Saturday, July 5, 2008

Week 8- Fraser Island to Airlie Beach






Week 8- Fraser Island to Airlie Beach

The highlight of the week was taking a 4 WD excursion to Frasier Island, the largest sand island in the world. We took a ferry out to the island and were greeted by a dingo patrolling the beach. We boarded a large all terrain vehicle and took off at break neck speed down the narrow sand roads, narrowly missing the large trees hugging the track. We crossed the island and stopped at a shipwreck on the far shore. On the way back the driver slammed on the breaks to miss a 3 meter carpet python, sunning in the track.

After this adventure, we headed up to a few coastal towns before going inland to Eungella NP. It was supposed to be a good location for spotting platypus. Since platypus usually only come out between dusk and dawn, it’s difficult to find them before it gets too dark to see. We were unsuccessful this night.

Next we headed to Airlie beach, gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. We arrived on a Friday and signed up for a 3 night sail starting on Monday. The great weather we had been experiencing so far this trip quickly came to an end. It poured buckets on Saturday as we hiked in the area. We were glad we were not on the boat that day. We explored the area around Bowen and got ready for our snorkeling/sailing trip.

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