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We woke up not so bright, but early at 5:30 A.M. We walked to the Maheno breakfast buffet. After breakfast we headed to the bus tour.
Our first stop was a fresh water lake whose only water source is rain. The water is a tiny bit acidic because of the mixture of carbon dioxide and water making carbonic acid. Because of this, it cleanses your skin and is rumored to make you `10 years younger just by swimming in it. The water was pure and tasted of purified tap water. It was amazing how clear the lake was. Even in its deepest parts you could still see the bottom.
After that we had a 1.3 mile walk through the rainforest. It was a nice, serene setting. The temperature was near perfect and my friends were just as enjoyable as ever. After the walk the coach started driving down a road on a beach the powerful ocean waves lulled me to sleep. Only a second later the bus driver’s voice woke me up. We were at the site of one of the oldest steamboats in the world, the Maheno.
After that we witnessed the massive sand dunes. The entire Island was just one big deposit of sand and thus just one huge sand dune. After soaking in the beauty of the view, we moved on to Eli Creek. It was a beautiful site but the wind blew the sand and stung us like bullets. We also witnessed a view from the lookout tower we could see an amazing view of the coast.
For dinner we had a pizza and pasta buffet. There was a reason for the carbs: tonight we played games that involved teamwork and got us running around the room. Afterwards we were forced to write in our journal. If we did not have our journals up to date we were told that our free time might be at stake. I thought this was fair and I knew how important the journal was, but at this point of the trip had not filled out a single page of my journal. I had started my writing about my first day and made it half way through before it was time to go back to our rooms, wait for room check and go to sleep. This meant that the next day I would have to use the bus ride to catch up. At least I don’t car sick.
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A landmark on 75 Mile Beach in Fraser Island is the shipwreck of the S.S. 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 Mediterranean, Gallipoli, and the English Channel, before returning to a luxury liner. |
In 1935, the ship was declared outdated and on June 25, 1935 the ship was being towed from Melbourne to Japan for scrap metal when it was caught in a strong cyclone. A few days later, on July 9 1935 drifted ashore and was beached on Fraser Island. |
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