Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Fraser Island Safari and Sydney Issues

Ok

I will start with the Sydney issues. We are on fraser island at the moment preparing to head out for day two of our adventures. We woke up this morning to the news that there is a massive dust storm in Sydney and surrounding area. The airport is closed and the ferries have all been stopped. Images of the city show that it is completely red. You cannot see the opera house or the bridge at all. The news said that strong winds have brought the dust in from the northern territories and the dust is expected to move north towards us this afternoon so we will see what happens.

On to the safari. We woke up early and were picked up by our tour guide Richard. We hopped on our fourteen person, four wheel drive bus and drove onto the ferry. The past few days on the coast have been very windy so the hour long ride over was really rocky. When we got to the island there was no dock where we were supppsed to land. The boat backed up. We all hopped back on the bus. The ramp on the ferry opened into the water. And we drove into the water and up onto the beach! We knew then that this trip would be interesting.

Every "road" on Fraser island is made of sand. In fact, the entire island is the largest sand dune in the world but it is covered in vegetation and fresh water lakes. We spent the day bobbing around on sand roads learning about the area with occasional stops for lunch, a swim in Eli creek, a look at the moheno shipwreck, climbing around colored sands pinnacles, whale/shark/stingray/dolphin watching at indians head and then back to our accomodation at Fraser island backpackers for a steak and fish dinner. The day was amazing and we took a million pictures.

We are about to hop off of the bus to hike in to a fresh water lake. Fill you in on more later!

D&S

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