Day 2 at Fraser Island

After a hearty breakfast, inspired by the salt air, we took a stroll on the beach to check the hide tide level as we want to head North to see the sights and that means crossing Eli Creek...a lot trickier than at low tide. A storm was aproaching the coast from out to sea and quickly changed the outlook and the colour scheme of things.

We head off in the Landcruiser and successfully cross Eli Creek which is the largest flowing waterway on the island. "Eli" runs all year 'round, is pristine fresh water and the flow has been measured at 4 million litres/hour...that's a few glasses of water.

Soon after we come across the shipwreck of the S.S. Maheno which was being towed from New Zealand to the scrap yards in Japan in 1935. A violent storm sent it to the shore, never to be liberated.

Further North, we turn inland to cross the island and head for Woralie Creek. On the way we stop off at Knife Blade Sand Blow which is one of the larger drifts of sand constantly being shifted inland by the wind. This one is steadily engulfing the forest in its path and at the point, this giant moving sand dune is 4 kilometres in from the beach. Here the vegetation is predominately eucalypt forest and the huge white gums with their red sap stains and branches gnarled into the strangest of shapes. A closer look at these trees and you'll notice erratic red lines on the contrasting white trunks. This is the trail of a little bug who burrows through the bark in search of nourishment. This trail looks as though someone has scribbled on the tree and hence the name of "Scribbly Gums" or the botanical name of Eucalyptus Signata. Heading further into the island, we notice the sudden change from eucalypt forest to very dense, cool rainforest. Amongst the giant trees we are looking for a basin lake with rain forest trees on one side and towering hoop pines on the other. This is Lake Allom, which is home to scores of long necked turtles, and aren't they little cuties.

Here it rained buckets while we were having a cup of tea and the rainforest canopy kept the bulk of the rain off us while sheltering by their towering trunks. It was here that we noticed a strange thing with the tall Tallowood trees here. Whilst it was raining, the trunks were running with streams of foam which really kept us guessing for some time. In more recent tours to Fraser island we have asked several Rangers about this and they all recall seeing it at one stage or another, but have no explanation for it. Though they are united in the fact that they all call it "Spittle". We have also noticed the same phenomena here on our mountain and the Ironbarks run with this "Spittle" during heavy rain.

Well on to Woralie Creek and the tranquil Western beach to collect a few hundred shells, only to find a mini cyclone had been whipping the shore to oblivion while we were protected inland by the tall rainforest trees. Oh well, we'll have to collect the shells some other time.

Back at camp the rain had been and gone and although it had obviously been very heavy, filling a 20 litre bucket to overflowing, no damage to our camping gear was the result.

After a hot shower it was back to the campfire again to watch the satellites race across the star filled sky and wait for the moon to rise out of the mighty Pacific. Yes, I know, but someone really does have to do it.