From Fraser to Flipper

Another day, another campsite, another town, another blog. This time:

Hervey Bay

Another gateway destination, this time to Fraser Island - the World's biggest sandbank. First impressions are pretty good, a little more English riviera than American backwater - so much so that we end up staying at Torquay Beach Caravan Park. The town and campsite have a much younger clientel than some recent stops, which is almost a shame as I had got quite used to chatting to couples named Alisa and Bob about gas cylinders, water tanks and retirement plans.

We are really into the groove of this campervan thing now, it's a little isolating and Martha has had her teething problems but hanging out with kangaroos, pelicans, pensioners and possums is pretty good for the soul and it will make us appreciate the livelier more cosmopolitan cities of Sydney and Melbourne when we eventually reach them (we have done about half of the 2,500km we plan to do).

Hervey Bay gives us another one of those fantastic natural sights that Australia keeps on throwing at us, when on our first evening as the sun sets thousands of crow sized fruit bats fly overhead on their nightly migration over to Fraser Island.

Fraser Island

Being another 'must see' sight, we decide the budget will stretch to a day tour of Fraser's major attractions and with the weather forecast clear for the following day we grab ourselves two places on the Fraser Explorer and are picked up at 7.25am sharp from outside our campsite the following morning. These highly organised tours can be a bit frustrating especially when you are used to living without any timetables whatsoever, but even though 50% of our group were German tourists it still turned out to be a great day.

Our tour guide was fantastic, he looked like Sgt Slaughter, sounded like Steve Irwin and was known only as the 'The Captain', even to his wife and kids! But the Captain knew his stuff, kept saying "don't mention the war !!" when the Germans were in earshot and drove our 4 wheel drive, Paris to Dakar, 300 horse power mega bus over Fraser's sand dunes like he'd been doing it all his life. Fraser Island is nothing but sand, and at 120km long, it has a lot of sand - and much of it is the purest (92 silica) sand you will ever see.

Our first stop Lake McKenzie was breath taking - a huge lake formed only by rainwater (no streams or over land water runs in or out) filling in the huge space between ancient sand dunes, where no vegetation or fish live and the water is so fresh and pure that you can feel how 'soft' it is when you jump in. After 30 minutes of swimming and exfoliating my head with the sand we head off, on time (the Captain doesn't tolerate latecomers back to the bus) and drive through Fraser's rainforests, stop for lunch and then head out onto the island's main highway - the 75 mile beach.

As Fraser has no tarmac, only 4 wheel drive vehicles can travel the island and 75 mile beach (tide permitting) is offically the great sandy highway with all the same rules as any other road in Australia. It is also the only road that doubles as a commercial aircraft runway and the light aircraft performing scenic flights over Lake McKenzie come and go as they please. Needless to say driving at nearly 70mph and swerving in and out of the surf (whilst looking out for incoming planes) was pretty memorable.

By 4pm we were heading back to the mainland glad to have spent the day and not done the typical 'backpacker' camping option where groups of 10 are crammed into an ancient Landrover and forced to get along with people they don't know/don't like and all brag about places they have been and things they've seen, often in a well to do English accent (Berkshire?..Hertfordshire?)
note: sometimes my fellow 'travellers' get on my nerves, give me a drunken late night chat with a local any day.

We end up spending 3 nights in Hervey Bay, running (well more of a laboured jog) and walking along its Pelican patrolled beaches, hiring bikes and completing the 18km bike track without even stopping for a pint and on our final day visit the local Reefworld aquarium after being tempted by a flyer telling us we could swim with sharks. We had checked this out the previous day and been told us that the 'big shark' had died (possibly because it was forced to live alongside tourists in a 10m x 12m pool??), the 'experience' was now half price and a bargain at 12 quid each. After signing a waiver form about being eaten etc we kitted up and took the plunge and Carla (who had nearly backed out after being told the Wobbegong shark that lurked in the depths is in the top 10 most dangerous sharks list) completed her turtle adventure by swimming alongside a 40 year old 4ft long Green Sea Turtle named Sam. After half an hour we got out and hosed down glad that the bigger Wobbegong and Cat Sharks had stayed in the depths and only the smaller Lemon Shark had come out to give us a sniff.

Our plan had to been to head straight to Noosa via Rainbow Beach, but a tip off from a couple we keep bumping into (Cape Trib, Mon Repos and now Hervey Bay) told us to check out a little know place called Tin Can Bay to possibly catch anothe one of those great Aussie animal moments (OK I do speak to some travellers, but i dont think Ali's from Berkshire)

Tin Can Bay

35 years ago, a young Dolphin was hurt by a fishing boat off the shores of Tin Can Bay and instead of staying out at sea and being attacked by sharks, she beached herself on a local sandbank probably hoping to die in peace. She was spotted by some locals, fed and nursed to recovery and from that day forth on most mornings between 6 and 8 returns to visit - almost by way of thanks to the locals who now thrive on this mini tourist attraction. The original dolphin died of old age, now its her two kids that show up whilst the hundreds of other local dolphins never venture in close enough to be fed.

Arriving at 6am gave us first glimpe and a chance to wade in whilst the dolphins swam up to us before the hordes arrived at 8am for the feeding. Another 'never forget' experience, especially when a dolphin made a direct bee line for a 2 year old who insisted on calling it "a duck", lifted its head, squeaked and definitely made a connection with the youngest dolphin fan in Tin Can Bay.

This getting up at sunrise thing is starting to agree with me!!

Next stop???.....

Peace
MandCandM

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