Taking the Long Way Home

Yacht out to the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Michaelmas Cay, off of the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia

After our roadtrip up the Queensland coast we kissed our psychedelic van, Velma goodbye in the tropical city of Cairns and checked into a hostel. We were on the eve of one of the most exciting travel reunions of our year away: a month-long visit from Linda and Chuck, Megan's parents. They were to arrive the next morning, after spending an exciting few days on their own in Sydney.

We were exhausted after our long-haul north to Cairns and spent most of that afternoon and evening shamelessly lounging in the Travellers' Oasis backpackers' pool and chatting with a railroad conductor from Melbourne about the mining boom out west in Perth, the strength of the Aussie dollar, and the general economic awesomeness of Australia and suckiness of the US these days. By the time we got out of the pool it was dark, we were prunes, and our dorm-mates were fast asleep. Threw some quarters in the window A/C unit, and we were out.

The next day we moved accommodation to a flashier backpackers, the Northern Greenhouse (surprisingly awash in blue and teal decor despite the name,) whose quad room was complete with A/C and a TV and waited in the fan-cooled, spacious second-level common area for my parents. Sure enough, they arrived, fresh from Sydney that afternoon. We hadn't seen them in almost seven months! They were surprisingly well-adjusted from the grueling 20 hour different from Portland, OR and had managed to already have had several adventures during their time in Sydney- capped off by complimentary tickets to a show at the Sydney Opera House thanks to a friendly Turkish box-office employee who hit it off with Dad.

That evening we took a stroll down to the massive Cairns lagoon (pictures to come) on the waterfront. Like other lagoons, it was free to the public and a wonderful way to relax and unwind for a few hours on a hot afternoon. We stayed in the water, floating around and relaxing until well after sunset. Mom really developed a love of Queensland lagoons that day (she would talk about how great the Cairns lagoon was for weeks after!) Afterwards that evening Catt and I were able to catch about an hour long street performance done by some local "fire people" (quasi-hippy buskers that take their travelling roadshow to various street corners all over Aus.) There was a trike with flaming handle-bars, a flaming hat, and even a mermaid. Quite a show, considering it was free.

The next day dawned sparkling and blue, and the four of us made for the harbor and quite possibly one of the most exciting days of our year away: our trip out to Australia's famous Great Barrier Reef, and Catt and my intro scuba dive. There are a mind-boggling number of options if you want to do a cruise out to a cay on the GBF and have a snorkel or a dive. Best really to turn up in Cairns and research your options, since at any given time there is a good chance that at least one of the many cruise operators have a great deal on offer. The outfit we ended up using was Ocean Spirit- their "budget" boat was out of commission, so everyone was being bumped up to the luxury yacht. That, and for some reason, they were throwing a FREE introductory scuba dive into the package so long as you signed up in advance. Usually the dive alone sets you back at least $100- so of course we were in!

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world, made up of almost 3,000 individual reefs and is the largest single structure in the world composed of living organisms (coral polyps). It can even be seen from space! The Great Barrier Reef was selected as a World Heritage site in 1981.

The boat was fantastic. We were able to secure four mats on the deck of the yacht for a relaxing trip out to the reef. Here are some pictures from the journey:

Lantzes in their wetsuits

Fish in the water off of the Great Barrier Reef

Michaelmas Cay on the Great Barrier Reef from a distance

Meg and Catt on the Ocean Spirit boat- Michaelmas Cay in the background

Catt, Linda, Chuck and Megan on the Great Barrier Reef

The weather couldn't have been better- it was sunny, breezy, and the water and the sky were a glorious pallet of azure. After about an hour and a half at sea, we anchored about 100 meters off of Michaelmas Cay and Catt and I suited up for our dive. The only hitch in an almost perfect sail out was my seasickness- despite my love of water, I suffer from pretty intense motion sickness on boats... and yes, I did "feed the fish" my breakfast before suiting up for my dive. Not the best way to prepare for your first dive, but I soldiered through it...

Diving was thrilling, but a little bit scary, too. We had hoped to get our PADI open water certification when on Ko Tao in Thailand, but the bad weather out there and horrible visibility made it a no-go. Because of this, we didn't have certification and had to rely on our Dive Master to control our descent and ascent, which required us to trust him, and our equipment. Surprisingly, after a year of adventurous activity, Catt deemed diving to actually have been the scariest challenge for him (I voted for NZ bungy jumping, or crossing the street in any Vietnamese city I loved diving, but the oxygen tank and equipment definitely feels heavy and a little bit more confining than I had anticipated. We were also a little freaked out by the exercises at the beginning, where they ask you to take your regulator out of your mouth while underwater and practice putting it back in. All in all, though, we loved it. We dove down only about 20 meters, or 60ish feet. Once on the bottom we saw giant clams, all sorts of fish, and even a sea turtle from afar. No sharks this time. Pictures:

Before our dive

While we dove, Mom and Dad enjoyed snorkelling and beach combing off of Michaelmas Cay. After our dive, we joined them. Simply stunning beach, and the bluest water I have ever seen. They loved the snorkelling, too:

Meg and Catt post-dive on Michaelmas Cay, our boat in the background

Catt on gorgeous Michaelmas Cay, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Meg on the beach at Michaelmas Cay, Great Barrier Reef, with our boat in the background

Linda going out for a snorkel

Meg and the birds nesting on Michaelmas Cay

Linda and Chuck on Michaelmas Cay

Megan

We also had the chance to take a 20 minute trip in a submersible, where we got an up-close look at the reef and some turtles, as well:

Turtle from afar

Meg and Catt in the submersible, Great Barrier Reef

Linda and Chuck in submersible, Great Barrier Reef

After a day of snorkeling, diving, beachcombing and sunning (not to mention great snacking on the free food provided by our boat,) we headed back to Cairns. The sail back was beautiful... and we were presented with certificates for our dive, too!

On the sail back to Cairns...

Champagne on the trip back

Meg and Catt with newly-minted diving certificates

All in all it was a memorable trip. We can't wait to come back to the Great Barrier Reef again. It's important, though, to note that it is in danger- wikipedia:

The most significant threat to the Great Barrier Reef is climate change. Mass coral bleaching events due to rising ocean temperatures occurred in of the summers of 1998, 2002 and 2006, and coral bleaching will likely become an annual occurrence. Climate change has implications for other forms of life on the Great Barrier Reef as well - some fish's preferred temperature range lead them to seek new areas to live, thus causing chick mortality in seabirds that prey on the fish. Climate change will also affect the population and available habitat of sea turtles.

To learn more about planning a visit to the Great Barrier Reef and inform yourself re ongoing efforts to preserve it, please visit the official website:

http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/

Next up: Atherton Tablelands, the Daintree, and Cape Tribulation!

Looking out for cassowaries in Queensland, Australia

After our foray into all things sandy on Fraser Island, we made landfall again at Hervey Bay and continued our 1600 km/1 week slog up the Queensland coast of Australia. After passing through Rockhampton, the route became increasingly monotonous- albeit beautiful. Not much in landscape variation, save for the occasional cow, kangaroo, or train hauling sugarcane down to one of the numerous refineries which dotted the landscape. The drive was fantastic, though. We had really missed the freedom of the open road during our time in SE Asia, and it felt so liberating to be behind the wheel of our own vehicle- even an '87 Mitsubishi van that can't do over 65k/hour without violently rattling.

A view of the Queensland landscape from the car window

Piloting our van

Sugarcane fields

Australia is not without its Australiana... its own version of the eclectic, culturally quirky gems of Americana you'd find roadtripping through the forgotten roadside hamlets just off the highways our great coutry. In the pit-stop town of Bowen is the "Big Mango," a gigantic mango statue on the side of the highway. Apparently Aussies have a habit of taking everyday objects, building them on enormous scales, and then plunking knick-knacks shops next door and billing the whole shebang as a tourist trap. A full list of the "Bigs" can be found at this link: http://wikitravel.org/en/Big_things_in_Australia

Anyway, we felt we had to make the obligatory stop at Big Mango and take a photo:

Meg with the largest mango in the world

Sugarcane train crossing the highway in Queensland, Australia

Lorikeet bird at a campervan park in Queensland

Roadtripping Australia

Our typical lunch while on the road prepared out of the back of our van... at a rest stop

We continued north and visited wonderful Airlie and Mission Beaches. In Mission Beach, we stayed at the best campground/caravan park either of us had ever been to. It even had the obligatory northern Australian swimming pool, complete with fake rocks and waterfalls to boot. Blissful. The only problem when beach-going in Queensland if that as inviting as the blue-green water may appear, it is not safe to swim due to the presence of lethal marine stingers (jellyfish) for the majority of the year. The upshot is that because of this, the beaches are almost always stunning and devoid of people. We had the beaches at Airlie and Mission all to ourselves when we visited. Here's some more info on visiting beaches in Queensland:

From qldbeaches.com:

Dangerous Marine Stingers
The most notable concern when swimming at beaches in Queensland is marine stingers. All Queensland beaches north of Town of Seventeen Seventy (near Gladstone) can attract the marine stingers during the summer months of the year. Beaches in the northern section of Queensland have longer stinger seasons than beaches in the south due to the warmer water and greater prevalence of mangrove swamps.

Dangerous Marine Stingers are present at Queensland beaches during the following periods:
From Cape York to Townsville - October to June

From Townsville to Gladstone - December to March

Most popular beaches in areas prone to marine stingers have stinger-resistant enclosures so beach goers can enjoy swimming throughout the year. It is important to swim inside the enclosures as they are the only safe swimming zone on the beach.
The nets are constructed of a robust floating tube around the periphery of the swimming enclosure with a 25mm square mesh that descends to the ocean floor and is weighed down by a chain. The stinger nets are designed to prevent large box jellyfish and large segments of box jellyfish tentacles from entering the enclosure, thus keeping swimmers safe.

Stingers net at Townsville Beach

Knowing the buggers were in the water made it almost impossible to enjoy swimming, even when within the nets. It only gets worse when you read about what actually happens to you when you are stung by a box or irukandji jellyfish:

Watch out for the nasty Box Jellyfish. Found in shallow waters north of Gladstone, they can administer a sting that can inflict searing pain and leave prominent scares. A sting, if severe enough, can also be fatal.
Box Jellyfish breed in mangrove swamps and they are more numerous after rain, which flushes them out of river systems towards beaches. It is very important to swim in stinger net enclosures to avoid making contact with the Box Jellyfish.

Irukandji are much smaller than box jellyfish, and inhabit a large sea area that includes the Great Barrier Reef and beaches. At only 2cm in diameter, the Irukandji is most prevalent in northern waters of Queensland, such as beaches near Cairns. The sting is only moderately painful and scarring is minimal, but approximately 30 minutes after the sting the patient develops severe back and abdominal pain, limb or joint pain, nausea and vomiting, sweating and agitation.

Another feature at many Queensland beaches is that of the public lagoon, a shallow, inviting, aqua-blue swimming pool designed to fit in naturally with the landscape and usually constructed near the beach itself. We especially enjoyed the lagoon at Townsville. They're free, and usually have picnic facilities and change rooms nearby.

Velma the van hiding in the trees at Mission Beach Caravan Park

Railway crossing!

Beautiful Mission Beach

Townsville

By the time we stopped in at Airlie we were nearing the end of our roadtrip... soon we would be in Cairns, reunited with Meg's parents and no longer sleeping in the back of a van. It sure was fun while it lasted, though...

After our stint in Beerwah and at the Australia Zoo, we continued driving north up the Queensland coast towards the town of Hervey Bay, the main jumping-off point for one of Queensland's not-to-miss sights, Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the entire world. By some accounts, the whole of the Sahara Desert could fit within the sands of Fraser.

Us on Fraser Island, Australia

Only sturdy 4WDs can drive on Fraser (so our campervan hadn't a prayer, since she not only lacked 4WD capability, but often seemed to exhibit no-wheel drive traits. If such a thing is possible.) This meant we'd have to either rent a jeep, or join up with a tour in one of the 4WD buses that are ferried over each day. We arrived at the Hervey Bay caravan park, perched dead in the center of the seafront esplanade of town and checked in, hoping it wouldn't be too late to book an all-day tour to the island for the next morning. The caravan park proprietor was skeptical, but eventually found us a tour that wasn't booked. Great!

That evening after watching the most impressive exodus of bats over the holiday park that we have ever seen (it was really incredible- but where did they come from?) we walked to the internet cafe, did some grad school research, and chatted travel with an older couple also caravaning at Hervey Bay. He was an Irishman who spent 10 years in the US on business before eventually moving to Australia. She was originally from Chile. They raved about India to us- "either you love it or you hate it, but it's the heart of the world" and recommended some more stops for our drive up to Cairns.

The next morning we awoke to overcast skies and waited for our Fraser Island tour bus to pick us up. The tour was really amazing- although a little expensive for a day trip at about $80 each. The trip was worth it, though. Fraser is the largest sand island of the world, and features impressive diversity of habitats. In a difference of a mere three meters the environment can change from arid shrubs and bush to tropical rainforest. We took a 30 minute ferry across to the island and disembarked from the ferry onboard the bus straight onto the beach. There are no paved tracks on Fraser, so the bus simply powered its way, all 4WD, through thick sand which made for an extremely bumpy, but adventurous ride. It was pretty awesome.

Our Fraser Island bus on the ferry

Here is a little bit of background about Fraser, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Fraser Island, or Batjala K'Gari, is the largest sand island in the world at 1840 km². It is located along the southern coast of Queensland, Australia, approximately 300 km north of Brisbane. Its length is about 120 km. It was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1992.

Archaeological research and evidence shows that Aboriginal Australians occupied Fraser Island at least 5000 years ago. There was a permanent population of 400-600 that grew to 2000-3000 in the winter months due to abundant seafood resources. The arrival of European settlers in the area was an overwhelming disaster for the Butchulla people. Documented aggression between the Europeans and Aboriginal Australians occurred when the officers of the 'Stirling Castle', including Captain James Fraser and his wife Eliza Fraser were shipwrecked on the island. European settlement in the 1840s overwhelmed the Aboriginal lifestyle with weapons, disease and lack of food.[7] By the year 1890, Aboriginal numbers had been reduced to only 300 people. Most of the remaining Aborigines, the Butchulla tribe, left the island in 1904 as they were relocated to missions in Yarrabah and Durundur, Queensland.

Initial European contact was limited to explorers and shipwrecks. The first European to sight Fraser Island was Captain James Cook who passed along the coast of the island between the 18th and 20th May 1770. He named it Indian Head after viewing a number of Aboriginal people gathered on the island. Matthew Flinders sailed past the island in 1799 and again in 1802. He mapped both voyages, but did not confirm it was separate from the mainland. In 1836, a number of survivors from the shipwreck of the 'Stirling Castle', including Captain James Fraser and his wife Eliza Fraser, lived for about six weeks on the island before being rescued

75 Mile Beach runs along most of the east coast of Fraser Island. While it may not be the best place for swimming due to dangerous currents and plentiful Tiger sharks, it is extremely beautiful and has a number of excellent highlights such as Champagne Pools, Indian Head (from where you can often see the sharks in the surf), the Maheno Wreck and Eli Creek. Eli Creek is strikingly clear and has its own unique and varied wild life.

The beach also acts as both a highway and a runway. The hard packed sand below the high tide mark can make for quite smooth driving, but care must be taken with speed; there are many deep wash outs and you can suddenly find yourself driving vertically into one if you're going too fast. Aircraft often land on the beach and if you can afford it, this mode of travel is a great way to see the entire island in a short space of time, with the obligatory beach landing, of course. The highway rules state that vehicles must give way to aircraft if they are oncoming.

Fraser Island is also notorious for the dingoes that inhabit the island, though there numbers have decreased considerably due to culling efforts in the past ten years. During Aboriginal occupation, the dingoes were used as companions to man, but after the Aborigines were driven off the island (see above,) the dogs became wild and increasingly aggressive and wary of human contact. The dingoes on Fraser are some of the last remaining pure dingoes in Eastern Australia, and there was no recorded history of attacks on humans until the '90s. In 2001, a little boy who wandered from his family was discovered dead, "with indications of a dingo attack." Subsequent to the attack, approximately 40 dingoes were rounded up and killed by rangers. The "dingo issue" is still somewhat controversial on Fraser. Incidentally, Fraser Island is not the source "the dingo ate my baby" story. For those of you who do not know it, click here for a full read of the story.

Here are some pictures from our tour on Fraser Island:

Approaching Fraser

A strangler fig on Fraser

Coloured Sands Pinnacles on Fraser Island

One of the most interesting and atmospheric spots on Fraser Island is on 75 mile beach at the shipwreck of the Maheno. The S.S. Maheno was originally built in 1905 in Scotland as a luxury passenger ship for trans-Tasman crossings. During the First World War, the ship served as a hospital ship in the English Channel before returning to a luxury liner after the war. In 1935, the ship was declared outdated and in June 1935 was being towed from Melbourne when it was caught in a strong cyclone. A few days later, on July 9th 1935, the Maheno drifted ashore and was beached on Fraser Island. During the Second World War the Maheno served as target bombing practice for the RAAF. The ship has since become severely rusted, with almost three and a half storeys buried under the sand. Our tour guide actually showed us some pictures of a couple who were married on the Maheno earlier in the 20th century. They held their reception there as well, but everything was on a slant (tables, drinks, etc) due to the pitch of the ship from sinking gradually into the sand. It is no longer possible to climb over the wreckage, but it has been left undisturbed on 75 mile beach.

The wreck of the Maheno

While on 75 mile beach our bus experienced mechanical issues, but a replacement bus was brought right away. We re-boarded and were taken to the interior of the island where we visited Lake McKenzie, one of the cleanest lakes in the world and believed to be sacred by the Aboriginees. Per our guide, the beach sand of Lake McKenzie is nearly pure silica and it is possible to wash hair, teeth, jewelry, and exfoliate one's skin. The lakes have very few nutrients and pH varies, though sunscreen and soaps are a problem as a form of pollution.

Megan in Lake McKenzie

All in all, our trip to Fraser Island offered a fascinating glimpse into a completely unique landscape, Aboriginal folklore, and the history of some of the early European settles in Australia. The company, Fraser Island Safaris, was excellent. We only regret not camping there overnight. If only it had been sunny!