Frasier Island

So I just got back from the worlds largest sand island and it was yet another amazing experience. We took the train about 4 hours north of Brisbane to Hervey bay and stayed at this backpacker place on thurs night. Then on Friday we picked up our 4 wheel drive cars and headed for the ferry. There were 30 of us on the trip in 3 separate 4W cars. We were basically like a giant convoy going through the island. Sean was our main driver and we were the only car to not get bogged in the sand! (The other cars got bogged at least 8 times. Our 4Wlers drove onto the ferry and it was a little scary at first because we were extremely top heavy and Sean had never driven on the other side of the road. (Nor had any of the other drivers) Once we got onto Frasier it was literally like a real life Indiana Jones adventure. It was SO MUCH FUN! None of the roads were paved, they were filled with huge potholes, and thick rainforest was on both sides of us. The beach on the island is 75 miles long and one of the main highways of the island. No one can go in the water because there are over 100 species of sharks and it is the largest breeding ground for tiger sharks in Western Australia. It was so cool zooming down the coast with the open ocean only a couple yards away. On the first day we went to one of Frasier's many freshwater lakes on the interior of the island. It was like no lake I have ever seen. There was a HUGE sand dune that led right into the lake. The dunes were at least 50-100 ft tall and we had races to see who could roll down the sand dune first. We were so dizzy by the end that the only way you knew the race was over was when you hit the water. Since the whole island is sand I did the hike up to the lake barefoot. After the lake we did some more 4 wheeling through the jungle/beach and got to our campsite. We stayed at this backpacker place called beaches and there were our 3 cars and a 4th car full of rowdy Europeans. We had a communal eating area and BBQed steak, sausage, and burgers the first night. Before we left for the island Becky and I were designated the shoppers for food. It was the most intense shopping trip I had ever done. They dropped us off and said "you have 40 minutes, if you are not out here the ferry is leaving without you" So we were racing through the aisles like crazy people desperately trying to get all of our goodies in. The next day we went to Indian head which is the most eastern part of Australia. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Open ocean all around with sand dunes in the background. We saw a shark in the ocean, a huge ray and some whales! After the lookout we went to the champagne pools. I had never been to anything like it. They were basically like giant tide pools right next to the ocean that you could swim in. They are called champagne pools because the waves break across the pools and put tons of bubbles into the pools. It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip in Australia so far. After the pools we took a long walk back to our cars and started the trek back to the campsite. Another cool thing about the beach highway is it is also a landing pad for aircraft so we have to constantly look for planes. We spent the night partying on the beach with everyone and then we were up at 645 the next morning to get the day started. We drove past a giant ship that washed ashore in 1913 as it was being towed for scrap. During WWII it was also used as target practice by the airforce. After the ship we went to Lake Mckenzie, which is the largest lake on Frasier and one of the top 10 beaches in the world. It was the whitest sand I have ever seen. You had to have sunglasses to even look around. We swam across part of the lake and frolicked around in the water. It is amazing how much stronger the sun is here, you can definitely feel that ozone hole. After our last adventure with the 4Wlers we got back onto the ferry to go back to the mainland. On the ride back the Europeans had been drunk for the whole trip and were still drunk so people complained and they had to stay in their cars. It was quite amusing. Our train ride back was delayed for 1.5 hours which made for a very long day of traveling. Tomorrow I am off to Straddie for some terrestrial ecology with John Hall, part II of Little Ship club, and more passionfruit gelati!!!!