Dingos and Tigers and Crocodiles, oh My!
Arrived in Rainbow Beach and did the normal first day ritual, namely: dropped my bag, changed into my boardies, checked out the town (which took about 30 seconds) and ended up at the beach. "Rainbow Beach" gets its name from the colored sands of the beach and the rising cliffs around. The beach is another example of the seemingly endless gorgeous beaches which line the East coast of the country. I sat on the beach for a while watching parachuters and hang gliders drop in as 4x4s and 4x4 tour buses raced up the beach. That night a free bus took a bunch of us from my hostel for the sunset on the Carlo Sandblow , an impressive expanse of sand which washes overland from the beach.
Rainbow Beach
Carlo Sandblow
That afternoon I also met the lucky 10 others whom I'd share a 4x4 with for the following three days. Our group cohesed immediately and after leaving to use the internet for a bit (to keep you all aware of my adventures) I returned to find all my new companions, drinks in hand, joyfully and enthusiastically enjoying the "transgender" happy hour specials. Not wanting to disappoint the team and be the odd one out, I returned to my room with one of the girls for a change of clothes. I will leave the rest to your imagination, and although my camera was conspicuously absent, I will guarantee any pictures given me of the incident will remain quadruply encrypted deep on my hard drive if not destroyed straight out.
The next morning we packed up our Landcruiser, loading our small bags, food, grog (that's Australian for booze) and tents on top, and after a quick lecture on 4 wheel driving, the next thing we knew we were driving down the beach and loading on a barge which had briefly beached itself long enough for us to load up.
The destination was Fraser Island, the largest sand island in Australia, or the world, or some such impressive superlative. It's 120 km long, is covered in fragile rainforest, inhabited by pure dingos, crisscrossed with sand roads, and has the occasional resort where you can buy ice to keep the beer cold and the food fresh (in that order). For the most part, we stuck to the east coast of the island, a 100 km beach which is a veritable highway of 4x4 traffic during the day, all cruising along on the hard sand packed down during the high tide.
The next three days was spent visiting fresh water lakes and rock pools for swimming (the waves and currents on the beach are both too dangerous for swimming), floating down spring fed streams and hiking across foreboding sand blows. Between stops, we'd chose a driver and all pile in the Landcruiser, 8 of us lined up in two parallel benches in the back and 3 across the front on the bench seat. At night, we set up camp just off the beach behind the dunes and enjoy big feasts and beverages. The first night, we camped near a cool shipwreck which looked stunning in the near full moon with the near endless beach as a backdrop. I decided to sleep out on the beach the first night and upon waking before dawn for the sunrise found my camera half buried in sand. Despite thorough disassembling and reassembling to free up the frozen lens, I'm sad to report that my loyal camera has evidently taken its last picture, and all picture taking has been suspended until further notice.
Shipwreck of the Maheno
Champagne Pools
Look down Fraser Beach and our Trusty Steeds
The loss of my camera being the low point, the clear high point was when I took the wheel to drive the long inland route to McKenzie Lake. I got to scream along the inland sand track, through the rainforest, keeping up my momentum (momentum is your friend) while my companions were jostled around in the back as we tossed over bumps and slid around corners. It was Ace! The lake itself was gorgeous, a huge fresh water lake with bright blue water ringed by bright white sand beaches.
My next stop was the small town of Noosa Heads which is on the beach (surprise) and surrounded by national parks supposedly filled with Koalas. The first day I did a long walk around the head and through the forest but managed to miss any koalas hiding out in the trees (imagine that). To make up for this I had to go the next day to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo! Krickey!
I must admit, I used to think of Steve Irwin as a total crackpot, but the biography of his life we watched on the courtesy bus to the zoo completely changed my mind. From the early self made movies of him catching crocodiles (yes! he actually was a crocodile hunter!) it became obvious that he actually is a character and doesn't just play one on TV.
The zoo was started by Steve's parents as a safe haven for rescued crocodiles and is now a huge park that resembles Disney World. In the zoo you can see trainers feed a 4m crocodile (danger, danger, danger!), bask with roos, cuddle with wombats, pet koalas and stand amid flying cockatoos. As an indication of the zoo's quality, I reluctantly went to see the tigers, not wanting to go because they're always sleeping and it was far away, but upon arriving I was amazed. There was a huge enclosure with stadium seating for a couple dozen spectators. I stood near the glass which was half submerged in water and watched a trainer actually playing with four full grown tigers as if they were dogs. They'd occasionally get feisty and the trainer would settle them down with a small tap with his cane. At one point the trainer grabbed a huge barrel covered in claw and bite marks and threw it into the water. I watched as this huge beast went into a sprint and then launched himself into the air landing directly in front of me with a huge splash. DC eat your heart out, this was full on! Sadly the zoo contained no platys, so that dream remains allusive... though I have a plan...
After Noosa, I jumped the bus to Byron Bay, a low key tourist town similar to Noosa. I've spent a relaxing time here nursing a sore throat and checking out the town. Yesterday I did the 2 hour hike up to the most eastern most point in Australia. As I hiked up through the coastal rainforest to the lighthouse atop Mt. Warning (named by the infamous Captain Cook) the wind and rain started and I found my self pelted by painful sideways driving rain. Luckily it was warm so the rain was refreshing so it made it a cool way to experience the point. Today I rented a board and hit up the beach, but after getting thrashed around by the waves for 3 hours I decided I'm actually not a good surfer. Oh Well. Tonight I head for a pit stop in Sydney followed by a trip down to Melborne on the south coast. Oh, and I'm going to by a new camera - stay tuned.
Enjoying the Champagne Pools
Rainbow Beach
Carlo Sandblow
That afternoon I also met the lucky 10 others whom I'd share a 4x4 with for the following three days. Our group cohesed immediately and after leaving to use the internet for a bit (to keep you all aware of my adventures) I returned to find all my new companions, drinks in hand, joyfully and enthusiastically enjoying the "transgender" happy hour specials. Not wanting to disappoint the team and be the odd one out, I returned to my room with one of the girls for a change of clothes. I will leave the rest to your imagination, and although my camera was conspicuously absent, I will guarantee any pictures given me of the incident will remain quadruply encrypted deep on my hard drive if not destroyed straight out.
The next morning we packed up our Landcruiser, loading our small bags, food, grog (that's Australian for booze) and tents on top, and after a quick lecture on 4 wheel driving, the next thing we knew we were driving down the beach and loading on a barge which had briefly beached itself long enough for us to load up.
The destination was Fraser Island, the largest sand island in Australia, or the world, or some such impressive superlative. It's 120 km long, is covered in fragile rainforest, inhabited by pure dingos, crisscrossed with sand roads, and has the occasional resort where you can buy ice to keep the beer cold and the food fresh (in that order). For the most part, we stuck to the east coast of the island, a 100 km beach which is a veritable highway of 4x4 traffic during the day, all cruising along on the hard sand packed down during the high tide.
The next three days was spent visiting fresh water lakes and rock pools for swimming (the waves and currents on the beach are both too dangerous for swimming), floating down spring fed streams and hiking across foreboding sand blows. Between stops, we'd chose a driver and all pile in the Landcruiser, 8 of us lined up in two parallel benches in the back and 3 across the front on the bench seat. At night, we set up camp just off the beach behind the dunes and enjoy big feasts and beverages. The first night, we camped near a cool shipwreck which looked stunning in the near full moon with the near endless beach as a backdrop. I decided to sleep out on the beach the first night and upon waking before dawn for the sunrise found my camera half buried in sand. Despite thorough disassembling and reassembling to free up the frozen lens, I'm sad to report that my loyal camera has evidently taken its last picture, and all picture taking has been suspended until further notice.
Shipwreck of the Maheno
Champagne Pools
Look down Fraser Beach and our Trusty Steeds
The loss of my camera being the low point, the clear high point was when I took the wheel to drive the long inland route to McKenzie Lake. I got to scream along the inland sand track, through the rainforest, keeping up my momentum (momentum is your friend) while my companions were jostled around in the back as we tossed over bumps and slid around corners. It was Ace! The lake itself was gorgeous, a huge fresh water lake with bright blue water ringed by bright white sand beaches.
My next stop was the small town of Noosa Heads which is on the beach (surprise) and surrounded by national parks supposedly filled with Koalas. The first day I did a long walk around the head and through the forest but managed to miss any koalas hiding out in the trees (imagine that). To make up for this I had to go the next day to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo! Krickey!
I must admit, I used to think of Steve Irwin as a total crackpot, but the biography of his life we watched on the courtesy bus to the zoo completely changed my mind. From the early self made movies of him catching crocodiles (yes! he actually was a crocodile hunter!) it became obvious that he actually is a character and doesn't just play one on TV.
The zoo was started by Steve's parents as a safe haven for rescued crocodiles and is now a huge park that resembles Disney World. In the zoo you can see trainers feed a 4m crocodile (danger, danger, danger!), bask with roos, cuddle with wombats, pet koalas and stand amid flying cockatoos. As an indication of the zoo's quality, I reluctantly went to see the tigers, not wanting to go because they're always sleeping and it was far away, but upon arriving I was amazed. There was a huge enclosure with stadium seating for a couple dozen spectators. I stood near the glass which was half submerged in water and watched a trainer actually playing with four full grown tigers as if they were dogs. They'd occasionally get feisty and the trainer would settle them down with a small tap with his cane. At one point the trainer grabbed a huge barrel covered in claw and bite marks and threw it into the water. I watched as this huge beast went into a sprint and then launched himself into the air landing directly in front of me with a huge splash. DC eat your heart out, this was full on! Sadly the zoo contained no platys, so that dream remains allusive... though I have a plan...
After Noosa, I jumped the bus to Byron Bay, a low key tourist town similar to Noosa. I've spent a relaxing time here nursing a sore throat and checking out the town. Yesterday I did the 2 hour hike up to the most eastern most point in Australia. As I hiked up through the coastal rainforest to the lighthouse atop Mt. Warning (named by the infamous Captain Cook) the wind and rain started and I found my self pelted by painful sideways driving rain. Luckily it was warm so the rain was refreshing so it made it a cool way to experience the point. Today I rented a board and hit up the beach, but after getting thrashed around by the waves for 3 hours I decided I'm actually not a good surfer. Oh Well. Tonight I head for a pit stop in Sydney followed by a trip down to Melborne on the south coast. Oh, and I'm going to by a new camera - stay tuned.
Enjoying the Champagne Pools
posted by AJH @ 9:14 PM
2 Comments:
At 4:02 PM,
Anonymous said…
Amy Here.
I hope that you got a new camera. I love your pictures.
At 5:55 AM,
Anonymous said…
Hey AJ,
If it makes you feel any better, my camera is gone too.... I was totally swindled on a bus ride back from Bangkok. Luckily all they got was my camera, but it had 200 pictures I hadn't downloaded yet! They were such good pictures too -- the Grand Palace, Wats around Bangkok, and the Ayutyya ruins. I'm so bummed! No worries though - when I got back I found myself immediately whisked off the bus and onto a longtail boat to spend the night camping on a nearby island (one of the ones near the Kamphuan beach). So life isn't so bad, afterall, camera or not :) Even still I hope you have a new camera by now and that you are still having fun.
xxx
Katie
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