Hendrik and I woke up early to go back to Monkey Mia to see the dolphins come in for feeding.  I was disappointed that we were not able to swim with them but seeing the crowd it was understandable that they could not let people swim with them or they would chase them away since there were about 100 people lined up along the shore ready for the dolphins.  Nevertheless, we were able to see the dolphins really close-up.

Then we had to start the drive back down south. On the way we stopped at Eagle Bluff which was a spectacular lookout.  We only saw one shark though, which only looked like a tadpole from the distance.  Next we stopped by Shell Beach which is a beach made up entirely of crushed shells, no sand.  It was very white, beautiful and peaceful, seeing as we were the only ones there.  If we had had more time I would not have minded going for a swim.

Alone, except for that guy.

The last stop on the peninsula was for the Hamelin Pool.  It is one of only a few places in the world where living marine stromatolites can be found.  Stromatolites look like rocks and are an example of the earliest record of life on earth.  They were spectacular in their own right, but by then the sun was beating down, and the humidity was rising.  Therefore, I was very happy to go back to the AC of the car and not spend too much time with the stromatolites.  Then we drove to Geraldton where Hendrik and I spent a long time in the Winstersun Motel’s pool, which was very refershing.

stromatolites

Our tents in the morning

I was thrilled when I stepped out of the tent to see that it wasn’t raining. I can’t say that it was sunny but at least water wasn’t pelting down. Kirk told us that a few weeks ago it rained for his whole tour and that they got stuck in the sand and everyone had to dig out the bus in the rain, so comparatively we had a much better time.

Our first stop was at the Coloured Sands which were piles of sand with sand that ranged in colour from pale yellow to almost red. It was pretty because at that time we even had some sunshine which lit up the sand. On our way to the next destination we spotted a snake on the middle of the beach. So we all got out to observe it and saw that it had been run over. It was a poisonous water snake which had been washed out to land. We wanted to help it but didn’t know how since we couldn’t touch it. Kirk got a shovel and managed to pick it up and toss it out to sea and the snake swam away, so hopefully it survived.

Captain Kirk rescues snake

We got back on the bus and soon after we saw a dingo, but Kirk wasn’t allowed to let us out of the bus to take pictures because those were the rules. We were glad we at least got to see one wild dingo since Fraser Island is home to the purest breed of dingo in Australia. Our next stop was Lake Wabby which is a lake formed by blown sand that forms a bank which then dams an already existing creek. This is called a barrage lake and Lake Wabby is the only one like it on the island. It has a steep bank which is a sandblow that drops into the lake which we rolled down. It was a cold small lake which I was able to swim across.

Rolling into Lake Wabby

Then it started to rain and we all started the trek back to the bus. At least the rain didn’t last long because we had to walk through a forest. As we were walking a branch of a tree fell a few meters in front of us on the path. Luckily, this time it was not on top of me but it gave me a scare. Inside, the tree was blood red, and bugs crawled all over it.

We had lunch in Central Station which got its name because it was the centre of the logging industry. There was a short boardwalk around the area where there were some neat trees. I thought the trees with holes or ones that were overgrowing with vines were interesting.

Our last activity on the island was Lake Birrabeen and luckily it was sunny.  It is a clear blue lake surrounded by extremely fine white sand. We did not visit Lake Mckenzie which we were a bit sad about, but Kirk assured us that Lake Birrabeen was just as pretty and even more so because it wasn’t overrun by tourists. It was nice being on the beach with only a small group of people and having the whole lake to ourselves. The sand was soft and I polished my earrings until they shined. The water was cold but refreshing and at the end Hendrik and I had to make a run for it and we were the last people on the bus which was not a good thing for the last activity of the tour.

Lake Birrabeen

Then the ferry took us back to the mainland, and we spotted dolphins swimming along the boat and jumping out of the water. Before the bus dropped us off we spotted kangaroos having a feed in the meadow. Kirk pulled over and everyone but a few Aussies, who thought we were silly, got out and started taking pictures. They were the first wild living kangaroos we saw in Australia so we were excited.

I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and I’m glad we didn’t drive because we wouldn’t have gotten any of the commentary which was probably the most interesting part of the tour to learn about the history of the island, the logging, the aboriginals, the animals, and the plants. I would have been really mad if we had spent half a day digging out our vehicle in the rain, though Hendrik still regretted not having a car to speed down the 75 mile beach with.