First Day on Fraser

After our short introductory meeting we left the Next Backpackers hostel around 9pm for the drive to the ferry terminal. We were early enough to be the first ones on, which meant we would be the first ones off once the boat was docked on the Island. The sea was rough and 45 minute crossing was a bit cold. After landing, we headed straight to Lake MacKenzie for lunch.

The lake is only about 10 acres in size,

Lake MacKenzie

but has the finest, white beach sand I have ever seen. It is much like walking on flour. The water is so clear and blue we were told that you can drink it (I tried it and it tastes better than any water you’ll ever buy in a store.) In order to keep the water clean they suggest not swimming after using sun block or lotion. The Lake MacKenzie beach is consistently rated one of the top in the world and I would have to agree that it is pretty damn amazing.

Lake MacKenzie

Post lunch, we took the rough, winding road through the rain forest down to the little town of Eurong. As you descend the hill, the forest changes dramatically based on the amount of rain it receives. Fraser Island is composed solely of sand (with a few volcanic rock outcroppings) so I is quite amazing that 120 foot tall trees can grow here. At Eurong you leave the winding forest road and head out to drive along the beach. Nearly perfectly straight for 50 miles or so, at low tide the beach makes for a great highway. Speed limits are posted at 70 kmh, but a fully loaded troupee can do about 90 safely on the hard pack sand.

An hour into the beach drive we came upon

Maheno Shipwreck

the Maheno ship wreck. Back in the 1920s the Maheno was a cruise ship making the run from Sydney to New Zealand. Eventually considered obsolete, a Japanese company purchased it for scrap metal and was towing it back to Japan when it came loose in a violent storm in 1935 and washed up on Fraser Island. Built in the same Irish shipyard as the Titanic, it was once a large ship nearly ten stories high. But the seventy years of wind, surf and its occasional use as target practice for the Australian Air Force have not been kind to the Maheno. Not much remains of this once proud ship.

We arrived at our campsite, which was just 2 kilometers north of the ship wreck, around 4pm. Blessed with decent weather we decided to go for a small side trip up to Knifeblade Sandblow. The camp hosts, four native Aborigines, pointed us in the right direction. On the way to the lookout we hit a large bump and suddenly my entire left side (I was riding shotgun) was covered in red. A bottle of wine – my bottle of wine – stored on the top rack had burst and spilled down the side of the troupee. I was a bit bummed at first, but everyone offered to share their booze (and the stains washed out) so I might have actually come out ahead on the deal. The Sandblow was amazing, but we were too far away to actually get onto the dunes.

Steak and Potatoes on Fraser

Dinner for the night was steak, potatoes and salad. The Dan Krause special potatoes went over very well. Quite surprisingly the food was very good, almost too good for camp food. Accommodations were a large rotunda that held 22 cots and one large huntsman spider on the roof. Some of the people though it a bit too wild, but for a true backpacker it was rather luxurious.

We all sat around with the other groups at the

Tribal Dances

campground and swilled wine and beer and stared into the fire. Around 9 the aboriginal hosts came out to do some traditional dances for us. Much ground stomping, yelling and playing of the digeridoo, the dances are intense and exciting. We were seated on the ground so each of the foot stomps reverberated through the crowd. The men were dressed in traditional clothes complete with body paint. One of the men had three stripes on his chest which he explained stood for the three principles of his tribe: 1)If you have more than enough you must share with your fellow tribesman, 2)Respect Mother Earth for she provides you with everything, 3)Respect your elders for they teach you everything you need to know to live. I don’t think we’ve improved upon these principles over the last 60,000 years; in fact we (western civilization) seem to have forgotten all three.

What I Learned Today: The thirds and the quadrant rules of photography. That and a few other pointers from Rob (a professional photographer – www.robheathcote.co.uk), which I hope will vastly improve my photographs for the rest of my trip.

written by

exumenius on November 11, 2007 from Fraser Island, Australia

from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos

Send a Compliment

comment on this...