Fraser Island  01/22 - 01/27/2014

 

 

A bit fauna on the way.
 
And that at a motorway service station.
 
To anticipate: On Fraser Iceland we are only three days. Unfortunately Peterpans has recommended to embed the tour in three nights at Rainbow Beach. This "city" exists but really only to temporarily store the island tourists, that means there is nothing to do. With one exception:
 

You can visit Carlo's Sandblow. A dune ...
 

... which is often used for paragliding.
 
 
Respect-inspiring bee-thing that I encountered along the way. A little more than a hornet.
 

The ants are also strange. Is it an eye they are dragging?
 

When a city is called Rainbow Beach, one may definitely expect a beach.
 

The hostel has a unique style again. And a fine swimming pool.
 

Breakfast, lunch and dinner terrace.
 

The common room, in which now the so-called briefing for the tour is taking place.
 
This briefing lasts over two hours, in which we have to watch three videos, which overlap a lot. Immediately afterwards, the organizer tells us, that most of it was of no interest to us, since we will have a guide there. Then he warns us again from the brutal dingoes (more on that later). The next morning, a large part is then again repeated ("slow is save"). This could have been done way shorter.
 
 
An unlucky group has to take place in the guide’s car.
 

Loads of jellyfish on the way to the ferry.
 

This one looks quiet happier.
 

Our guide, Luke. A philosophical poet – and a stroke of luck for us.
 
Well, sometimes his lectures are sorely long and dramatic, but spoken with so much enthusiasm that one will never be bored. My favorites: "If you can not enjoy your life, put a gun in your face and make space!" and "Fighting for peace is the same as fucking for virginity!"
 

Finally on the island. With up to 60 mph we drive over the beach.
 

Thanks to a long dry period, there are many deep sandy places. Order: full throttle and through. Great!
 

Not everyone does it properly.
 

The rear vehicles have no chance if the car in the front got stuck.
 

Often we have to cross deep water ditches (some deeper than here).
 
The only downside: As tribal elder I have taken the first turn, because no one else wanted to. However, the second and third are the crazy routes into the island. There are such moguls that the baggage is flown through the whole car and despite seatbelts we felt like lotto balls in the drawing device. Self-driving would have been awesome, but thanks to our kamikaze drivers, it was also this way sensational.
 

First stop: Lake McKenzie. Because of cloud cover not that impressive, but with tolerable temperatures.
 

 Strange game of our boys: Four stand in a row and the fifth fires a tennis ball on them.
 

Again and again it says: Off to the jeeps. We drive to our camp.
 
 

This is it. Luckily, the tents are already set up, in contrast to Noosa.
 

A big fly. Luke squeezes a kind of honey out of the rear and our US-boy tastes it. Fly and US-boy are fine.
 

After all had a little rest, there is sort of a party. With headache-Goon.
 

I brought my hammock again, ...
 

... I sleep in it in spite of my single tent. Again soundly and long.
 
On the second day we are banned in Lukes Jeep. However, I can convince him that it would be unfair to let us stay in it all day, because we actually have four groups. Therefore, we may change back into a private jeep after after only two turns.
 

Today we have some destinations: The beaches at the Champagne pools, ...
 

... whose rocks are populated by coral seashell things.
 

Of these beaches, there are some on the island. But you shouldn’t swim in the sea because of sharks.
 
 
A cliff ...
 

... which is quite steep and deep. But not the only reason to keep hold of my hat.
 

This is the second.
 

Once again a stuck car.
 

Help is on the way.
 

The Eli Creek. You can walk along a path upstream ...
 

... and then let yourself drift down.
 

However, this area is dangerous.
 
 
Here are namely the homicidal dingoes.
 
Quite honestly, I believe it's ridiculous that they constantly warn of these animals. They are small (!) dogs that are rather shy. Of course there are stupid tourists who want to "play" with them and do not realize that the dingo is provoked by it. Or drunks (true story!) that fall down somewhere with a bag of chips that are sniffed out by dingoes. Well, and if then there still lies a defenseless piece of man meat next to it, they nibble a bit on ist. It's indicative that this story from 2001(!) is used as an example for the brutal nature of these animals.
 
   
A shipwreck (Maheno), which is rotting on the coast since 1935.
 

Once again - in the cars to the camp. Overall, I have about 2 hours driving time .
 

Girls. There are only three showers, but they have to take one as soon as possible. Waiting time: approximately one hour.
 

Nice view, but bad message.
 

However, this can’t spoil our Australia Day celebration (01/26). Especially not for the red guys from the (other) island.
 
Then we already go into our last day. For not to get stuck in the tourist hordes, Luke shoos us early in the morning out of the tents (or hammock), so that we can leave the camp before 8 AM. Today, only Lake Wabby and going home is on the agenda. To the lake we have a half-hour walk through a forest, which as so often offers a few nice pieces of timber:
 
 
   
 
 
 

Lake Wabby, which loses one yard by dune-moving every year.
 

The steep beach invites to ...
 

... Sandboarding.
 

Our boys want to try that, too. Doesn’t work quite well.
 

The fish are very tame. And that in front of Japanese!
 

Everything has an end. We return to the hostel. There remain the memories and the joy of ...
 

... not having booked with Pussy -Tours.
 

Conclusion: Should you make the Fraser tour? No, you must! Especially if you like to drive a car. You get quickly used to the gear shift on the left and the often stiff gears, and after that it's just great fun to drive through the sand dunes. My Australia-highlight so far.