Australia with Sarah: Fraser Island Lady Elliot

I have done so much in my final days in Australia this past week! My sister, Sarah, came on May 31st and met me in Wollongong. The next day I showed her around Wollongong and the University campus and we went to my International House "Farewell Formal" that night. She got the chance to meet all of my friends I have made in the International House.

Saturday, Sarah and I flew up to Brisbane with 2 other International House friends and did a little walking around before the rain came. Brisbane is one of the largest cities in Australia and is about halfway up the Eastern coast. It is known on the the "city on the river".

The next morning we caught an early bus to Noosa Heads, part of the Sunshine Coast. Noosa Heads is a nice beach town and has good surfing. Even though it was drizzling and wintertime, the water was still warm enough to surf so Sarah and I rented surfboards and did our best. I would say we were quite successful at surfing the "white" (crashed waves). Eventually, we will be able to surf the "green".

Sarah and me surfing in Noosa Heads

After our surfing, we caught a bus further up north to Hervey Bay. Hervey Bay is another touristy town that is home of Australia's best whale watching and great fishing as well. It is also very close to Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island. The 4 of us went camping on Fraser Island for 3 days and 2 nights to explore the island and the things we experienced were amazing!

Some of the best sites were:

Lake McKenzie- a fresh water lake in the middle of the island, spelled the same way as our friend, McKenzie, who traveled with us!

Champagne Pools- named after the bubbly effect of the water when the waves crashed over the rocks. Was our warmest swim on the island and my favorite spot.

Lake Allum- It is hard to tell, but the water is actually a dark brown color due to plants that make tea. The natural oils in the water is supposed to be good for skin and hair. 

sand dune in Fraser Island

Maheno Shipwreck- was used as a hospital ship in WW1 by Australia. The ship was sold to Japan and then crashed in 1905. The ship is on beach during low tide and surrounded by water during high tide.

We drove around in pink 4WD cars. There are no paved roads and the beach is the highway!

We also saw tons of wildlife including:

we saw dolphins jumping on the ferry over to Fraser Islands

Fraser Island is known for its dingo population. Dingos look like skinny, muscular dogs. There were many signs telling us not to feed them and to watch our for children and babies.

In Lake Allum there were turtles that we all got a chance to hold.

While driving the beach our second day, part of the beach was closed down due to a whale that had been beached during high tide. It was a year and a half old, humpback whale and weighed 4 tons! Police were pouring water on him to try to save him til 9pm when high tide would come again. Whales get beached about once a year and the story made national news! We were told the whale had a 20% chance of living.

Unfortunately, the whale did not survive. There was a pack of dingos feasting the rest of the day.

 

Dugong Sharks were spotted less than 5 meters from shore! We saw at least 5 of them which had trapped a large school of fish by the beach.

Our tour guide that we all called "Santa". He was a bush-loving, technology-hating Aussie that claimed he could survive in the wild with a knife and lighter.

Fraser Island has definitely been one of the if not the highlight of my trip. Although the weather was a bit chilly, it left the island quite empty so we got to enjoy the beauty without too many people around.

The day after we got back from Fraser Island, Sarah and I went to another island the following day. This time we went to Lady Elliot Island, 100km from the mainland and made out of coral. We were told that the coral island rose above sea level about 3000 years ago. Birds spotted it during their migrations and would leave their bird poop behind, fertilizing the coral. Then the birds started bringing seeds as well and Lady Elliot became a home to many birds. Lady Elliot resort was built in the 80's and can hold 150 people. The only was to get to the island is by plane. The runway for the plane takes up the entire radius of the island. It is the point furthest south of the Great Barrier Reef, so Sarah and I went snorkeling there. We snorkeled off the beach where the coral was very shallow and then went in a glass bottom boat. From the boat we saw a manta ray in the water. They look like big sting rays and are 4 meters wide and completely harmless to humans. While snorkeling from the boat we saw a turtle a tons of fish including a "Nemo" fish! Lady Elliot was a cool place to experience the Great Barrier Reef, the 8th Wonder of the World!

Aerial view of Lady Elliot Island

Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef!

After Lady Elliot Island, the journey continued in Sydney. Sarah and I stayed the night in a hostel in "The Rocks" area. We spent some time walking around Darling Harbor and the next day caught a ferry to Manly. We rented bikes and rode along the water to Aborigianal carvings. In the afternoon we took a ferry back and climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge! Unfortuneately ,it started down pouring in the afternoon, but rain or shine, we still climbed the bridge! The Bridge took about 45 mins to get to the top, but when we were just stairs away from the very top our guide sent us back down and said that there were lightning warnings and the top on the steel bridge was probably not the best place to be. We climbed all the way back down, waited 30 mins for the storm to pass and then climbed in for the second time! This time we got to the very top and got a great view of the city!



Sarah and I ready to climb the bridge!