Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. In the 90s it was designated a World Heritage site. Natives have lived there for centuries, enjoying the abundant fresh spring water, and named the island Paradise. It wasn't long before I found out why. To get there, you drive up past Noosa Heads, to a town called Rainbow, then hop a ferry barge. The ferries are nothing like they are in Washington. First of all the distance is closer to going to Lummi than it is to Bainbridge, perhaps even shorter. There is no official dock, just a docking area. The beach is your road, and the road conditions vary with the tide.



This is our bus driver, Russel, a surfer who has spent time skiing in Utah and surfing all along the west coast of the States and Mexico down to Guatemala, naming off many places I've also been. Surfers are pretty single-minded folks with similar past history itineraries, if they are serious about it. He was the "rookie" and was thus working over the holiday.


Kerry was a god-send. A woman perhaps just a little older than myself, but on her own for the holidays, her fellow, as she called him, went to visit relatives and she didn't want to go, so booked this tour. We were inseperable. She's in the healing arts and was willing to listen to my mishaps with patience and understanding, and offer encouragement. Without her I would have been pretty lonely on the trip. Only one other guest, a daughter and mother, had English as their native tongue. She is the one who took the pictures of me in the Fraser Island postings.


We had to walk 1 kilometer across a stark but beautiful desert to get to this lake. I stopped for a bit of sun along the way.


The green water of a sand dune lake. We could see catfish swimming around but not much else.