Lake Berrabeen

Lake Wabby

Lake Wabby was towards the center of the island. We hiked up into the rainforest then over a sand dune. We were all exhausted because it was the end of the day, but it was worth the trip. The lake was at the bottom of the hill & was a beautiful dark green. Cortney almost fell down the hill trying to do the “ski dance”…she always keeps us entertained.

Maheno Shipwreck

The Maheno was built as a luxury liner. During WWI, it was used for a hospital ship. After the war, it returned to its previous use as a luxury liner. It was sold to Japan because it was believed the ship was outdated and it took to many men to work the steam engine. The Japanese picked up the ship with 6 men. A tugboat and a rope pulled the ship because these men could not operate the ship on their own. A cyclone came about and they had to cut the rope to save themselves. The Maheno came ashore on Fraser Island & it’s still there today.

I found all of this quite funny. The Japanese bought this huge ship, didn’t bring enough people to operate it, then lost it during a cyclone—what a waste of money! It was interesting to see how the ship had decayed over time, but still standing & looking like a ship.

Lake Allum (...the snapping turtles)

We left Indian head on our journey to Lake Allum. It sounds pretty cool & we heading up there to see the snapping turtles. YES! (I know, it’s crazy…we have those back in Missouri!) Needless to say, we got to see all kinds of snapping turtles in a lake…I’m pretty sure they took us there at lunch because there were picnic tables there so it was convenient. I didn’t want to leave anything out so here they are…fresh water snapping turtles of Australia.

Indian Head

After stopping at Eli Creek, we traveled up the 75-mile beach to Indian Head. Its name came from, as I’m sure you have guessed, when the Europeans first came to Fraser Island. They saw the Aborigines on top of Indian Head and assumed they were Indians.

We hiked to the top & had a beautiful view of the ocean. We saw whales in the distance, turtles, and a stingray in the water. The whales are not migrating so it wasn’t prime season, but we did see a few. We also saw lizards on top of the cliff. It was a spectacular view and the ocean looked beautiful. It did start to rain so we headed back down the mountain to continue on our journey around Fraser Island.

Eli Creek

Our second day at Fraser Island started off with Eli Creek. Fraser Island has a great deal of fresh water lakes and streams. After driving up the beach we stopped here…We walked up the creek and then laid out on the beach. While walking through the stream I was smart enough to call Cortney and Katie “douche bag magies” & the Scottish people in the creek with us loved my comment. Needless to say, they took it in a literal since and then yelled it up the creek to their friends. I then fell into this hole because I wasn’t paying attention. Lesson learned-don’t call people douche bags around people you don’t know (especially when you’re in a foreign country!)

The creek was nice and clear. We could only walk up so far to ensure the creek was pure farther up. It was a little cold, but it had been raining and we are still in the spring here in Australia.

Oh the Dingos...

Right after arriving at the Resort one of the tour guides, Scott, gave us all the information about Dingos. They are similar to a dog, but they are much more ferocious and will attack you if you run. Their defence is to bite your ankle so you cannot run from them. We were told to stare at them (even if we were shaking in terror) and slowly back up while never taking your eye off of them. We couldn’t feed them or anything. Honestly, I was scared and didn’t want to see any all weekend. We saw them on the resort on Saturday morning and again on the beach Sunday afternoon. We were in the vehicle both times so we were safe. The dingos on Fraser Island are pure bread because they have never been off the island. They were neat to look at, but I wouldn’t want to cross them in the wild.

The Rainforest

After arriving at the resort we changed and headed off into the Rain forest. It was raining all afternoon so the walk was quite interesting. We saw all kinds of wildlife and learned all about the King Ferns from tour guide Scott. The trees reminded me of Jurassic Park, but it was still a good time. We needed to get out and walk after being cramped up in the Land Cruiser for 6 hours.

Fraser Island...From Pimpania to Gimpie

On the journey to Fraser Island we noticed some odd names on the exit signs. The towns of Pimpania and Gimpie were some of the best, but Australia should definitely pride themselves on their creativity in their naming. This day started off quite hectic. I stayed with Cortney to make sure we made it to the cab by 5:30am. We had planned on getting up to talk with Ryan and her parents that morning before setting off on our trip, but the alarm didn't go off. Kerry and Katie called us at 5:30 when we were supposed to be downstairs at the cab. We were pretty stressed and worrying about catching the bus in Surfers. We made it…but upon arrival in Brisbane we found out we wouldn’t be on the big 4x4 bus, but in the little Land Cruiser (which ended up being the better of the two) with our tour guide Linda. We drove most of the way on the highway until taking it off road on the beach. We took the fairy across to Fraser Island, drove up the beach to Eurong Resort.

There is also a photo of a war memorial. The Anzac battle is very important in Australia (I learned all about it in history class!) and it wasn't even fought in Australia. This was a battle the Australians fought with Britain to prove their loyalty. Many men were killed or wounded in battle because they fought from the trenches.

Bondstock!

During week 5 of the semester Bond Uni hosted Bondstock consisting of multiple social events (concerts, parties, formal dances, speeches, etc). On Tuesday evening I went to the concert here at Bond. It was a great time! The band was alright, but while we were waiting around for the next band to come on, the group of girls decided to have a photo shoot...We got a little silly to say the least. We also started "people watching" and starting making fun of other dancers and such. I believe the pictures speak for themselves...

Our New Beach Spot...

Alright-I know I've fallen behind on my blog. I have been quite busy now that school is in full swing...A couple weeks ago we went on quite a trip to find a new beach that wasn't so busy. Some friends from Bond told us how to get there & we planned it all out. The day started off quite strange after we went to the bus at 9:15, then is didn't even show up. We eventually showed up (we got off the bus early & went to a different one...but we made it to a beach) & the beach was gorgeous! Ironically we got off the bus right across the street from a Wyndham Resort (only my family will understand the irony of this). It was great! We did venture off to the bathroom and found that about every public bathroom in Australia has a "Place Syringe Here" box-which I found to be quite odd and disturbing, but what do you do?