Sand In Our Shoes

December 18, 2001-Gritty Start
(photo: David & 4-wheel drive bus)

Today was our Frasier Island all day adventure. We met our 4-wheel drive tour bus at the dock. I didn’t even know there were 4-wheel drive buses. The guide didn’t have our reservations but we resolved that before we started. This took awhile, but we weren’t alone. There was a British couple whom we met on the catamaran we took to get here yesterday & their reservation also got lost. We enjoyed their company & even had lunch with them. They explained to us the Aussie pejorative for the British. They call them POMs. Evidently that means Prisoner of Her Majesty. Anyway, there must have been a stuff-up with our reservations at the ranger office where we paid & it had to be sorted out.

We learned that Frasier Island is a World Heritage Site. Others are the pyramids in Egypt & the Grand Canyon. Not bad company. The sites can be cultural or natural. Frasier tried for dual status because of the aboriginal settlements here. Since there were no aborigines left, they only got natural site status. That was enough to cause the logging that had gone on for decades to grind to a halt & for development to be closely supervised. The resort where we’re staying opened in 1991. When it was being built, all the plants that had to be moved for construction of the complex were stored in a nursery on the island & replanted when the resort was finished. This prevented any new species, seeds, or diseases from being introduced.

Sand, Sand

When we took off in the vehicle, we didn’t realize that just riding in it would be an adventure. The bitumen (paved) roads on the island are limited to those around the lodge. The rest of the roads are sand. Remember, this is a huge sand island. In some rare instances, the sand is overlaid with rubber matting for traction, but this is uncommon. Mostly, the bus bounced & jounced from front to back then rolled & careened from side to side. Sometimes it did this simultaneously. It felt as if you were in a giant centrifuge. At the start of the tour, the driver said that if anyone felt car sick, he would move them up front. It wouldn’t have helped. We were sitting up front. Fortunately, we escaped any nausea. That must have been because we were just concentrating on keeping our heads glued to our necks. My solution was to gently lean back in the seat & place my head on the very padded headrest. There it could jerk around to its heart’s content without danger of getting whiplash. I rather enjoyed the whole experience & thought of it as an enclosed roller coaster ride.

Our first stop was an overlook at a sand blow. This is a huge dune the wind carries across the land faster than the vegetation can regenerate. Ultimately, the sand buries all in its path. As the sand moves, it also uncovers what it had buried ages ago. This sand blow was called Stonetool because, as it has moved, it has uncovered aborigine tools. I was disappointed because I thought we’d be able to climb the dune. I guess that was naïve of me. Hundreds of tourists come there every day & climbing would destroy it.

We next headed for the Eastern shore. That’s where the sharks lay in wait for fish trapped by receding tides. We drove along the beach as the tide was going out & dodged waves as they crept up the sand. The beach was named 75-mile beach by Captain Cook, but it turned out to be only 56 miles long. It was still impressive. We learned a new game. It was called “count the waves.” When we came to an outcropping & had to drive around it, the bus had to travel closer to the breaking waves. The driver said that the 7th wave was supposed to be smaller than the rest. The problem was at which wave we should start counting. He did a masterful job in timing it & the bus got the minimum exposure to the caustic salt water. We also learned another game along the inner island roads. They are only one lane wide & drivers use the MVPTY system. That means that if My Vehicle is Bigger Than Yours, you give way.

We stopped at Eli Creek, a fresh water creek that empties into the sea. There was a boardwalk along the creek or you could actually walk up in the water & float down. We walked up the walkway & strolled down the creek. It was so clear that David took a photo of my painted toes through the water. Of course, the bottom was all sand. Our next stop was the Pinnacles. They’re multi-hued cone-like shapes eroded by the wind. The sand that comprises these forms got mixed with some of the iron rich red soil from the mainland & creates an impressive display of colors from yellow to gold to rust. But the rustiest thing on the beach was the hull of a long defunct passenger vessel, the Maheno. It had plied its route from Sydney to Auckland for years, when it was declared to be obsolete. It was sold to the Japanese in 1935, for scrap. The Japanese reasoned they could safely tow it home in July, since that wasn’t cyclone season. Their luck, there was a renegade cyclone that struck. The ship broke loose & was washed up on Frasier Island. It’s been there ever since. It will probably totally disappear in 50 years or so. It just occurred to me that the scrap metal from that ship could have ended up killing U.S. servicemen in the war that was yet to come.

One of the activities you can do here is take a flight-seeing tour of the island. Planes take off & land on the beaches, so as we traveled, we had to abide by the airplane warning signs & be wary. I’ve never driven on an active runway before. Due to high tide, we didn’t actually get to see any in action, although several were parked on the beach.

And More Sand

After lunch, we headed inland to the only rainforest in the world that grows in sand. Our guide pointed out the Macazamia plant. It’s a truly transsexual plant. If it’s in fertile soil, it’s female. If the nutrients of the soil become depleted, it changes to a male plant. I loved it! GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, & transgendered) ARE everywhere. Another tree I thought was interesting is the satanay or turpentine tree. It’s notable because of where it ended up being used. It’s impervious to salt water & bores that infest wood in the ocean. It was used to line the Suez Canal.

The grand finale of the day was a walk through the rainforest & a swim in a fresh water lake. I think this is the 6th time we’ve walked through a rainforest in Australia. There was a creek called the Invisible River that we followed. It was so clear you couldn’t tell there was water in it unless you saw a leaf float past or saw a ripple. It was awesome. The way to the lake was multiple choice. You could walk straight uphill for 1.6 km or you could take the bus to an area closer in & walk uphill 1 km. I chose the 1.6. It was quite a trek & I was glad to see that water when I got there. David went the bus route & joined me. Fortunately, we had equal wildlife adventures along the way. I was afraid he would see a dingo & I wouldn’t & vice versa. Unfortunately, neither of us saw a dingo, but we each saw a goanna. That’s a huge lizard. Mine was on the side of a tree & his was crossing the path.

Basin Lake was, as they say, clear as a bell. It had a sandy bottom (what else) but not a lot of things living in it. That suited me fine. It is very acidic so only little turtles & a tiny fish can survive. Some people had snorkel masks so they could see underwater, but there was nothing to see.

Someone asked if there were kangaroos on the island. The guide said they turn up from time to time. They swim over from the mainland at a point ½ km from the island. When they get to Fraser, they realize that none of the vegetation they like exists, so they swim on back to the mainland.

Our guide proved to be very entertaining. He told us a bizarre tale of an animal, a rodent of some sort, I think. The male is quite aggressive & doesn’t care if the female is interested or not. He just mates forcefully. We’d call it rape. This goes on for 12 hours after which he keels over & dies. The guide said it was every man’s dream to die after 12 hours of sex (not the rape part). I bet the women on the bus were wondering where to find a mate who could do it for 12 hours. That, or they were thinking that the male got his just desserts.

As we wended our way back to the resort, our guide proved that he was a very young, but very wise man. It was only then he told us about the four highly venomous snakes inhabiting the island & the non-poisonous green snakes that hang out at Eli Creek. High praise should be given to the training the rangers get for this kindness.

We got back to the resort at 4:30pm & didn’t even go to our room. We dropped our backpack at the pool & dove in. What a day!

Toby