Hervey Bay and Fraser Island

(This is the second of several entries I have accumulated over the last few days.)

30 April - 2 May
Hervey Bay
Partly sunny and warm

The 30th was devoted to travel, as we combined a 90-minute flight from Canberra to Brisbane with a 4-hour coach ride from Brisbane to Hervey Bay. Going from Canberra in the southeast to the Brisbane area is always a bit of an adjustment for the students, who have decided at this point in the course that Australia is pretty much cold and autumnal. Landing in the warm subtropics is yet another reminder that we are not in New York State anymore.

The drive up from Brisbane was pretty uneventful. We did stop for lunch at a roadhouse that I recognized. A roadhouse is a combination of a truck stop and a camp ground; one finds these all along the coastal highways. The one we stopped at was a Matilda's, a popular franchise. The reason I recognized this one was because of the picnic area populated by several water birds. There were about two dozen white ibises, many swamp hens, and a species of duck that I did not recognize. The food was okay, though a little greasy.

We also encountered some roadworks outside of Hervey Bay that delayed us for awhile. Still, we arrived at the YHA here before 4pm. The Colonial Inn YHA is on the eastern end of Hervey Bay, in the area called Urangan. Though it's a few blocks to the beaches, marinas, and shops, it is a little secluded, perfect for the students. Inexpensive meals are served nightly; there are a variety of evening activities; the place is beautiful and clean. My senior colleague and I were here many years ago, and it is pretty much as I recall it from then. Instead of cabins, most of the students are in small twin rooms -- the male students did get a cabin, and got scolded a bit from the women for it, all in good fun.

The manager is an American from New Jersey who is desperately trying to get her work visa extended. The world economy being what it is, She's having a hard time of it, as the trend in Australia at the moment is to hire an Australian when possible. It's easy to feel sympathy for her, but it's also easy to see the government's point of view, too. I just hope happier days lie ahead for everyone.

After a good night's rest, we set off early on a tour of Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island. We first crossed the channel between the mainland and the island around sunrise. No matter where you are in latitude, being on the water around sunrise is always a little chilly! There was a mist hanging over the island, and we did get sprinkled upon a bit when we arrived. Our tour guide met us at the boat, and led us on a short nature walk before getting on board our massive 4-wheel drive bus to begin our tour.

Fraser Island is a huge mound of sand that has accumulated due to ocean currents over eons on Australia's east coast at its easternmost point. As it piled up and the ocean levels change, the sand began to acquire organic material, and soon various types of forest developed on the island: eucalyptus and banksia in some parts, subtropical with satinays and turpentines in others. Many portions of the island have moving dunes called sand blows. Little vegetation grows on these dunes as they roll on in slow-motion collisions with forests and streams.

Our morning walk took us through Rainbow Gorge, a system of sand blows cut by a stream. One of the dunes had swallowed a stand of woods long ago. The dune is shifting and uncovering the wood again, revealing a ghost forest reminiscent of those on the shores of Lake Superior. One particular steep dune offered a challenge that many of the students could not resist; there will certainly be several uploads of photos of footprints up the dune and students at the top.

After a very nice buffet lunch served at one of the resorts on the eastern side, we drove inland again to Central Station, so named as it was a central point for the logging trolleys that were on the island long ago. Many of the woodlands of the island were cut down for timber, leaving a changed forest that will take hundreds of years to heal. But the section we walked through, happily, was untouched, and so we were able to see kauri pines, tea trees, turpentines, as well as king ferns, cycads, and many epiphytes like staghorn and elkhorn ferns. The other effect at Fraser Island due to so much sand is the presence of water. The sand of Fraser Island acts like a huge sponge, soaking up all rainfall, creating a huge reservoir resting above the salt water below. The water slowly leeches out of the sand, forming many freshwater streams flowing into the ocean, as well as several lakes. Some lakes result from the sand level going below the water table; these lakes are window lakes, as they are a window into the waiter system. In cases where the sand has combined with other material to create anon-porous layer, the water is trapped and the lake is a perched lake -- somewhat like a bird bath, A third type of lake is a barrage lake, resulting from a sand dune trapping a bend in a stream, producing a boomerang shaped lake.

The chemistry of perched lakes is interesting, and varies from one to the next. Some perched lakes are filled with tannins and other chemicals from decaying organic material, while others appear pristine owing to higher acidity. Our final visit of the day was to Lake Mackenzie, a perched lake surrounded by the whitest sand I've ever seen. We had about an hour there, so the students had some time to splash about in the refreshing waters, while I walked about to photograph some of the plant life.

I am sorry to report that I saw no dingoes this time while on the island. Because of a recent cyclone, there was enough beach erosion to expose some areas of coffee rocks, sand that has been compressed and mixed with organic material to form a harder material. Not quite sandstone, but on its way. The coffee rocks are treacherous to navigate, and people have died when they've attempted. So, the driver would not take us up the long stretches of beach where dingoes sometimes come out for an afternoon romp. We also could not see the wreck of the Maheno, a rusting hull of a ship from the WWII era, nor could we wade in Eli Creek, a cute freshwater stream that goes back several hundred meters into the dunes. A bit disappointing, but....

As we boarded our ferry back to the mainland, it began to sprinkle a bit, but at the same time, the Sun dipped below the clouds in the west, giving us one of the loveliest rainbows. It appeared to begin right at the jetty from which we departed, and persisted form quite some time. So, though we missed some nice things about the island, we still saw some pretty special things.

May 2nd was a free day. For me, it was mostly running errands, doing some things to get ready for the train trip on the 3rd, and of course doing laundry. Some of the students had a picnic, some went bike riding the length of the esplanade at Hervey Bay, and a few went kayaking in the bay. I think they'd like to stay here, but we do need to move on. Next, it's the train to Townsville and the ferries to Magnetic Island.