Blog rainbow beach
A couple of hours south and we were in rainbow beach, which was actually smaller than Hervey bay. We were doing our Fraser Island tour through Nomads and had two free nights accommodation at Dingos hostel. We were there a couple of days early though and decided to try somewhere else for a couple of days so we stayed at Pippies hostel. We weren't to impressed with Pippies because of the lack of atmosphere and the rude staff so we were glad when we moved next door to Dingos. There wasn't a much to do really apart from go to the beach which was really nice. It is called rainbow beach due to all the different coloured sand in the dunes, there is 75 different shades apparently.
Fraser Island is completely made of sand and is the largest natural sand island in the world, it also is home to the purest strain of dingos on the east coast. There are no roads on the island so the only way of getting around is in 4WD's. We had booked on to do a tag-a-long tour of Fraser Island where we get to drive and follow a guide who shows us where to go. We had to attend a briefing the night before to explain how to drive on soft sand etc and to split us off into groups of eight or "families". We were driving 8seater Toyota Land cruises so we had to get to know everyone as it was rather cosy in there! We had 3 lads, me, Ian and Tom and 5 girls Mel, Georgie, Clare, Anna and Aimee. An early start of 6am the next day so we could get the trucks packed up, have breakfast and have another briefing before we were off to the island. We were all going to take it in turns to have a drive and I was first up. I had to drive to the ferry then onto the island and off to our first destination which was a picnic site in the forest for some lunch. All the food for the trip had been provided for us all we had to do was cook it. After our lunch of ham salad sandwiches we went on a walk through the rainforest which was beautiful. We saw huge trees with vines growing all over them and a sand bed crk where the water was that clear you could hardly see it! After some more serious off road driving we arrived at Lake Mackenzie. It is special because it's not fed by any streams or rivers, all the water in the lake is pure rain water. There are only 45 lakes like this in the world and Fraser island has 37 of them, Mackenzie being the biggest. It was an amazing lake with crystal blue waters and white sandy banks. We swam and sunbathed for a couple of hours then hopped back in the land cruiser and cruised off to camp. We were staying at an aboriginal camp with fixed toilets, showers and a covered kitchen area which we later found out was luxury compared with no toilets and showers which some other groups were staying at. Unfortunately being permanent camp site it seemed to attract a lot of dingos, they don't look like much but they are very crafty and rather nasty when they want to be. We had been warned by the guides not to have any integration with them and definately don't feed them! People have in the past which has lead to the dingos losing their fear of humans. If you needed the toilet you had to go in groups of at least three and weren't allowed to go anywhere on your own. It was breeding season which makes them even more aggressive. Only a few weeks before a girl had gone to the loo in the night on her own and was attacked by five dingos and only managed to escape by climbing on a car!! All her legs were covered in teeth marks. Luckily I had found a big stick on our rainforest walk that I nick named The Dingo Stick. It went with us on every toilet run. After sorting out our tents and things we cooked some tea of salad, potatoes and steak then settled down next to the camp fire with some cider and goon. After spotting several dingos lurking in the shadows we figured it was bed time and headed to the tents. We got woken the next morning at 6.30am by fighting dingoes, it sounded like they were right outside the tent! When 7.30am came we were up for breakfast and back on the beach for 9am driving to the Champagne Pools. These were a group of big rock pools where massive waves from the ocean would crash into them causing lots of froth and bubbles, hence the Champagne Pools. The rock pools were big enough to swim in so we had a couple of hours swimming and sunbathing again then off to the next spot which was called Indian head. It's the highest point of Fraser island and was used by the aboriginals to punish wrong doings. The punishment was to be thrown off the top down to the rocks beneath and if you survived the 200ft fall and the sharks, all was forgiven. Captain Cook named it Indian head because when looking through his telescope he saw a load of aboriginals wearing head dresses stood on top and mistook them for Indians. We got some amazing views of the island from up there and you can usually see sharks and dolphins in the water below, unfortunately we didn't see anything but the views were good enough. We stopped off at another picnic site for lunch on the way to see the shipwreck of the Mahino. Its a wreck of a steam powered cruise liner that was caught in a freak cyclone on its way to Japan. Now it's a rusty mess on the beach. You can only see the top deck now the other three are buried under the sand. The last stop of the day was Eli Creak; a fresh water creek which flows down into the sea. You can walk upstream, lay on your back and float all the way down. The water in the creek has come underground all the way from Fiji! After that we went back to camp, had a shower and things and went down to the beach for a drink. Our guide Kev was doing some fishing and feeding a pair of huge sea eagles which kept swooping down for the fish he was throwing them. There was also a dingo eyeing up the fish Kev was throwing about. Mel, Anna, Aimee, Clare, Georgie and Tom decided they were going to go back to camp and start cooking the dinner. Ian and I stayed with Kev and did some more fishing. About ten minutes later they all came running back down the beach with a dingo snapping at their heels! Now we had been told not to have any food on us and they had took some cereal bars back to camp with them so the dingo had smelt them and followed them back. It had somehow got in front of them and refused to let them past. We had been told to act aggressively towards the dingos and they would run off but this one wasn't going anywhere. Then it started snapping and running at them, the worst thing you can do is to turn your back and run away from a dingo because it will chase you but that's what they did! So all I saw was these lot running down the hill whimpering. Seeing that the dingo wasn't giving up I ran up the beach shouting at it. Not having my faithful dingo stick, I had to improvise and throw rocks at it! It did the trick and the dingo scarpered. Mel was rather shaken up so I walked back to camp with them and we made some dinner. That night consisted of drinking and games including chicken charger, slaps, and I took a trip to Fraser island! We all laughed so hard the rest of the camp thought we were crazy. The last day we went to lake Waddy, which is slowly being covered by a huge sandblow that moves 1 meter a year. It was another beautiful lake. This one had loads of catfish swimming around in the shallows. Then it was back to Rainbow beach. The Fraser island trip was one of the best things we have done in Australia and we were really lucky with the weather as it had giving a dodgy forecast, but the only time it rained was when we got back to the mainland. Noosa next the weathers not looking too great but let's hope it holds out.
Fraser island
Friday, April 27, 2012
Rainbow Beach, Queensland, Australia
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