So getting on to the last of the OZ blogs - so glad we aren't there this week with the two cyclones that have hit the east coast of Australia this week, they made a terrible mess in Rockhampton which is a bit further up than we were. Also yesterday was the anniversary of the Christchurch Earthquake four years ago and Christchurch still looks like a ghost town in some areas. I wouldn't want to be living there but most of the people who do love it.
Our last full day in Australia saw us up at 5am to catch a minibus at 6 to take us on an adventure. We went with 'Fraser Island Adventure Tours and our host/driver for the day was Peter, a gentle and down to earth Ozzie with a wealth of local knowledge. Joining us today were a couple and two singles from the UK, a couple from Brazil (one of who works in the Amazon as a rainforest specialist and the other is a student in Sydney) and two couples from Argentina, two on holiday and two who work in Sydney so quite a mixed group and we all got on really well.
So before we got there we had to go on the cable ferry from Noosa across the Noosa River on to what they call the North Shore which is a huge nature reserve taking you up to Fraser Island, only 4WD allowed from this point on.
Our first stop was at Teewah which is a small town on the promontory and really just a place for holidays as there are very few permanent residents here, a very remote spot in deed. From there we headed out on to the beach which was to be our road for the next hour or so as we drove up the coast.
We stopped further along at the Teewah Coloured Sands - wow!
Fraser island is 123 km long by 15 km wide and is the world's largest sand island. It was World Heritage listed in 1992 after a bitter struggle between conservationists, sand mining and logging interests. They grow beautiful very tall trees here, they even have the native NZ kauris here which are so tall and straight and nearly made extinct in NZ. There are towering rainforests here, barren heathland and pristine rainforests, all hard to believe when you are cruising along the 'beach' highway. Peter was telling us they used to breed horses here and some escaped but didn't live long as there is very little grass and what there is of it is of course full of sand so the horses ate that as well and died of very bloated tummies poor things. There are no koalas or roos here, the main preditors the dingos and there are about 100 on the island - we were to meet some later so were very privileged.
We went inland on these impossible sandy and narrow tracks which were made quite claustrophobic by the enormous trees everywhere and big tree ferns.
Our first long stop was at the beautiful Lake McKenzie, one of the beautiful lakes in the middle of the island - the only trouble was there were lots of other people there too otherwise it would have been perfect!!!
I could have quite happily stayed here all afternoon with the tiny fish swimming about with us. The sand here is so fine Peter told us to take advantage of it and cleaned any jewellery we had; my rings were like new! We also did our feet too. The silica is so fine they used this sand at NASA for the spaceships, one of the reasons for the USA Sand Mining years ago. Glad they managed to kick them out, it is much nicer as a nature reserve. |
Then back in the bus and off to visit one of the rainforests - it was so nice to bet out of the bus again. Peter only does this three times a week - well it is a 5am start, a long 14 hour day for him and all those rough roads so am not surprised. The rain forest was beautiful. Peter's knowledge of the trees and flora was very good.
On the journey home we went a slightly different way but ended up on the beach again for tea. Two of the other buses joined us and with them came a family of 5 dingos. Peter has never seen so many dingos in all his years here together before, he was gobsmacked and we were incredibly lucky but because we were all out of our bus we just had to keep very still and quiet and just let them move among us. (The photos aren't too good as they are from my phone, I'd left my good camera in the bus as I didn't think I'd need it.!!)
So to the ferry back to Great Sandy.
Richard Branson bought one of their old ferries when he bought his island here near Noosa to ferry all his stuff back and forth, he painted his one white!
So to head home after a long and tiring day but we wouldn't have missed it. We even saw some roos in a field on the way back as we took the middle road to Lake Coothakaba where we had been the other day at Boreen Point through all the pine tree plantations. What a diverse place this is.
We got back at 6.30, showered, changed and walked in to town as we had booked a meal at Miss Moneypennys and lovely that was too. It was also for Valentines as we would be traveling on the day.
We drove the coast road from Noosa to Marcus Beach and had a last look at these glorious huge sandy beaches, they will have to keep me going until late March until we go to Tauranga.
We went through Coolum beach which is the furthest south we had been on our travels, the beach was packed this morning and full of surfers. Then down passed the Sunshine Coast Airport to Mudjimba and on to Maroochydore. I don't know what we expected when we got there, I just wanted to go because I liked the name of that and next door Mooloolaba - catchy aren't they? But Maroochydore was lovely. |
So a three hour plane ride with Air NZ back to Auckland arriving after midnight, a four hour sleep in the Ibis Hotel, back to the airport for our 7 am departure from Auckland to Queenstown and home before 10am!
Phew!!
TTFN - look after yourselves and each other.