The Global Guy

On the way to Fraser Island, driving with the Dutch girls, we had the most astounding meeting. We were packing up to leave our hostel where we’d stayed for one night. Suddenly the door opens, and Dar Gibson from the pole walks in. He stared at me, and I stared at him, not quite believing what we’re seeing. All of a sudden we realized that yes, it was really our buddy from the pole, and just started cracking up. We ended up going to grab some breakfast and chatting, but we didn’t have much time since I had to leave with the girls pretty quickly. Talk about a one in a million chance!

Well, Fraser Island was the cheapest and one of the best tours I’ve done so far. For $125 Australian, we got the use of a 4X4 Land Rover, all the camping gear, permits, and everything else to spend three days and two nights on the island. Basically, Fraser is the largest sand island in the world. Sounds boring, right? Not at all. It’s had time to develop an amazing ecosystem with the clearest freshwater lake I’ve ever seen. It’s got it all…great swimming, beautiful forest hiking, sand dunes, sharks, saltwater swimming, and the only true dingos left in the wild.

Day 1: The morning started at 5:45 am with an orientation from the company we were renting the Land Rover from. We packed up all the food and supplies, and headed off for the ferry to the island. We decided to start out heading for Lake Mackenzie, but first we had to get the hang of driving on deep sand. The road went thru a forest for a while,with lots of roots and branches in the road. The poor girls that were with us kept wishing that they had sports bras instead of bikini tops on…the roads were so bumpy that they were really not enjoying the ride. Of course us guys just sat back, grinned and enjoyed the view. When we got to the lake, we were all impressed with how clear the water was. I’d have killed for snorkeling gear! Myself and one of the girls tried to swim all the way across the lake, but gave up about halfway across because we knew that we still had a lot to see, and not much time. We drove along the beach for a while to our campsite at Indian Head on the north end of the island. That night we saw wild dingos and brumbies (horses) both wandering around the campsite.

Day 2: We woke up with the sun at about 5:15 am. We wandered over to a beach near the camp called the champagne pools. Last night we’d gone up to the cliffs overlooking this beach where we saw sharks and huge manta rays in the water. We’d been warned not to swim in the ocean, except for very specific places because of these sharks. The champagne pools however were a protected area where the sharks didn’t like to intrude into. It was amazing looking…the waves were crashing over rocks, exploding in the morning air! After playing in the water for a while we packed up and headed down the beach to check out the old wreck of the Maheno. This ship was driven ashore during a storm back in 1935. It had been sold for scrap, and was being towed to Japan when the storm hit, and the two rope snapped. It’s now buried 5 decks deep in the sand, and is one of the more unusual attractions on the island. After getting our fill of photos, we headed down to Eli creek for lunch and floating down the river. After lunch we wandered down to an area called Rainbow Valley for some hiking along the sand dunes. We stopped by town for ice and some more supplies, and then camped on the beach, spending the evening goofing around and playing drinking games.

Day 3: We started out heading for Lake Wabby, known as the disappearing lake. The lake is bordered on one side by a huge sand dune that is slowly moving into the lake bed. In another hundred years or so, the dune will have filled the lake in completely. Lake Wabby is also one of the more difficult lakes to visit on the island. We had to hike thru the woods for about 40 minutes way, but the weather was perfect and there were hardly any mossies. On the return trip, we skipped the forest and hiked down the dunes. It was fun and pretty, but my calves complained about it the next day. Finally we headed to Lake Boomangin, which is a shallow clay lined lake that has water that has been stained a reddish colors by the tea trees along the shores. Perfectly safe to swim in, but it was really strange to look at. Suddenly someone looked at their watch, and we realized we were late for the ferry. We were officially two hours away from the dock, and only had 90 minutes to get there. Luckily traffic was completely non-existent, and we just barely made it.

I’ve spent the last three days lazing about on a sailboat thru the Whitsunday group of islands. The beaches and water were exactly what I’d been dreaming of for the last several months at the pole. Compared to the rest of Australia, this has been the lowest amount of energy I’ve had to expend at all! We basically spent the time sunning ourselves on the deck, snorkeling at various pit stops, and walking along white beaches with sand so fine that it squeaks when you walk on it.

Both nights we moored closely off shore, and camped on the beach. The weather was perfect, and after cooking dinner we had some Irish guys on the trip who were always great entertainment.

I’ve decided to head over to Fraser Island next, catching a ride with two Dutch girls I met on the boat. It’ll be a day or so of driving, but I think it’ll be fun.

In order to get down to Sydney, I’ve booked with a company called "The Oz Experience" They specialize in multi-day bus trips stopping at interesting places during the evening. I’m a little older than their target audience, but its been a lot of fun. The only real complaint I’ve got is that their drivers are way too hyper for 8:00 am! The first day we left Cairns, and headed to the town of Kuranda. We took a cable-car over the mountains and into the local rain forest. We wandered around the forest on boardwalk paths for an hour or so, just appreciating all the green colors and earthy smells…at least I really enjoyed this..maybe I’ve got extra appreciation because of the recent deprivation.

After our hour was up there, we headed south, driving thru lush greenery on both sides of the road. It was a nice change to see after the stark red center around Alice. Our next destination was the Johnston River Crocodile Farm. These guys raise crocs for both their meat and skins. For extra money, they give tours, and we happily let them show us around. It’s amazing to me how fast these animals can move when they want to. Being around them, you get a very strange feeling…an almost primordial sense of danger that seems to awaken some long dormant danger instinct. Looking into their eyes, you feel that they’d like nothing more than to eat you, and they wouldn’t have a second thought about it. One cool thing at the farm was that they’re raising cassowaries. I’d read about these birds, but never seen one before. Ugly, but in an interesting way.

We stopped for the night in Airlie beach. It’s got a beautiful coastline, but due to the box-jellyfish, it’s another forbidden beach for swimming. The town has taken care of the problem by building an artificial lagoon that’s netted off of the ocean so it’s safe for swimming. Later that night a bunch of us decided after way too many beers that it would be a great idea to go skinny dipping around midnight. Luckily the local magistrate thought it was funny too, and let us go with just a warning.

I just upgraded my dive license to a PADI advanced card. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, and what better place to do it than on the Great Barrier Reef! I flew from Alice Springs to Cairns, and somehow I got upgraded to first class on the flight. Unfortunately I was pretty hung over from the party the last night of the Ayer’s rock trip, so I wasn’t able to enjoy it as much as I should have, but the food was still amazing.

Anyway, I booked a live aboard trip out to the reef for three days. The cost of the certification was only an extra $35.00 US, so I couldn’t say no to that. During the class I ended up with a great dive buddy named Caroline who was extremely competent, and a pleasure to dive with.

The first day we did four dives, including one night dive. There was tons of animal and fish life, but I was disappointed with the quality of the corral. It was later explained to me that in order to see the best of the reef, you have to spend a good bit of money to get out beyond the standard tourist sites. Next time I’ll make sure I take advantage of this knowledge.

The 2nd day we moved to a different spot. While the boat was traveling, we finished up all the book work for the certification. We did another four dives, including one of the best dives that I’ve ever had a camera on. This spot was a lot better than the first day; we saw a white tipped reef shark, surprised a sea turtle, and encountered the biggest potato cod I’ve ever seen. On our night dive that evening we came around a piece of coral and nearly ran right into a sleeping white tip shark. I don’t know if the shark or our group was more startled!

The third day was three more dives and then back to shore. By this time I felt like I’d finally gotten rid of my Antarctic tan, and had finally dropped all my winter weight.

I’ve just gotten back from a 3.5 day trip to Ayers Rock. It was great! The people were fun, and the scenery was breathtaking. Day one we visited Kathleen springs since it was stormy at our primary destination of Rainbow Canyon. No big deal though…the real highlights of the trip were the next couple of days. We spent the next morning hiking in King’s Canyon with some spectacular gorges and waterfalls. That afternoon we started to do the walk around Ayers Rock when it started raining. The rock turned from a deep red to gun-metal grey and waterfalls just appeared out of nowhere. Apparently we’ve been very lucky to see this…not many people get to see the rock during a rainstorm.

The third day was the best. We finished the base hike, and visited the cultural center. After killing an hour there, the rock was finally dry enough for the rangers to open the climb. Only four out of 12 people (including me of course) actually made the climb. It was tough going for the first third, but the views were well worth it.

We got a lucky bonus…there was a total eclipse of the sun and we were in the path where we got 88% of the sun blocked out. It happened right before sunset, but it was awesome to see the sky get dark and then light again as the eclipse ended. There was something in the air that evening because we were treated to the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen. We weren’t expecting much, so no one had a camera.

Last night was the after trip party, and I’m still recovering from it. It was a great ending to hanging out with some fantastic people.