Sunday, April 26, 2009
(click on images to enlarge)
What a wonderful day again in this amazing land called Australia! We woke up extra early so we could head out to a full day trip over to Frazer Island, the largest sand island in the world. This place is remarkable how everything that grows here grows in sand. There’s no soil whatsoever, just sand. The island is 123km (76 miles) in length and is home to 8 different eco systems; rainforests, deserts, woodlands etc. It’s also the only place in the world where the freeway totally made of sand and is used by vehicle and airplanes together. Yeah, imagine to my surprise when we were in the bus and a plane was coming down on the highway right behind us. It was a great site!
The bus goes throughout the island and shows us these amazing sites, and what a bumpy ride it was. Not a ride for people with major back problems. Unfortunately, because of a major cyclone that came through the island last month, most of the major attractions were unreachable because of all the damage done to the shore and road, so the coach tour had made other plans for us. Our first stop was to the rainforest. Again, just an amazing site to see. The hard part was how humid and thick the air was. Being from Wyoming/Utah it made breathing very difficult, not to mention sweaty. Gross I know, sorry. We did get to see some odd plants and a huge iguana here. Others on the tour saw a snake attack a bird, but we missed that, which is probably good since my mother is deathly terrified of snakes and probably won’t go on the rest of the tour.
Next we went into the resort area to relax after our long bus ride and lengthy hike. Finally, some place to get some water! Then we headed out to the shore where we could see the extensive damage that the cyclone caused. 18 meters (approx. 40 feet) of shore washed away. Remember, this shore is always their highway. It was still a beautiful site as we learned about coffee rocks; they look black and hard but crumble in your hand and looks like ground coffee. The sand is very, very fine and you sink right into it, almost like quicksand. It was so relaxing I could have stayed hours down there. No swimming though as there are massive rip tides and sharks about.
Our journey then took us for another long bus ride up the mountain where we got to spend some time swimming here at Lake McKenzie. A gorgeous fresh water lake where the only water that gets in is from the rainfall, the only water that gets out is through evaporation and only one type of small fish live in it. Absolutely perfect for swimming! But the highlight of this spot came at the very end when everyone was packing up to leave. We had some wild visitors…dingoes! They did warn us about these wild dogs and that kids need to stay away from them. One came up so close to me I could have reached out and petted him (see video), but I decided to play it safe.
This island is filled with so many wonderful sites, I could write on and on about it and here alone I took over 200 photos. It’s a once in a lifetime adventure and I’m so glad I was able to experience it.
(click on images to enlarge)
What a wonderful day again in this amazing land called Australia! We woke up extra early so we could head out to a full day trip over to Frazer Island, the largest sand island in the world. This place is remarkable how everything that grows here grows in sand. There’s no soil whatsoever, just sand. The island is 123km (76 miles) in length and is home to 8 different eco systems; rainforests, deserts, woodlands etc. It’s also the only place in the world where the freeway totally made of sand and is used by vehicle and airplanes together. Yeah, imagine to my surprise when we were in the bus and a plane was coming down on the highway right behind us. It was a great site!
The bus goes throughout the island and shows us these amazing sites, and what a bumpy ride it was. Not a ride for people with major back problems. Unfortunately, because of a major cyclone that came through the island last month, most of the major attractions were unreachable because of all the damage done to the shore and road, so the coach tour had made other plans for us. Our first stop was to the rainforest. Again, just an amazing site to see. The hard part was how humid and thick the air was. Being from Wyoming/Utah it made breathing very difficult, not to mention sweaty. Gross I know, sorry. We did get to see some odd plants and a huge iguana here. Others on the tour saw a snake attack a bird, but we missed that, which is probably good since my mother is deathly terrified of snakes and probably won’t go on the rest of the tour.
Next we went into the resort area to relax after our long bus ride and lengthy hike. Finally, some place to get some water! Then we headed out to the shore where we could see the extensive damage that the cyclone caused. 18 meters (approx. 40 feet) of shore washed away. Remember, this shore is always their highway. It was still a beautiful site as we learned about coffee rocks; they look black and hard but crumble in your hand and looks like ground coffee. The sand is very, very fine and you sink right into it, almost like quicksand. It was so relaxing I could have stayed hours down there. No swimming though as there are massive rip tides and sharks about.
Our journey then took us for another long bus ride up the mountain where we got to spend some time swimming here at Lake McKenzie. A gorgeous fresh water lake where the only water that gets in is from the rainfall, the only water that gets out is through evaporation and only one type of small fish live in it. Absolutely perfect for swimming! But the highlight of this spot came at the very end when everyone was packing up to leave. We had some wild visitors…dingoes! They did warn us about these wild dogs and that kids need to stay away from them. One came up so close to me I could have reached out and petted him (see video), but I decided to play it safe.This island is filled with so many wonderful sites, I could write on and on about it and here alone I took over 200 photos. It’s a once in a lifetime adventure and I’m so glad I was able to experience it.
1 comments:
The dingos show no fear of humans. Is it because they're use to them?
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