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FRASER ISLAND July 7: The next morning, we cruised along the beach, taking in some of the magnificent scenery, then skirted inland to discover the lakes this island is so famous for. The inland track took us through majestic forests with an impressive variety of trees (mostly eucalyptus) whose biological names make good tongue-twisters. Most of the lakes have incredibly clear waters though sometimes this is stained by tannins from the surrounding vegetation (think reddish-brown) making swimming quite an adventure, especially at Ocean Lake where a helpful sign warns of "eels, leeches, mosquitos and funnel-web spiders" (the most poisonous spider in Australia). The western coast of Fraser Island offers stunning white silica beaches but driving is very treacherous in many parts due to submerged weedbeds which have ensnared even the most experienced four-wheeler. Hence we opted to explore this paradise partially on foot and were rewarded with incredible views of a mostly deserted coastline visited only by a few boaters. The only two rock promontories on the eastern coast, Middle Rocks and Indian Head, were created by volcanic activity a long time before the sand was blown over from the mainland about 800 000 years ago, and provide magnificent views of the water - though we didn't see any of the infamous tiger sharks (whose presence is reason for the no-ocean-swimming signs around the island), we spotted a couple of humpback whales on their leasurely journey north. Binngih Sandblow, one of several regions where the ocean winds build up sand dunes which slowly cover whole forests and wander inland, was too tempting for Sven to resist and he immediately boarded a makeshift raft left behind by some other intrepid explorer to ride down the sand dunes (pic04). Contrary to our expectation, his progress was extremely slow to non-existant, making for some good laughs. Just around the corner from Sandy Cape, the northernmost point on Fraser, we visited the lighthouse there to prevent further wrecks on the treacherous sandbanks of the area. This was another exceptionally beautiful area and we met very few cars. Part of the reason might be that the beach is very narrow here and only accessible within a window of 2 hours around low tide. As we started to head back south, we came across a failed recovery scene: a low-clearance all-wheel drive vehicle towing a trailer had gotten stuck in a deep patch and a helpful bypasser had dug his vehicle in trying to tow him out. With the help of our winch, we pulled first the vehicle, then the trailer to harder ground while several backpacker groups were watching with fascination (pic05). One of the most popular sights on the island is the wreck of the Maheno, a cruise liner esteemed for its well-appointed accomodation and high-speed steam engines when it was transporting passengers from New Zealand to Australia and back from 1905 to 1935. After it was taken out of service and sold to Japan for scrap metal, it tore itself from the towship in an unseasonal cyclone and was eventually washed ashore. Recovery efforts were deemed too expensive but the ship fulfilled one more important function when a customs official assigned to guard it a week before his scheduled marriage went ahead with his plans and moved the whole congregation to the beached ship for his ceremony. Today, the Maheno still rests on the eastern shore to the delight of tourists (pic06). Undoubtedly the most popular water body around here is Lake McKenzie which is no wonder once you've seen its turquoise, clear waters embraced by bright white sand and vibrant green forest. It was no surprise that we had to share the lake with several tour groups and other visitors, totalling at least 150 at times, but we still found some solitude by taking a brief stroll along the shore. Here, too, the water was very cold but that didn't deter us from going for a swim (pic07). After a week of intense enjoyment of all the treasures in this area, we found ourselves on the return ferry. Fraser Island had delivered big time.
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