When the sky was lit up like an expensive pair of diamond studded macro made leather shorts on Fraser, I decided to lie down on the ground and try to spot constellations. I came up with a name for this exciting and entertaining activity! I call it and Astral Lie, ya? What do you think? Will it catch on?
Putting aside my ever worsening puns, we re-join the rest of my exchange buddies and myself about halfway up the coast of Fraser Island, waking up to the waves and birds on the dawn of our first full day on the island. Oh yeah, and we had brought Nicol’s still UNUSED guitar in the tent with us… It was in the way is all I’m saying… Hopefully, the main animal we are warned against while entering the island, the dingo, hadn’t tried to get into our coolers. Nope! Everything was cool and our 20$ tent had held up the night! BONUS! All it had to do was hold on for another.
Game plan for the day: Head up to the very end of the island to Indian Head to see the sights, visit the Champagne Pools and come back in time to make supper during daylight. Wait hold on… Did you just say Champagne Pools, Jo? Yes. Yes I did. Imagine my excitement. Now imagine that same excitement being immediately crushed by someone telling me it wasn’t actual champagne… I died a little inside. Yet, I keep my dream of one day finding a container, whether naturally formed or not, filled with beverage of any kind in which I can take a GLORIOUS swim.
Indian Head
During our two hour drive up to this place, we came across 10-20 trucks stopped on the beach, with all their passengers disembarked and attentively staring and pointing at the ocean… Being the independent, strong willed leaders that we were, we stopped to see what the fuss was about… Believe it or not, there were a group of humpback whales putting on a show about a kilometer out. They were jumping, diving and flailing about like we had paid good money for tickets to this show. INCREDIBLE. I started talking to one of the people on the beach who told me he had come regularly to the island for the past 20 years and had never seen anything like this. We were mesmerized to say the least. After about 20 minutes, the whales dispersed and we got on our way knowing full well we may never see that again, ever. Then I noticed that my water bottle was missing from the car and I swear I had had it moments beforehand. I swear… Someone trained those whales to distract passersby while they steal their FRESH WATER! It was never seen again.
When we got to Indian Head, we walked up to the very top of a cliff out looking the endless ocean. The water below us was clear enough for us to see everything going on beneath the surface. Turtles, manta rays, fish, dolphins and sharks were all viewable from this incredible lookout spot. The incredibly oversized cherry on top of this already towering (insert favorite cake flavor here) cake was that the humpbacks (whether they were the same ones are not is unknown) decided to start going “Marineland” on us once again, 1 or 2 kilometers out. INTENSE! Which one? The present one. I didn’t know what to do with myself! Yell, sleep, cry, dive out and join them? Let’s just say I was a bit overwhelmed! Plus this cliff was on a skinny peninsula so our peripheral vision was simply ocean. It was like being suspended over this incredible ecosystem with front row tickets to its happenings. I don’t know how much time we spent standing there but… I’m sure dust collected on our paralyzed, jaw dropped faces.
Champagne Pools
When we finally left, already content enough to go back home and call this trip a success, we headed to the Champagne Pools which had already disappointed me once today. Stupid non alcoholic pools… So I set the bar really low for this destination and I believe that’s why I enjoyed it so much more!
Look at this place! Two incredibly well designed pools, formed by these rock formations at the exact height of the ocean and just deep enough for you to sit in without having you head engulfed by salt water. When big waves came in and crashed against the rocks, we were treated to a water show only rivalled by multi-million dollar firework shows. Now that’s value for you.
By the time we reluctantly decided to leave this place, the majority of our day had already vanished. We drove back to one of the campsites for people not brave enough to camp on the beach and used one of the public barbecues because we were running out of gas for our Coleman. After diner we headed back to our “dune camping” spot. Unfortunately, we did not have the pleasure to meet the stars once again. During this time, the sky became angry and started to cry. We could not figure out what we had done to anger it but it wasn’t happy… Hopefully, everything at the campsite would be intact, in working condition and dry on the inside when we got there… Tune in for part 3 to find out!
Australianly yours,
Joey Jo Jo
Last Updated on December 22, 2020 by Joël Collin-Demers
6 thoughts on “Tales of Fraser Island – Part 2. The Epicness Begins.6 min read”
Bang for you bucks alright!
This is the only post I'll ever attach my name to because I want to say, with authority, that these are by far the worst puns I've ever heard you utter. You're sullying your (mostly) good name. If this injustice continues I can't guarantee any further readings of your blog.
Well, I have to keep them up for another two months… Original submissions are welcomed and encouraged but the reality of things is that there's only so many ways to play around with the word "Australia" before it gets too far warped… I would love to get some submissions on your part to see what you can come up with.
I love Champagne Pools! Water pouring down from the other side of the sea is refreshing… We did see small to medium sized fishes, and a school of little fishes swimming along with us 🙂
Cool pictures you got here!
I can totally predict that the part 3 of this adventure involves things going south very quickly…in other word…everything went austral, yah ?
You sir, are inducted into the circle of pun. I will be mailing your membership card very soon. As an added bonus I will use your pun in my next blog post. Well done, cudos and congratulations. This day has been a long time coming.