Fraser Island – Part 1

Friday October 5th. Ahh finally the tour that I have been waiting for, Fraser Island. This island is the largest sand island in the world with more sand then the Sahara Desert and is a four wheelers dream. There are no paved roads anywhere on the island and the main highway is literally the beach, ohh yeah baby!!!!! The 3 day tour departed from Koalas Backpackers in Hervey Bay which is where I spent 4 months working when I came to Australia 10 years ago, wow time flies. The crazy thing was that one of the guys that I worked with was still there, I recognized him right away and as soon as we started talking he recognized me too. We chatted for a few minutes and he updated me on the status of all my old work mates, it felt really strange. Any way on Friday there was a briefing where we met the other 8 people who were in our group for the trip. There was Gawain, Lillie & Nancy who were all German, Sam from England, Michael from South Africa, Hindrik from the Nether lands, Lo from the USA and a fellow Canadian named Dave. We had the best group and everyone really got along which was very important as we were spending 3 days together cramped in the back of Toyota Land Cruiser. That night Christa & I stayed in a 6 person dorm as it was free and this time Christa and I both got the top bunk........yipeeeee!! Unfortunately her bunk was on the other side of the room. Saturday October 6th, day one of our adventure, it was a 5 am start to get ready and have our last shower for 3 days. We packed up the truck and were off to the ferry for Fraser Island. We arrived on the island and Gawain (aka G- Man, also known as G-money or crazy German driver) was our first driver. He was loving the 4 wheeling and did an awesome job manoeuvring through soft sand that was about 2 feet deep. Our plan was to get to the other side of the island and head north along the beach before the tide came in to far. Ever thing was going great until we came around a corner and found about 10 other vehicles bogged (stuck in the sand). The sand was really soft and it was an uphill climb for the oncoming traffic. There was only enough room for one vehicle to go through at a time so that meant we weren’t going anywhere until they all got through. So our group also known as the A-team got out and helped push a few of them out. We were stuck there for about two hours with a stream of buses and traffic trying to make it to the ferry constantly getting stuck, so we decided to turn around and attempt another way. The good thing was that it worked and we made it to the beach, the bad thing was the tide was coming in. After taking a vote and a local guy telling us we still had time, we decided to continue up the beach. We drove for another couple of hours and found a good spot just up from the beach to set up camp. We were right by one of the main attractions called the Maheno Wreck. The sun was going down fast so we set up our tents and cooked up diner. After diner we had just enough sunlight to get some beautiful pictures of the Maheno Ship Wreck at sunset, which is the remains of a massive cruise liner that washed ashore during a winter cyclone in 1935. After sunset we all hung out and gazed at the countless beautiful stars that filled the sky. We could see the ocean from our site and the waves crashing looked like they glowed blue. Christa and I had just settled into our sleeping bags when Michael came running up from the beach yelling for us to come quick. We jumped out of bed and ran down to the beach to find that the sand was glowing. Michael had discovered that there was phosphorous in the sand which caused it glow when you touched it. I have never seen anything like it. The sand & water sparkled like the stars in the sky when you ran your foot over the sand or splashed your hands in the water. When you walked every step lit up then faded as you walked along. It was totally amazing and we played in the sand for about an hour. In awe of God‘s breathtaking creation I am again reminded of His unbelievable love for us.