Fraser Island, off Southern Queensland

Back to the coast again my destination being Fraser Island for a few nights. which is the largest sand island in the world. The island is made completely from sand and is around 80 miles long and ten miles wide. Despite being made almost entirely of sand the island is thick with trees. Seeing these massive trees standing in sand is pretty strange. The Island has some fairly diverse flora and fauna. The Dingo (a type of wild dog) is the most famous icon of Fraser Island. The Dingos there are the purest in australia because on the mainland they interbreed with domestic dogs. A Dingo differs from a normal dog in that it cannot bark and it is very dangerous. Cheerfully our guide also informed us that 'they can smell fear' and that we should 'be careful at night because they hang around the cabins because they smell the food'. Oh right then.

Here is a picture of one of the sand blows and to the right is Lake Wabby where we went swimming;

Fraser Island has some of the most stunning scenery I've ever seen. It has massive clear lakes with white sand, rainbow coloured sandstone and incredible sand blows and dunes which make you feel like you're in the desert. Rolling down the sand hill was a highlight as was speeding along 'Seventy Five Mile Beach' in our 4WD. This long straight beach is a registered highway. The tide nearly covers it whn it comes in and so is to quote the saying 'the only highway in Australia that is resurfaced twice a day every day'.

The Seventy-Five Mile Highway:

As well as the scenic wonders we met some pretty cool people too. There was scouse Jamie who was possibly the most 'eager-to-inform' person I had ever met. If you said where you were headed to he'd have a couple of reviews of different places he'd stayed and a lowdown on what to do and what not to do in each place. Pretty useful I thought.

Then there was Dennis an Irish guy in his late twenties who was a bit of a casual artist. It's hard not use the word simpleton but I'm afraid I'll have to. He had a childlike curiosity about everything. He was amazed by anything you'd tell him. Sometimes I thought it was an act and he was taking the piss but I had to conclude that he wasn't. I would say that I liked Indie music and he'd say: 'Tell me now then what's that then?'
Then I'd say 'err it's a bit like rock music'
'Is that right now?' he would say with wide-eyed amazement. Then he'd pause and say: 'The Dandy Warhols, do you like him now? Is he Indie?'
'Well' I'd answer not really knowing where to start. 'I suppose they are, but it's actually a group not one guy'.
'Really?'
'Yes, althought the name of the band is a play on the name Andy Warhol'. I said hoping that would be the end of it.
'Who's he now?'
'Well he's an artist' I said trying to keep it short and avoid inviting any more questions.
'What did he do now?' He'd ask as fresh-faced and interested as ever.
'Well he did some psychadelic stuff with faces and he was also the guy who said that thing about everybody getting their 15 minutes of fame'.
'What was that now?'
At this point I just couldn't understand how anybody who had such a voracious appetite for asking questions could know so little. I could only conclude that the that given everything amazed him so much he had no choice but to forget everything he learnt otherwise he would walk around in such a state of wonderment that he would not be able to get anything done. Then I found out he smoked a lot of pot so concluded that might have been the reason. Either way he was a very interesting and unique guy despite his sometimes simplistic attitude.

Here is a picture of Lake Mckenzie which is one of the many freshwater lakes on the island:

Richard, Geelong, 17th October

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