79.) Fraser Island - World Heritage Sand Island

(Rainbow Bee-eater)

The beginning of the term is nigh and we felt the need to get out of Dodge for a bit - so off to Fraser Island - the world's largest sand island located six hours north of Brisbane.

Sand Island? So what, you say?... try a recorded 350+ species of birds, dingos, kilometres of (mostly) empty beach, perched freshwater lakes, sandblows, huge Satinay trees and mature rain forests.

After some hassles with our original 4WD hire company ("oh you can't take our 4 wd vehicles to the island over there", we made the 50 minute barge trip (with a vehicle from a different company) across Great Sandy Strait and entered the high- rolling environs of the Kingfisher Bay Resort - we looked at the facilities, realized would never have the where-with-all (or the inclination) to stay there and found the exit road. After dropping the tires to the requisite 20 psi we headed up the hill on to the island.

Well, sand driving feels a bit like driving on snow - the ruts pretty much dictate where the car goes. It has been really dry (no rain for 2 months) and the 4WD tour buses traveling in and out of the resort have ground the sand into a fine and horrifically deep froth. So you put it in low and wind the engine way past where it sounds right - lo the car sashays along with a truly unpleasant combination of fishtailing and jouncing through low spots. The inland roads are primarily only one car wide, instilling fear that somebody else will be roaring along, equally out of control, in the the opposite direction. We were a little out-classed in our diminutive Suziki Jimny. We could imagine the snickers of the "real" 4WD drivers of the Land Cruisers, etc. as they could have driven over us and squashed us underneath their tires like a bug...


In this satellite image, Hervey Bay, where we visited last year to see the whales that hang out and rest on their way back to Antarctica, is in the lower left. We rented our Suzuki there and rode the barge across the Great Sandy Strait (apparently a huge challenge for sailors) to the west side of Fraser. The island is 123 km long, and 22 km wide. Much of the island was not accessible due to restrictions by our "hire car" (rental) company. Which was fine with us, once we understood why we wouldn't want to drive there, anyway--nasty road conditions with huge potential for getting bogged down and stranded! And there were lots of accessible places to explore. So, we drove across the island to the east-side beach. Three hours on either side of low tide, there was enough room to drive on the hard (wet) sand between the foredunes and inland forest and the ocean.









(Crested Terns)

The island is managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (formerly EPA, formerly Wildlife and Parks). Information indicated that the right-of-way belonged to the birds and animals, and people are supposed to give them room when driving on the beach. These terns were resting after being at sea.

We saw maybe 30 of the 250+ bird species recorded on the island, but were pleased to see some special birds like these Rainbow bee-eaters. Their resplendent colors were simply astounding. And we were fascinated to see them fly and disappear into holes dug in the sand! Apparently, they burrow up to 90 cm (~3 ft) into sand banks, where they dig a nest to lay their eggs!

We saw quite a range of birds--from the soaring birds of prey like the White-bellied sea eagles, Whistling Kite, Brahminy Kite and Ospreys, to waders like the busy little Red-capped Plover and Oystercatchers, to forest dwellers like the Brown Cuckoo-Doves and Emerald Doves, to the tiny little Mistletoebird and Red-backed Fairy Wren, to the noisy Whipbird and Rufous and Golden Whistlers, to theTawny Frogmouth, a camoflauged stick-lookalike little owl.

There must be more than 50 species of "Honeyeater" birds that are vital for pollinating the myriad kinds of flowering Banksia trees (example flower, below). We saw the ugly bald Friarbirds, as well as the striking Scarlet, Lewins, and White-cheeked honeyeaters.












Lake McKenzie (Boorangoora)

These inland, perched, freshwater lakes are a gorgeous color, similar to glacial lakes, but the water is clear. Apparently, perched lakes are formed when depressions or valleys in the dunes build up with decaying vegetation, and then slowly become filled with water.

Another lake we visited, Lake Wabby, is a Barrage Lake. The wind formed an inland dune that blocked an existing creek, creating a billabong.

A third type of unusual lake on the island that we didn't see is a Window Lake. These are formed when a natural depression in the sand exposes the underlying water table.


Dirk was fascinated with the rusting hulk of the Maheno shipwreck

Built in 1905 in Scotland, the Maheno was a trans-Tasman luxury liner until 1914. During WWI, it was used as a hospital ship, sailing between Britain, Egypt and France. In 1918, it was returned to the New Zealand - Australia Service, eventually (1935) the ship was purchased by a shipwrecking firm in Osaka, Japan. While being tugged to Japan, the ship went aground during a cyclone. (Information taken from: John and Sue Erbacher, The wreck of the Maheno, 2002).
























We felt lucky to be visited by this dingo, who you could swear was just a friendly dog, especially when she did a play bounce as Dirk was running along and stopping to try to snap photos of her. But then your remember they are wild animals, not to be encouraged. We were careful to store all our foodstuffs in the car, but this dingo wandered into our camp and tried to nab the bag containing our pots and pans, (presumably it smelled like food). She dropped it when it rattled noisily and we yelled. Of course there are incidents with tourists, and then the dingo gets "put down."

We read there may be about 150 dingos on the island. The are among the most pure-bred dingos in Australia, others on the mainland have interbred with domestic dogs. Dingos were brought to Australia approximately 3500-4000 years ago, so are said to be native animals.









We stayed in the coastal 'distributed camping' sites. The storms of last winter have made access to the foredunes harder but we were able to find beautiful spots to set up a tent. The beach is the island "highway" for 3+ hrs each side of low tide but then quiets down. This is the low season so there were not very many other cars. Up north there were scads of fishermen in great camps (its Tailor season) but we found spots where you couldn't see anyone in either direction!


The Champagne pools north of Indian Head. These are shallow tide fed pools safe for swimming - most of the time. There are big warning signs about not being washed away by big waves while floating in the pools - this place must be a zoo during schoolies week!






Beach jelly - unknown stuff. Probably parts of a jellyfish?














Cooling off in Eli creek - the largest freshwater creek flowing off the island. The ocean is NOT recommended for swimming - bad current and things with lots of teeth. So most folks cool off in the creeks and the interior lakes.









Sweet-smelling incongruous orchids that we found along the trail on a walk. The stems are simply wrapped around the tree.











Looking N from Indian Head to Point Wabby. Both are old volcanic that helped 'anchor' the sand deposition of the island. Our hire company said this was as far as we could take the car as the roads past here get really bad - the island goes another 37 kms north to a lighthouse. The N end is REALLY desolate and rarely visited. Big dunefields, many lakes -- that is the place to go.






This is definitely a room with a view! Another cosy breakfast spot.













The north end of the island is a tailor (large tooth fish) breeding area - there were dozens of fishermen out from dawn to dusk. Their camps were large collections of BIG tents, tarps, piles of gear and, most important, flags with beer, rum or pirate logos! Though these camps looked like party hotspots for the man-crowd, we passed on by. We could just hear them thinking (sitting on the bumpers of their humongo 4 wd) "Eh mate, did ye' ever see such a cute little toy-car?"











Some beautiful Satinay trees in the Pile Valley. These were logged until the 1980's for furniture. Now it is an amazing mature forest.

What is surprising is that a forest this complex can exist on sand. Other than a few rocky outcrops - this island started as pure sand. So all nutrient have to come from the minerals on the sand grains and rain/sea spray. Fungi make these nutrients available to larger plants. It is an astounding ecosystem - Nancy will be spending some time reading up on the research into this process.

There are also large "sandblows" on the island, where huge fields of dunes are appear in the middle of forested areas. Studies at UQ indicate that some of these dune fields are stabilizing in size with a few advancing at 3 m year (burying trees, filling lakes).



We were hurrying to the ferry back to the mainland - 20 km to drive so we gave ourselves 4 hrs (on the off chance of a problem.) Well a problem did indeed arise as we 'bogged down' - just ground to a halt in really deep sand. I was able to back up and the truck behind me also got stuck. The the fire truck coming the other way got stuck - totally blocking the road. They used much of the water to wet down the sand, dug under the truck, lowered the tire pressure and eventually got it out using a snatch strap to another big truck. By this time there was quite a line in both directions - one of the locals told us "Yeah mate. This little hill bogs people all the time. We call it "The Morgue."



So now, I just kept it in low, 2nd gear, and wound the engine to 4000 rpms (I was told these little Suzukis are built to rev high!).

We slipped, fishtailed, whumpped, wallowed, whanged, sluiced, floundered, lurched and generally bounced our way through the Morgue (with the others cheering us on!), bounded around corners are really hoped no one was coming the other way! As you will hear below -
I-was-NOT-stopping! Its a long rough hill to get to the dingo fence above the resort where the ferry comes in.





The Legend of K'Gari (Fraser Island) according to the Butchulla tribe

"It was Beiral, the great god who lived in the sky, who made all the people. But the people had no land. So Yendingie, Beiral's messenger, came down from the sky and first he made the sea and then he made the land. When he reached what is now called Hervey Bay, he had a helper with him - the beautiful white spirit, called Princess K'Gari. She helped Yendingie to make everything. They made the sea shores and the mountain ranges, and all the beautiful lakes and rivers. The Princess K'Gari enjoyed what she was doing so much that she worked very hard. Yendingie told her that she should have rest otherwise she would be too tired. He suggested that she go over to some rocks and have a sleep, and she did. When Princess K'Gari awoke, she said to Yendingie, "I think this is the most beautiful place we have ever made. Please Yendingie, I would like to stay here forever". Yendingie said, "Oh no, I could not allow you to do that. You are a spirit and your place is with me". But K'Gari pleaded with him and he finally relented. But Yendingie said that he had to change her as she could not remain there in her spirit form. So he changed her into a beautiful island, and then so that she wouldn't be lonely, he made some trees and some flowers and lakes that were specially mirrored so that she could look into the sky and see what Yendingie was doing. He made beautiful creeks and laughing waters that were to become her voice. And as well as birds and animals, he made some people to keep her company. Now he told these people who they were and what they had to do. He also taught them the magic of procreation so that their children and their children's children would always be there to keep Princess K'Gari company. And she is still there today, looking up at the sky and very happy indeed." http://www.kgari.com/images/THE_LEGEND_OF_KGARI.pdf

Below: Panorama from Indian head
The easy creek crossing at Eli Creek (at low tide - this gets impassable as the water comes in)
Bouncing up the hill after clearing "The Morgue"