Sunday Sarfari

Coloured Sand Dunes in Cooloola
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Jonathan & I have been told by many of the locals that a visit to Great Sandy National Park was a must. The park is divided into two sections: Cooloola & Fraser Island.  We decided to sign-up for a 4WD tour of the southern section in Cooloola today & couldn't have been happier that we did!

At 8am, we met our tour guide Terri, in Tewatin at the Noosa Marina. The group consisted of Jonathan, myself & a mother with two lovely children from Sydney. We piled in the Land Cruiser and headed up 40 Mile Beach just as the tide was going out. In the early morning hours, we spotted kangaroos on the drive to the beach and when we finally got to the ocean the water was a pristine aquamarine color the whole ride up to our first destination point: Red Canyon.

View of 40 mile beach from lighthouse point
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Upon first inspection, the "canyon" looks like the Red Rocks you might find in the American Southwest, but Jonathan found out very quickly that looks can be deceiving. The canyon wall was too enticing not to climb, but it was not rock or clay, but sand. Each time you tried to take hold, it crumbled through you fingers.

Turns out, the national park is the largest vegetated sand dune system in the world. There is no rock and only traces of clay holding the sand in its firm formation. The minerals in the sand have oxidized causing it to turn vibrant shades of red, yellow, orange streaked with white.  They boast 70 shades of color and we tried to get the kids on our tour to count for us, but they got bored after about 15.

Lighthouse
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After a short drive up the coast, we drove past our second destination, the Cherry Venture ship wreck. In 1973, a large cargo vessel was bound for Brisbane and caught in 12 ft.+ seas. It ran aground on this stretch of sand and now is just a rusted heap of scrap. Apparently, up until last year, it was quite an impressive sight and maintained much of its form, but the Queensland Park System demolished parts of the ship for fear of someone climbing on it and getting hurt on the scrap metal. By this time next year, the Cherry Venture will be removed from her final resting place because of asbestos concerns. It was an amazing sight and a reminder than in a fight of man vs. the elements, Mother Nature usually wins.

Strangler-vine Tree in the Rainforest
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Onward to the "high point" of our day, we climbed the only rocky outcropping on the island to visit the lighthouse keeping watch over the Pacific Ocean. The view was breathtaking. Our pictures cannot do it justice. From our perch, we had morning tea & watched a school of dolphins swim along the cove below. We even spotted a massive manta ray.

We then trekked back down to sea level and followed the ocean along to Rainbow Beach, home of the real coloured sand dunes. In all fairness to this natural marvel, the word dunes does not correctly describe what we saw. I mean imagine mini-mountains of sand, some as tall as 50 meters. They were tall enough that as we swam, we could watch gliders launching off of them.

Our final destination for the day was the second type of habitat for the day, one of the two sub-tropical rainforests that was completed bedded on a sand dune.  We had a lovely picnic lunch while a monitor lizard wandered around our feet. Then we did a short walk around the surrounding area to look at strangler vines and how they create these odd looking, gnarled, hollow trees by entrapping other trees causing them to die and decompose.

By the end of the day, we were completely knackered. Jon slept the whole ride home and I could barely keep my eyes open. We took a lovely afternoon nap and Jon is getting ready now to go off to the hospital for his first night shift.

Tomorrow, I have my second interview at well-known Queensland publication, so keep your fingers crossed!

P.S. Jon and I have been walking around for the past week singing the song from Bindi's new commercial. Watch:

http://www.youtube.com/v/v2j71e5M_Rk

Catchy, isn't it?