Sand and Sea - Night 33

As usual, I was the first to awake despite my bout of wine drinking the night before. My customary morning walk took me down to the sea and then north to the Pinnacles, strange sand blown formations much like the Badlands of South Dakota. Upon my return the group was up and at em’, so we left for the Eli Creek floating adventure before 8. Getting to Eli Creek we soon discovered that the boardwalk was closed and only 100 meters or so of the creek could actually be floated. Our guide from Next, Troy, had failed to mention this, leading us to question the remainder of his recommendations for the day.

The tide was coming in so we had to book it back to the campground. Unable to leave for a few hours, Rob convinced the four aborigines to take us on a bush walk up to Knifeblade Sandblow. They happily agreed, saying they had not been on a walk like that for years. Only four of us, Rob, Laura, Rebecca and I,

Rob and I on the Dunes

volunteered for what they assured us would be a tough hike. When we went to meet them at their house they were smoking and drinking whiskey straight out of the bottle…at 11 am. They quickly got ready and off we went; us in sandals, them barefoot. We walked up the road a bit and then just cut straight into the bush, no trail, no nothing. This was a true bush walk, aboriginal style. We climbed up over three large ridges and when I say climbed it was nearly hands and knees-type ascending. We arrived on top of the third ridge to find that we missed the mark by about a kilometer. We then walked the ridge over to the

Leaving the Aborigines in the Dust

beginning of the sandblow. Along the way they explained what plants were used for medicine or food and other interesting tidbits about the land. We even tried a few berries and a hallucinogenic grape.

Arriving at the beginning of Sandblow it was stunning, almost unworldly. The coffee rock and dead trees were reminiscent of nothing I had ever seen. Getting a bit lost had cost us some time and we needed to get back to the rest of the group, so we climbed right up and over the knifeblade ridge; absolutely killer. A bit like climbing to base camp on Mt. Rainier, but just slightly steeper and much, much warmer. The view from the top was amazing, you could see out over the pinnacles and the shipwreck.

We got back and ate lunch. Afterwards

At Indian Head

we made the long drive up to Indian Head, a large coastal head jutting out into the sea. Again, the views and climb were phenomenal. On a place like Fraser you run out of adjectives rather quickly. Everything has just been amazing. After Indian Head we drove over to the Champagne pools for some swimming. The pools are a small part of the ocean cut off from the rest of the sea, thus safe from sharks and box-jellyfish. The name comes from the bubbles that arise as the surf crashes over the rocks into the pools. We headed home after the

Champagne Pools

pools. Not quite content with the day, Rob and I grabbed a beer and drove down to Eli Creek for a freshwater bath and float.

View from Indian Head

Sandblow

The Knifeblade Sandblow

On tonight’s menu was chicken and pasta…another stellar bush camp meal. Again we got good and pissed on wine. Around 10, Rob and I along with three Canadian guys in camp took a midnight stroll down to the beach. Light pollution on Fraser is very minimal and the night sky was stunning. Though it could have helped that we were fairly drunk by this time. I don’t remember what time we went to bed...I guess it really doesn’t matter, like the aborigines, for us on this trip (ferry landing aside) time was irrelevant.

What I Learned Today: Although the four aborigines at the camp drank, smoked and generally wore western clothes, our bush hike showed that they still have a serious appreciation for Mother Earth. Every time they stepped on a plant or broke off a limb they apologized to their nature spirit for the offense.

written by

exumenius on November 12, 2007 from Fraser Island, Australia

from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos

Send a Compliment

comment on this...