Paradise Island

We were picked up by our guide, Rosco, at 7.30am with the exciting news that no other couples had booked and therefore we would have a private tour of Fraser Island.

We climbed excitedly into the gleaming white Hummer to begin our adventure.  Rosco was a Kiwi who had lived in Australia since 1987 and had been touring the island for the last four years.  It soon became clear he knew a thing or two about Fraser Island and also about how to drive a 4X4 (no ‘Chelsea Tractor’ for him!).

The crossing to Wanggoolba harbour (harbour is a little exaggerated for a cutting with two metal ramps up it) took about 35 minutes.  The sky was bright blue, the sea was calm and the sun was shining brightly – Hervey Bay again coming up trumps with the weather.

Fraser Island is about 128 kilometres long and generally 16 kilometres wide (24 at its widest point).  It is 98% sand and is formed by sands blown up the east Queensland coast (that will teach them to put an artificial beach at Surfers Paradise!).  I use the present tense as it is still growing, a living, moving entity.

The Aboriginal name for the island is K’gari (pronounced gurrie) and there is a lovely story that describes how it is formed of a spirit who did not want to return to the skies.  The literal translation of K’gari is paradise.

Having traversed the rain forest and experienced the rutted sand roads for the first time we reached the first stage of our island adventure ’75 Mile Beach’.  Can you imagine 75 miles of beach without a café, bar or tacky novelty souvenir shop in sight!  It does however have a speed limit (and signs) and anyone caught doing more than 80 kph will face a hefty fine, and yes, they police it!  There are also some additional hazards, most notably light aircraft that take off and land on the beach.

We stopped on the beach for morning tea before heading further north to see the Mehona shipwreck.  The Mehona beached in a storm in 1934 on it way to be scrapped in Japan and has sat quietly rusting away on 75 Mile Beach since then.  It’s only real excitement since then being when the Australian airforce decided to use it as target practice in World War 2, rather worryingly needing over 200 bombs to record 2 strikes.  Needless to say it is now a bit of a ‘do me upper’.

The most northerly point we reached were the ‘Coloured Rocks’, a beautiful multi coloured (as the name suggests) sandstone rock formation that used to be ‘women only hangout’ for aboriginal ladies.

Heading back down the beach we stopped over at Eli Creek.  One of the many freshwater creeks that drift slowly into the sea.  It is said that it takes rainwater over 100 years to work its way down from the top of the island to bubble out in the creeks (how did they work that out?).  A short walk up the waters of the creek was the perfect refresher.

We headed slightly inland and up for lunch to overlook one of the sandblows that continually build the island.  These are like glaciers in reverse but when we say continually build they are slower than even your average UK builder taking more than 100,000 to complete one cycle.  Lunch was a gourmet picnic, with a glass of wine or beer, served out of a wicker picnic basket – just divine.  It is appropriate at this point to note that we have been learning a new language on our travels and Samantha was pleased as punch to be able to understand what Rosco meant when he said “he would get it from the eskie”…answers on a postcard.

After lunch we headed further inland to one of the 40 plus freshwater lakes scattered across the island.  Lady Mckenzie is a magical place.  In the middle of the rain forest a freshwater oasis of turquoise blue waters.  Our hour spent splashing around in the water was simply perfect.

Turning back towards the ‘harbour’ we stopped at Central Station.  This used to be the village for the timber workers and their families up until the mid 1950s and then it had a store, school and they even built a steam railway on the island. 

We then walked round the rain forest listening to the violent squawking of the cockatoos and looking at some of the huge trees that were even too big to be cut down 100 years ago, just serene.  It was then time for afternoon tea – champagne and strawberries!

Our final shoot along the rutted sand roads and we were back on the ferry and leaving Fraser Island behind.  However, the memories will (hopefully) last forever and we think the Aborigines got it right…it is Paradise Island!

PS – The kangaroos had obviously heard the news about the dolphin yesterday on the bush telegraph and not wanting to be outdone came out in force on our trip back into Hervey Bay with a mob of about 20-30 showing up for a photo opportunity!