Island Hopping
Greetings from Queensland! Before we left Sydney, Ronit and I had been
warned numerous times about the people in Queensland. One bloke in particular
told us that the people of inland Queensland are so backwards, they
actually eat their babies. Well, they might not be able to cook breakfast
to save their lives, but the people so far have been extraordinarily
nice, and while there has been an increase of kangaroo & crocodile
on the menus, we have yet to see roast baby.
We started our Queensland adventure the way most tourists do in this
part of the world, by renting a four-wheel drive vehicle and heading
to Fraser Island. The entire island is made of sand, hence it is a 4x4
Mecca. As a matter of fact, they won't even let you on the island without
a four-wheel drive car. Because there were four of us, we were able
to get our own car, instead of going in a group of 8 to 11 people, like
most people do. This allowed us the freedom to move about the island
as we pleased, along the bumpy and sandy roads.
Fraser has gorgeous beaches, with inviting water. That is, until you
think about the jellyfish and sharks that inhabit those waters surrounding
the island. Instead, the people on Fraser quench their swimming fetishes
in the 70 some odd freshwater lakes, home to much tamer animals, such
as catfish & frogs. We visited a lake that had Tea Tree leaves lining
the bottom, and it made the shallow waters appear rusty. There was another
lake that stood at the bottom of a giant sand dune slope, so you can
run down the sand at top speed and jump straight into the water. We
also visited Lake McKenzie, the most popular lake on the island because
of its crystal clear blue waters.
The lakes were warm and gorgeous and comfortable, but the ocean looked
so inviting, that we decided to brave it and go for a swim or two. This
didn't happen near the treacherous waters of Fraser, but instead up
in the Whitsunday Islands. After many a bumpy road, we joined back up
with Matilda and drove 10 hours north (in two legs) to Airlie beach,
the launching point for all boats heading towards the Whitsundays.
The Whitsunday Islands used to be mountains on the mainland, but thankfully,
as the ocean levels rose, the water filled in the surrounding valleys,
creating beautiful, lush, green islands that mark the start of the Great
Barrier Reef, just off the coast of Australia. The water is a crystal-clear
blue, whose beauty is only surpassed by the Mediterranean. Because the
water in the tropics is above 17°C year round (average year round
water temperature being an enticing 24°C), coral can grow freely
at dep
ths
shallower than 30 meters creating the largest living organism in the
world, the Great Barrier Reef. Colorful fish and coral thrive in this
climate, as do about 5 types of jellyfish. The most mild of which will
give you a slight skin irritation for a couple of days, where as the
more powerful jellyfish can actually kill you if too much tentacles
come in contact with your skin. So before we anxiously dove into the
warm waters, everyone on our boat (about 30 passengers) put on stinger
suits, hoods and gloves. The hoods made me feel like one of Darth Vader's
henchmen, and I constantly wanted to tell the skipper, "The repairs
on the Death Star are complete My Lord."
We went snorkeling and each did 2 SCUBA dives. This was a first for
me, and tons of fun. It is awkward at first trying to create even buoyancy
underwater, and I bumped into my fair share of coral. But we got to
see some amazing and beautiful creatures, including Elvis, a huge very
friendly fish about a meter long. The boat trip was stellar, and I would
do it again in a second, despite the rocky return due to a storm in
the area.
From here, we head inland towards the centre of the country. It will
now get very hot and very dry. I'll keep my eyes peeled for fresh baby
on the menu.