Fraser Island

All the cold and flu adverts start showing on tv as Australian winter has started. And even though it is still nowhere near cold and no coat needs to be worn its a little depressing hearing its actually warmer in Holland than it is here!! 

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we where playing a pubquiz with a couple of people up in Airlie Beach. One of the questions was what the largest sand island in the world was. Well we had no clue. Now I do..

It started last sunday when we left to go to Hervey Bay and Fraser island for a couple of days. At least we tried to leave... We got about half an hour out of Bundaberg and the car broke down. Towtrucks and taxis called we drove right back to Bundaberg, swapped cars, left the boat and four hours later we got into Hervey Bay anyway. Without a boat the plans got changed and we spend the afternoon nosing around Hervey Bay. Fish and chips next to the beach and a walk on the longest pier in Australia ( which isnt very long). After lunch we went to the sharkshow. An exibition set up by shark-hunter Vic Hislop. Inside are millions of shark parts but mostly newspaper articles showing multiple dissapearances at sea and known shark attacks. Three different videos where playing giving you information on shark attacks and shark hunting. There was even an actual great white shark frozen in a tank. And they smell, a lot. The four airfresheners spread around the room still couldnt mask the smell. All this was extremely interesting and gave a lot of information but the views of this guy were extremely ignorant. He was basically trying to convince us all that sharks where killing machines (true), that if they attack humans they should be killed (I guess) and that all sharks should be hunted down to save the dolphins and other animals they eat (what?!).  He made a lot of very good statements and then ruined his whole theory by stating this I thought. If it was up to him he would kill every shark out there and completely unbalance the circle of sea-life.

Wellafter this interesting experience it was back to the motel to get some food and sleep before the Frase Island tour.

Monday morning pick up at 7:30 and off to Rivers Head we went to get onto the ferry which would take us to Kingfisher Bay. One of the bays on Fraser island; the largest sand island in the world. The answer to our pubquiz!

Getting into Fraser Island must be an amazing view on a sunny day but the dolphins swimming around the ferry made up for the rain. Once we got on the island we got taken to the Kingfisher resort where morning tea and cakes where waiting for us. The resort is made out of wood all found on the island and build on poles so that flora and fauna can continu to grow underneath. Out the back are two pools of which one heated and a hottub. With not a lot to do in the morning we decided to warm up in the hottub. So off to the shop we went to get some cheap swimmers and when even the sun came out for a while it was perfect.

Once the rain came back it was lunchtime anyway and we could sit in the lovely restaurant eating tasty salads seeing the raindrops in the pool. After lunch we got a guided bushwalk around the resort and where shown all kinds of plants including one that smells like citronella and keeps mosquitos away so I took a branch. We got caught out in the rain though and ran back to the resort.

A little later we got back on the Ferry and started the journey back to Bundaberg to spend our last week there before we go onto the next stop down the coast; Rainbow Beach.