15. Hervey Bay (Fraser Island), Australia

HERVEY BAY (FRASER ISLAND)

WARNING: This is a long but highly enjoyable blog entry. I highly suggest you get a cup of tea or coffee, hobnob and sit back, relax and enjoy reading this all in one sitting. :)

Our journey to Hervey Bay:

We didn't have far to walk to catch the bus, it was only over the road!

 

We arrived by greyhound bus. The journey took 5 hours and the bus DIDNT have wifi! However we were happy just watching Australia pass by, plus we had sent out all the important emails so it wasn't really needed. The last picture below are horses casually crossing the road.  You may just be able to make them out! :)

 

The bus was totally full when we first boarded but by the end of the journey and with the majority getting off at Noosa we could sit back and relax with two seats each which was lovely! 

Our hostel supplied a free pick up so they were waiting for us when we arrived at the bus station. We just hopped on, it was quite a journey so would have taken us quite a while to walk! We were very thankful! 

We were really looking forward to staying in this hostel - Flashpackers - we liked the slogan 'affordable luxury!!' We missed a bit of luxury! It also had FREE WIFI! Bonus!! 

We went to check in and people were talking about a Lunar Eclipse. We were told we had 3 minutes to run down to the beach and catch it! We legged it down! It was too cloudy though really so went back. We then had a tour of the hostel and saw the lunar eclipse! The moon was a lovely reddy orange. This is when the earth is directly in between the sun and the moon, therefore a red shadow of earth is projected onto the moon.

We dumped our bags and mavelled at the room - it was lovely! A double room with a sliding door leading onto the bathroom with a powerful shower. It's a shame we didn't have time to use it!! Socialising came first! :)

 

 

 

We headed out for dinner at an Irish pub down the road with some new friends we had just met. We enjoyed swapping stories about life and travelling over dinner. We enjoyed a lovely burger and treated ourselves to a very yummy apple crumble - gorgeous! Not as nice as our grandmas though!! 

 

We headed back to the hostel, well ROLLED back! We were stuffed! Due to an early pick up tomorrow we organised our bags and settled down! 

DAY TWO - The tour begins!

We were about to embark on a 3 day tour of Fraser Island with a company called Cool Dingo.  We were very excited!


 

We were picked up at 7.30am. We enjoyed a free breakfast and checked out. Our bus came on time and we were ready to hit the road!

We loaded our bags and picked up a few people along the way to catch the ferry over to Fraser Island. The crossing took about 45mins and the scenery was lovely. 

 

We arrived and thought wow do we get picked up by this?? 

 

 

But no that was for the resort guests. We walked to the end of the pier and met our Tour Guide, Martin.  There were about 27 of us all together ready to be Cool Dingos! (Name of the company). 

Fraser Island is the biggest natural sand island in the world and the roads are just gaps in the sand and wow they were BUMPY! 

 

We got on the bus and headed off to the start of the trip. Our Tour Guide was very informative telling us about the history, wildlife, environment and of course the dingos. Fraser Island has wild dingos roaming about. Away from the resorts you leave the dingo safe zones. There were lots of signs warning people what to do if you came across a dingo.  

Martin gave us a lesson in what to do if we did see a dingo - have eye contact with them at all times! If they turn aggressive then we should fight back.  Water bottle was kept handy!

Our first stop was a lake called Lake Mackenzie.  We had a trek on the wilderness path and saw this sign on the way down to the lake which was a little nerving!! 

We had our practice run training with Martin pretending to be a dingo so we felt prepared. You never know when one might pop up seen as they are all over the island!! The lake was stunning. It consisted of gorgeous blues and turquoise colours.  

The best thing was that we weren't rushed for time. We had plenty of time to enjoy the lake, swim and take pictures of the area!

 

We headed up to the dingo free zone to enjoy a buffet lunch. Soft bread, fresh salad, chicken and juice. Tasty! 

 

We had one extra guest for dinner but nobody had any food left it was that yummy! 

 

We enjoyed sitting down eating with our new friends in the sun!

Next we drove, well bumped our way along to visit another lake called Lake Basin. It was very picturesque! 

 

We then walked for 40mins through the woodland to Central Station. We were mesmorised by all the different types of trees and the vines that twisted themselves around some trees and then hung freely.

 

We enjoyed listening to nature for a minutes silence. It was so peaceful listening to nature. All of the different birds tweeting away and the stream running by in the distance no other sounds at all. We then carried on and I turned into Tour Guide leading the gang of 40 through the woodland in search of a lady's grave and a big massive tree that can fit 6 people around it! Off we went! 

We had to be careful in some stages, hurdling over some stumps and then ducking under low tree branches. It was a great walk though. 

We followed the path and found the plaque. I nearly missed it though! I didn't pass that test!!

 

The hunt was now on for the big....well massive tree!! After a lot of 'is that it?? It looks pretty big, could that be it?! We found it!! 

 

It was hundreds of years old and we had fun seeing how many people we could fit round it. 

 

We managed 6 people!! Crazy! 

We carried on and came to the bus where we were served Afternoon Tea. I was waiting for the tea with scones, jam and cream to come out but I made do with the yummy cookies. Everyone enjoyed 1 but unfortunately for me and Rach the cookies we pulled out two were stuck together. Oh dear!! He he 

We then moved on to the lodges where we were staying. Rach and I were sharing a 4 bed dorm.

 

We headed down for dinner in the Dingo Bar. It was Mexican night and wow what a feast!! We enjoyed filling our plate that night! 

We enjoyed chatting and laughing making new friends! Rach formed a team with Martin and played pool. They won....hands down!! 

 

It was then bed time after a fun filled day. We were excited for tomorrow's adventure! 

Day Three

We had heard about how good breakfast was and we weren't disappointed. Our first fry up for a while!! We really enjoyed getting filled up ready for the day ahead.

 

Our first stop was called Stonetool Sandblow. We were told the history of it and how it was forestland but now sand has taken over. 

 

Fraser Island has a 75mile beach and it is treated as a road. It has speed limits! It was really strange driving on a beach.
 

 

We had a little stop at a place called Happy Valley before stopping at Maheno Wreck.

 

We had the opportunity of flying over the island which would have been nice but we gave it a miss.  It was interesting seeing a plane take off on the beach though. There are only two places you can take off from a beach. Here and Barra Island in Scotland, UK.

 

As well as seeing cars on the beach we saw people 'worming'. This involves having a net full of fish heads and moving it along the beach waiting for worms to surface and then grabbing them for fishing bait!

The shipwreck had an interesting history to it. In 1935 it was shipped over to Japan for scrap metal but it hit a cyclone and ended up being washed up on Fraser Island for us to enjoy. 

 

We went to the Pinnicles - coloured sands. We had to walk there and we were a bit weary due to this sign warning us.....

 

But we conquered on and they looked lovely and the aboriginal   stories behind them were very interesting.

 

 

We carried on our journey and came across a bus that was stuck in the sand. 

 

We gave them a push, well pull...

 

We were back on our way after Martin did his good deed of the day. We visited Indian Head. We had to climb rocks to get to the summit but once we did it the view was spectacular!

 

What topped off the visit was seeing 3 whales!! It was amazing!! They aren't in season until June too so we were very lucky to see them!

 

It was all go, go, go but we were having a blast seeing all these wonderful places Fraser Island had to offer! 

Next was Champagne Pools - no champagne was in sight much to my disappointment!! 

 

I jumped straight in! It was lovely even though it started raining after 15mins of being there which was a shame. 

Whilst we were there, we came across these funky things. They were like sponges, once you touch them they squirt water at you. 

 

We headed back along the beach and all of a sudden Martin jumped out and listened to the sand. We were a tad spooked! Ha ha 

 

We all formed a circle and did some dancing. 

After that we headed to Eli Creek which was a bit like a 'lazy river'. Here the sun had come out so we all enjoyed our lunch on the beach. We were ready for it!! 

 

We could go in the creek but it was a bit cold so we didn't but plenty of people were enjoying it, especially as it was school holidays and the start of Easter weekend. It was busy.

Before we headed off we signed a couple of Australian flags for some new friends we've made :)

 

We headed back to the lodge but not before we saw 5 dingos!! They were casually walking along the beach. Just taking it easy. They looked just like dogs but a bit wilder. 

 

We felt safe and comfortable admiring them from on board the bus! That was close enough! :)

That was it - back to the lodge! Wow we needed a lie down. We treated ourselves and used the hotel facilities. Lovely pool and we admired a gorgeous sunset from here. Stunning pictures, if I say so myself! 

 

We paid for it heading back to the lodge though. A massive steep hill took us home! 

We got ready for dinner - Sunday dinner was served MINUS the Yorkshire puddings and stuffing! Yummy!! 

We said goodbye to some of our new friends. They were on the 2 day tour and sadly had to leave which was sad seen as we'd made some great friends.

We headed back to the lodge and met some new people who had moved in. We got talking and had SUCH a laugh!! Some of the laughing was at how we say bus, but and up but hey we are YORKSHIRE and proud!! :)

We then went to the dingo bar, came back and got asked to go out again but we couldn't! Our beds were crying out to us! Especially after the day we had!! 

Day Four

We placed our luggage in the storage container ready for pick up from the Hervey Bay, had breakfast and headed off ready to do our last day :( 

First stop was a lake called Birrabeen.  It was lovely, the water was so clear once again! There were two paddleboards available. Rach was excited about this!! 

We had a little paddle first and then Rach couldn't wait any longer! She was off! 

We had a good amount of time here so we took it nice and easy. Next stop was lunch at a resort called Eurong Beach Resort for an all you eat buffet. Wow it beat any lunches we have had recently...soup, noodles etc. 

 

We were spoilt for choice! Soup, meat, fish, salad, potatoes! Heaven! 

We moved on and went to Lake Wabby!! It was a bit of a trek 2.4km each way but we were talking so it soon passed. We talked to two fellow Yorkshire girls - we are trying to conquer the world!! Ha ha :) 

We came out of the forest area and entered what looked like the Sahara desert!! Sand dunes all over, the landscape was gorgeous.
 

 

We enjoyed a little sit down and then we carried on and found the Lake! 

 

We could really relax and enjoy the lake, it was so peaceful. 

We headed back to the lodges one last time and said our goodbyes. It was quite sad saying goodbye to people after spending almost the whole of three days with them. Some great friendships were made on this trip definitely. 

We then made our way back to the lodge and said goodbye to Martin, we couldn't not get one! 

 

Martin may have to work on his driving skills but he is an awesome Tour guide! 

 

If he is your tour guide you know your trip is going to be informative and full of fun!! 

We went to the harbour for the ferry and had 30 minutes to chat about our adventure. We enjoyed capturing our last moments on Fraser Island On the way over we witnessed a lovely sunset.   

We then got dropped off at the coach station.  We were a bit early... 5 hours! We enjoyed a subway for dinner though and did our diaries so time was not wasted!

Well I hope you enjoyed reading this with your cup of tea and biscuit.  Don't forget we would love some comments :)

Next stop...Airlie Beach for the Whitsundays!!

Lots of love,

Nat x