Now the trip is really flying. The last two days, I’ve been on Fraser Island, just a few hours north of Brisbane. I’ve seen a shipwreck from 1935, whales migrating north for the winter, a couple of dingoes, some scary-looking spiders, beautiful lakes, sand dunes, and lots of people trying to drive 4×4s on the beach (which is actually a registered highway). And a spectacular sunset today.
I got here after a 14-hour bus trip from Airlie Beach on Tuesday, which wasn’t bad. Australia’s Greyhound is pretty great. I watched 4 movies (Colllision Course, with Steve Irwin, is a must-see), and slept for a bit near the end. I got to my hostel at 1:30am and was up at 6:30am to get ready for my tour pickup. I caught up last night in a nice tent with a pretty sweet bed (yep, a bed with a mattress and sheets inside a tent), listening to rain.
The tour was pretty good. I think the self-guide (where you rent a 4×4 with a bunch of strangers and go around the island) could be really awesome or really bad. We saw at least one group that had busted their truck’s front differential because they didn’t see a water break on the beach. That’s like a little sand cliff, and they can be really hard to see. The best insurance you can buy has an excess (that’s what they call ‘deductible’) of $4500. $4500!! So you’re splitting that with your group if you have a problem, even if it was some idiot driver you don’t know. So I opted for the tour. Not as adventurous, but still lots of fun, and we got to learn some good stuff, too.
Alright, internet here isn’t cheap so I’m going to leave it at that. I’m off tomorrow for Byron Bay and I’m going to go surfing for the next week and a bit. Two weeks left!