Fraser Island

Fraser island, 30 Mins on a car ferry from mainland OZ, is the worlds largest sand island, an awesomely beautiful place, where endless white beaches are bordered by colourful sand cliffs. The island has over 100 freshwater lakes, some tea-coloured by tannin and others clear and blue and ringed by white sandy beaches. Rainforests grow in sand along the banks of fast-flowing, crystal-clear creeks. how could we not take a visit?

To navigate the island we needed a hardy 4x4 as all the roads are made of sand and our van wouldn't have got far! We hired a little Suzuki Jimny, loaded up all the camping gear from the van and headed for the ferry. Upon arriving at the island we drove straight onto sand tracks and engaged 4x4! We soon realised this was no ordinary driving experience and some parts could only be described as extreme offroad! Sequences of potholes up to a metre deep followed by raised tree roots which you bounce over and jump out straight into deep soft sand! The main highway on the island is the 75 Mile beach which stretches the whole West coast of the island.

On the first day we visited various lakes of differing temperatures and colour. The first lake, Birrabean, was crystal clear and sweet drinkable water. After a nice refreshing swim and a game or two of bat and ball we headed onward. The next stop was a dark tea coloured lake which was also close to tea temperature and not atall refreshing! Battling, sliding, bouncing, skidding and wheel-spinning our way through the inland sand tracks we finally arrived at the highway (the main beach!). We were given times, between which we could drive along the beach without getting stranded. We zoomed North towards our first nights campsite at 80kph. Only slowing to bounce and splash throught the regular creeks that carved deep trenches across the beach. Some creeks only become visible at the last minute and we bounced that Suzuki to the limits of it's capabilities (I'll be suprised if it lasts much longer!). We set up to camp right by the beach, cooked food and drank beer before settling down in our tent.

The next morning we were up at 5:30am to avoid the high tide and quickly headed along the beach to Indian Head. From the headland the water below was so clear we watched huge shoals of fish being herded by numerous sharks. We saw a big group of porpoises too, initially mistaking them for sharks because of their large fins. We rushed back South, needing to vacate the beach before high tide, only stopping to wade in the crystal clear Eli creek and take a few snaps of the worlds most photographed shipwreak.

Much creek-fording, rock-avoiding and wave-splashing later we managed to get back onto the inland sand tracks. The tracks got softer and softer and deeper and deeper and within 10 minutes we were totally stuck and going nowhere!! The more we pushed the deeper we sank and moments from despairing a big truck loaded with helpful folks turned up. They let our tyres down and pushed us out! Hooray we were back on our way.

We made our way to Lake Wabby, the islands deepest lake which is slowly being engulfed by a huge sand blow. Rather than take the 40 minute each way desert walk across the sand blow to reach the lake we cheated and took the shortcut through the wood. Despite the warning signs people were sandboarding, running and diving into the clear cool water to refresh themselves after the hike, great fun.

Our last stop was the magnificant and famous Lake McKenzie. The softest white sand surrounded the clearest sweetest water on earth. We wished we could have stayed all day/week/year, but we were on a tight schedule and had to bounce back to the ferryport. A tomato and cheese sandwich later we were on our way back...

Hol 'n' Bex x

Whale watching

As the sun rose over the marina we saw two beautiful pelicans floating nearby and took it to be a sign that today would be a good day for spotting whales. In Hervey Bay September and October are the best months to see humpback whales and their calves who are building up blubber in the bay before they set off to their colder feeding waters of the Antarctic. Humpbacks can grow up to 40 meters and have white undersides, grey backs and are usually covered in barnacles. Whale hunting was banned in Australia in the 1960s and in the last 20 years the whales have started to lose their fear of the boats and may even come close and show off their calves. This was exactly what happened to us, an enormous mother whale (15 Metres long and more than 3 Metres wide) and her calf swam right underneath the boat. They played around the boat, flipping onto their backs and seemed to wave to us and the rest of the delighted audience, with their fins. You cannot imagine the giant majesty of these creatures as they gracefully and agily glide around the boat. They were so close we could almost touch them and so so big. Soon another mother and calf joined the first two and we were treated to a show of blowing and diving and even the occasional jump. Awesome!!

Great Kepple Island

Turtle,
originally uploaded by Hol Riz.

We took a day trip to great kepple island which was a days fun in the sun. The snorkeling was fab and we finally saw our turtle who happily ate, uninhibited by us watching him, until we got bored then followed many brightly coloured fish in their daily reef activities. After snorkeling we enjoyed live music and beautiful beaches with camels roaming them.

The Whitsundays

We had been looking forward to sailing The Whitsunday islands (accessed from Airlie Beach) since arriving in Oz as it was a real highlight of Beckys previous travels in Australia. This time it again lived up to expectations. After a few days camping in the town, deciding on the best way to explore the islands, we arrived early on Tuesday morning with 22 other people to board a blue Pocket Maxi sailing boat called 'Freight Train' for 3 days and 2 nights sailing.

The Whitsundays are a group of islands nestling of the east coast of Australia with spectular clear water, white sand beaches and amazingly coloured fringing coral. The first day the weather was a little overcast and we even had some rain. However not to let that spoil things we sailed out to a dive spot called Luncheon bay to put our recently aquired PADI diving certificates to the test with a free 20 minute dive. Unfortunately Becky was feeling a bit sea sick on the boat and in her haste to get off had picked up an ill-fitting pair of fins so was unable to do the dive but Holland made the most of his 20 minutes and saw outstanding and vividly coloured coral ranging from electric blue to bright orange. The underwater scenery was stunning.

On the second day the sky cleared, and the sun was blazing as we sailed up to one of the worlds best beaches, Whitehaven. This sandy paradise is so white the sand squeaks when you walk on it. In the clear water we could see five or more massive Stingrays and Holland in his excitment to see them properly, grabbed his snorkel mask and ran into the water fully clothed and put his face in the water with his baseball cap still on! Becky was intent on photographing them and was getting worryingly close especially after the recent events concerning stingrays!

On the last day we snorkelled with hundreds of fish in a dive spot aptly nicknamed 'The Aquarium', home to a huge fish named Elvis (because of his huge lips) who would even let you pet him. Here Holland did the best dive of his life, A longer dive through an area of coral called 'the maze'.

He saw countless mind-blowing coral formations, enormous fish and a clam one meter long. A friend of ours had an underwater housing for his digital camera and took these outstanding photos. After drying off, we set off on the four hour sail back to Airlie beach and a big night out with the whole boat and crew on dry land.

Hol and Bex x