K'gari

I really need to tell you all about Fraser Island.. Pure magic.

So I'm back in Hervey Bay now, I came back from the island yesterday evening and man oh man.. That island is quite special. I've never seen anything as beautiful as the wonders of Fraser Island, that's for sure.

I arrived in Hervey Bay a couple of nights ago and went exploring the day after I'd arrived. I walked on the Great Sandy Strait, where you can watch the whales from July to November (too bad it's March, haha), birds were singing beautiful, peaceful melodies in the background. I love walking on this beach. And the sky.. Can't stop saying it, but oh how I love the sky here in Australia. I watched the sunset from one of the piers here the other day and that was truly magical. You had these long streams of clouds absorbing the beams of the sun, the ocean was reflecting the warm colours and the waves became stronger. The sky was slowly turning red and once it became dark, swarms of bats flew over me.

The next day my Fraser Island adventure was about to begin. We started off at Lake Mckenzie: unbelievable. The fresh water was so beautiful and so extremely clear that I had the feeling I was swimming in liquid glass. Picturesque surroundings with white sand and trees. I couldn't believe my eyes.
After that swim we headed to the Central Station, to Pile Valley, where we got the time to stroll in the rainforest (1.8 kilometres), the island's first national park, along the Wanggoolba creek with giant trees, ferns and other subtropical plants to be seen and lizards walking around us. The freshwater creek is a paradox really, because it was again crystal-clear, so the water was actually filtered through the sand! I can tell you that that takes quite some time.
After lunch we went to lake Wabby; we had to walk up a path that led to the lake which took about 45 minutes, but once you got there the dip in that cold water was more than rewarding. The lake was totally different from lake Mckenzie, but beautiful in its own way with its emerald-green water and small fishes and catfish (!) swimming around you. Then we went back to the resort and I slept like a baby.

The next morning I got up really early because I wanted to see the sunrise. But it was so worth it. Different layers of colour in the horizon, the sound of the ocean, above me still a few stars and behind me the moon was watching the sunrise as well. And then she came up, slowly rising above the ocean and then above that thin layer of clouds before she showed her powerful sunbeams. A few dingo footprints were to be seen, the warmth of the sun increased and the moon slowly started fading away.

We started the day off at Eli Creek, again a freshwater creek (you could drink the water!) and it was extremely refreshing again. And beautiful. On our way to the creek, while we were driving on the 75-mile Beach again, we spotted our first dingoes! Man, that was great, I had only seen their footprints so far, haha. And then, after our dip in the creek we saw even more! Snapped some photos and then saw them rush away, up the dunes. We went on to the Maheno shipwreck, which was truly impressive. The Maheno sank in 1935 and then stranded on the shore of Fraser Island. It made me think of Pirates of the Carribean really, haha. History on a beach. Awesome. When we just arrived the shipwreck, our fantastic tourguide Warren spotted a crocodile near the shipwreck! But it disappeared back into the ocean before anyone else got to see it. Too bad.. Ah well.
I actually thought that the Champagne Pools wasn't part of our tour, but we headed to the pools after Maheno. So I was glad to hear that, because it was a nice opportunity to swim in the ocean. At least a safe, secluded part of the ocean, since the waves are actually too strong and would probably drag you to the middle of the ocean and then you would drown before you get eaten by the sharks. Yeah..
The Champagne Pools were wonderful: each time the waves hit the rocks (which surrounded the pools), the water got in and the pool became all fizzy haha, which made it look like.. Well, champagne I guess. That was absolutely lovely.
Indian Head was next, the most easterly point on Fraser Island: the place is called Indian Head, because when Captain Cook got there in 1770 he saw coloured people standing on the top of the rocks and believed that they were Indians (while they really were the Aboriginal people). We had to climb some rocks, I was wearing my Havaianas again though, but they really rock! And then we walked up to the top of the headland, where we had this amazing view over the ocean and the beaches. Too bad we didn't get to see any sharks though, I would've loved that! But I guess you can't have everything ha..
We had lunch on the beach and I enjoyed watching the ocean. Shoot, five minutes left on my account. We went to The Pinnacles Coloured Sands after lunch, thousands of years old. Fantastic. We felt a little sticky though, after swimming in the Champagne Pools. But our lovely guide brought us back to Eli Creek again to wash all the salt off our bodies. Nice.. Floating down the stream of that refreshing creek was oh.. Goood.
We paid a second visit to Maheno, since it was on our way back and it looked even more impressive. Man, this whole trip to the island was impressive. And in the evening we left Fraser Island from Kingfisher Bay. I will never forget K'gari (paradise). I've seen paradise.

(Seen a couple of kangaroos from the bus back to the hostel by the way!)

Love from Australia,
Florencia