Fraser Island
Working my way up the East Coast, my next stop was Fraser Island. Here you can find mile upon mile of unspoilt beaches, dense rainforest, beautiful emerald and turquoise lakes, and free-range dingos.
I caught the public ferry with everyone else, but Stuart preferred to travel under his own steam...
On the island, driving along the beach was an experience I would definitely give the thumbs-up:
...apart from when some silly twunt get in the way of your shot chasing after his stupid football.
For those of you who don't know your spiders, this is a funnel web. They are quite rare on Fraser Island - this is the first that our tour leader had seen in his 20 years of working there, so he was pretty excited. It apparently can kill a human in as little as six minutes. Obviously such a sight meant I had to get up nice and close to take a photo.
They are sooooo sinister looking - here's a better photo of one (Google Images, obviously)
Fraser Island was followed by a visit to the small township of Agnes Water, a few hours further up the coast. It tends to be viewed as a pitstop as you work your way up the coast, however it boasts some fantastic roads... it all makes you want to become a bit of a Hell's angel...
The Whitsundays are all about booking yourself onto a yacht and cruising around the Barrier Reef in search of beaches and aquatic wildlife. The snorkelling here is fantastic, so many weird and wonderful fishies and coral.
I enjoyed the snorkelling, but I found the scuba diving very traumatic. In fact I have never hated anything so much in my life. On having a bit of a panic attack under the water, I not-very-sensibly spat out my mouthpiece and kicked and flailed my way back up. However, I forgot was that I had lead weights attached to me at the time, which meant I was unable to break the surface, until someone came along and rescued me. This was not a fun experience...
But it was soon forgotten as I headed to the much-loved Whitehaven Beach:
Here's a group shot to prove that we really are at the Whitsundays...
And here is a picture of my feet:
Daintree was my last stop on the East Coast. At its northern tip is Cape Tribulation - love the name - I think Captain Cook ran into a spot of bother here. The region is a couple of hours north of Cairns and it has some pretty dense rainforest where you can see funky trees like this:
I was delighted to find that the showers in the hostel were even more luxurious than those in the Fraser Island camp...
Activities undertaken included a jungle horse trek...
So don't mess, OK?
Working my way up the East Coast, my next stop was Fraser Island. Here you can find mile upon mile of unspoilt beaches, dense rainforest, beautiful emerald and turquoise lakes, and free-range dingos.
I caught the public ferry with everyone else, but Stuart preferred to travel under his own steam...
On the island, driving along the beach was an experience I would definitely give the thumbs-up:
The fabulous swimming lakes make for some perfect pictures...
...apart from when some silly twunt get in the way of your shot chasing after his stupid football.
The bathrooms in the campsite were simply marvellous...
While you are negotiating the wildlife indoors, outside the wild dingos make it their business to steal your food...
A dingo stole my sandwich!
On one jolly jaunt, the tour leader spotted this just off the pathway...
For those of you who don't know your spiders, this is a funnel web. They are quite rare on Fraser Island - this is the first that our tour leader had seen in his 20 years of working there, so he was pretty excited. It apparently can kill a human in as little as six minutes. Obviously such a sight meant I had to get up nice and close to take a photo.
They are sooooo sinister looking - here's a better photo of one (Google Images, obviously)
Pure evil.
Fraser Island was followed by a visit to the small township of Agnes Water, a few hours further up the coast. It tends to be viewed as a pitstop as you work your way up the coast, however it boasts some fantastic roads... it all makes you want to become a bit of a Hell's angel...
Now I know what I want for Christmas....
Hell yeah!
Whitsunday Islands
The Whitsundays are all about booking yourself onto a yacht and cruising around the Barrier Reef in search of beaches and aquatic wildlife. The snorkelling here is fantastic, so many weird and wonderful fishies and coral.
I enjoyed the snorkelling, but I found the scuba diving very traumatic. In fact I have never hated anything so much in my life. On having a bit of a panic attack under the water, I not-very-sensibly spat out my mouthpiece and kicked and flailed my way back up. However, I forgot was that I had lead weights attached to me at the time, which meant I was unable to break the surface, until someone came along and rescued me. This was not a fun experience...
But it was soon forgotten as I headed to the much-loved Whitehaven Beach:
Here's a group shot to prove that we really are at the Whitsundays...
And here is a picture of my feet:
This is silica sand - the purest and finest sand you will find anywhere. In fact, so unique is this kind of sand, Whitehaven Beach is a protected World Heritage site. Although a few years ago they sold five tons of silica sand to Nasa to build the glass panels for the Hubble Telescope, and in my view, that means it can't be all that well protected.
Daintree
Daintree
I was delighted to find that the showers in the hostel were even more luxurious than those in the Fraser Island camp...
Activities undertaken included a jungle horse trek...
...a dip in a creek, where I was photographed at the precise moment I was bitten on my forehead by a march fly (ouch)
...some random face painting...
...and a trip to the beach (Cape Tribulation in the background)...
...where Stuart stumbled upon a cluster of pretty shells
...and I did a good jumping shot
That just about wraps up the East Coast... just a couple more things to get through. In my last blog I promised to show you some of the weird animals I've encountered. So here we go:
Cane toad (squashed)
Manta ray (that black mass in the middle of the sea - not the best shot I'll admit)
Cute froggy (ahhh!)
Sea eagle
Eel (huge it was!)
Python
Baby croc (with mouth taped up)
Koala (it is NOT a bear)
Kookaburra
Green ant.
It is said that if you lick it, it tastes very strongly of citrus. I licked it; it did indeed taste very strongly of citrus.
Peppermint stick insect. When disturbed they emit a milky substance with a peppermint taste. I tried it. It really does taste of peppermint.
Cassowary.
Only found in the Daintree region, they are just about the weirdest thing I have seen. These things are huge, with enormous talons. They have been known to disembowel humans when upset...
On a final note, while many of the shots in this blog came out rather well, they were taken with a broken camera. It was broken in the sense that it could still take pictures, but the screen was dead so I couldn't see what I was photographing, and just had to point and click. It became known as the 'Mystery Camera'.
When I next found an opportunity to upload the 'mystery photos', I was presented with some interesting shots...
Skill.
Verdict - East Coast: Like being on another planet
Do I miss England: Errrrrm.... I'm trying to recollect..... third rock from the sun, right?
