Fraser Island - Part 2

On the evening of the first day, the four-bed rooms were assigned. Since there were three young men from Switzerland in our travel group, I could already guess who I would be spending the night with. And that's exactly what happened. When we went to the room together, they apologized in advance for not sleeping much... I thought, this could be interesting. But we had a very nice conversation and after dinner, they wanted to go for a drink. I was very tired and went to bed early. They returned to the room around 10:00 pm, whispered because they saw me sleeping, and went to sleep as well. Two of them told me the next morning that they really didn't sleep because their third buddy and I allegedly snored so loudly... That's how it can go... They were really nice guys...

In the morning, I made another attempt to photograph a classic sunrise on the east coast and failed again... Once again, clouds blocked the view.

So I tried my hand at artistic photos... emphasis on 'tried'... But I really walked for almost an hour and a half on this wide, empty beach, and it was just beautiful...

After breakfast, our first stop was the 'Champagne Pools', about an hour's drive along the beach. On the way, we saw pylons set up on a completely flat stretch of beach and cars with the inscription 'Aircraft' and 'coincidentally' we also stopped. A young woman got on board and asked if anyone from the group would like a 15-minute scenic flight. For 80 AUD, you could see the island from above and maybe spot whales, dolphins or sharks. As soon as she mentioned it, two small planes landed on the beach...

I think twelve people from the group spontaneously signed up. I would have done the same if my flight to Lady Elliot Island wasn't scheduled for the next day anyway.

We then drove about twenty minutes further by bus, and then there was another very flat stretch of beach where the two planes landed and the passengers reboarded the bus. It was apparently very beautiful and sharks were actually seen.

Of course, all of this was planned by the tour operator, but still somehow worth seeing, how the planes simply took off and landed on the beach... and it was definitely an additional attraction...

We then continued our journey to the first stop, the 'Champagne Pools'. These are actually small 'water holes' protected by offshore rocks that are regularly washed over and filled with ocean water. And it is the only place on the island where you can safely swim in the ocean. And when the waves splash over the rocks into the pools, bubbles form and it looks like champagne...

It's really sad, you have a huge ocean in front of you, beautiful beaches, and you'd love to jump into the water right away... but you don't see anyone in the water because it's too dangerous. There are strong undercurrents that instantly pull you under. Sharks swim close to the shore because that's where the fish they like to eat are and they are easy prey. And apparently the most poisonous sea snakes frolic along this coast... So, the only options for refreshment are these 'Champagne Pools' and the freshwater lakes, which also have their pitfalls, like yesterday's Green Lake Wabby, which gets deep after a few meters...

But there was a beautiful view on the way to the 'Champagne Pools'...

Our next stop was the only real rock formation on this sandy island and a beautiful viewpoint, Indian Head. Who came up with the name? Right, our good old friend James Cook struck again and made another blunder...

When he passed by this rock on his voyage of discovery in 1770, he saw dark-skinned people standing on the rock. Since he only knew dark-skinned people from India, he called these rocks 'Indian Head'. Of course, there were Aboriginal people standing there, but James didn't know that at the time...

I'll spare you the photos of more beautiful beach pictures from Indian Head because it's about to get much more interesting... suddenly there was a stir and everyone in the group stared out to sea. Someone claimed to have spotted a whale, even though the whale season was supposed to be over four weeks ago.

But indeed, there was apparently one "lazybones" running late. It happens... I even managed to capture it in my lens, although it was far away, it serves as evidence 'A'. 

Our next stop was 'Coloured Sands'. Unfortunately, not as impressive at noon because the colors didn't show up as well. There are supposed to be 72 shades of color, and the sand is actually the same as everywhere on the island, just hundreds of thousands of years old and tightly compressed over time, creating the many shades of color through oxidation.

Then we continued to a shipwreck that has been lying here since 1935, the SS Maheno. I'll spare you the whole story, the ship was supposed to be transported to Japan tied to another ship, but it broke loose during a cyclone and stranded here on Fraser Island. It had dug itself so firmly into the sand that it couldn't be pulled out again. Since then, it has been an attraction and only fragments of the former luxury liner are still visible. During low tide, the wreck is completely exposed, and you can view it from all sides. We were there during rising tide and could only see it from one side.

For our bus driver, this was the most critical moment. Between the bus and the wreck is... what? Right, the highway... Due to the wind and the waves, you can't hear any cars approaching and accidents have occurred and people have actually been hit... Everything went well with us, there wasn't much traffic on the highway at that moment...

We then drove to our last stop on the island, Wanggoolba Creek. It's another creek with crystal clear water and the hotspot for families with young children. During the holidays, over a hundred vehicles are said to gather at this place each day, which I can't really imagine, but considering how busy the place already is for Australian standards, it's probably true... You can walk along the creek for about a hundred meters 'upstream', there is an entry point, and then you can float towards the ocean on an air mattress or a rubber tube. The creek is knee-deep at most and widens but doesn't get deeper as it reaches the beach. Here, children can play in the water safely, while fathers stand ankle-deep in the refreshing water with a beer, discussing important matters. Because it's currently the Rugby World Cup...

Just at the end, you have to be careful because we are still near a highway and cars cross the path...

Then we went back to the ferry, which had to depart from a small alternative harbor due to the low tide. Of course, we went backwards onto the ferry and then headed towards the mainland.

I'm now finding sand in things where I wouldn't expect to find any sand anymore. But the tour was really worth it and I saw and experienced a lot. In retrospect, I would now also dare to drive around the island with a four-wheel-drive car, but it was certainly more comfortable to be chauffeured around...

Now a short overnight stay, and then Lady Elliot Island is already waiting for my visit...