the ocean. We saw a gorgeous rainbow, the moon going to bed and tons of those light pink fluffy clouds you see in Renaissance paintings. What a great way to start the day! Breakfast was done by 8am and we headed out for the day.
Our second day was full of driving around the island, seeing other sites. We stopped at Eli Creek, which has a wonderful, clean cold flow that goes out to the ocean. You can drink the water straight from the creek and several of us took the opportunity to fill up our water bottles. We waded through the creek and relaxed in the sun before the rain came out to spoil the party.
We moved along in the rain to a shipwreck (not much to say here, it was a wrecked ship on the beach) and then up to Indian Head at the north end of the island. Indian Head is a huge outcropping of rock and sand that gives excellent views in all directions. We hiked up to a 300 foot sheer drop leading down to the ocean. Photos and some relaxation were in order before we headed back down to the sand.
From there we stopped and had lunch at a campground where we happened to spot an enormous lace monitor. Lace monitors are one of the largest lizards on the planet at about two meters long. This one looked just about full grown. We got some pictures but decided not to get too close - they aren't very friendly and are actually venomous. We moved from there down to another beach which had some nice little pools to swim and soak up some sun. By then, we'd had a full day and it was time to head back to camp.
Dinner was on the barbie and we sat around the camp fire chatting over a few beers. The two day group had arrived to share our campsite at this point and must have been feeling a bit more adventurous than our three day group. They put down a few drinks before raiding the left over boxed wine in the fridge (eeeeewwwwwww) and then decided to head to the local watering hole for some skinny dipping. The only person that went to the watering hole from our three day group? Wes, naturally.
We got up again the next morning for the sunrise but ended up being rained out. It was cloudy anyway and we decided to just relax around camp for a while before heading out for the day. The first stop on the last day was a huge sandblow that had been gradually covering a creek for hundreds of years. The sandblow was enormous, covering up the forest and proving a path that led to a small lake. Hiking the sandblow, it really looked like an empty desert of sand dunes and then all of the sudden dropped sharply down to the water. The water had plenty of catfish in it and plenty of bathers as well. We relaxed in the lake before it was time to head off the island and back to Rainbow Beach.
We said goodbye to the coast and arrived at around 7pm to the Brisbane transit center, tired and ready for a good shower. We cleaned up, ate a home cooked meal, looked through our pictures and slept for about 12 hours. Lucky for us, we still had a full day before we had to go back to work.
