Come with me - A Day on Fraser Island

[Mad Aussie]

Steve, that's an excellent pictures story. With these wonderful photos I can live the journey with you - even thousands of kilometers away!

I'm pleased you are enjoying the trip with me Kerstin Keep the seatbelt on tight ... we aren't finished yet

[Mad Aussie]

So, around 11.30 am we turned inland and began the long, slow journey through the rainforests towards Lake McKenzie.

The speed limit is 30 kph through these roads but in many places it's not really possible to even do that.

As we got away from the beach, the flora changed quickly and soon we were in a section of cool looking trees that looked like they were bleeding rust!






Further in still and the plants were becoming even more varied

[Mad Aussie]

As we got towards the islands center, things got wetter


I decided to play with some slow shutter shots and capture a sensation of speed. We were only doing 30 kph but it looks like were flying!








next stop ... the lake

[okmqaz42]

Powerful, truly wonderful. Thanks for doing that it is great to really get a view of another country. Perfect..

[Mad Aussie]

Powerful, truly wonderful. Thanks for doing that it is great to really get a view of another country. Perfect..

Thanks okmqaz42 ... glad you are enjoying the ride

[Iguanasan]

Me too, me too! What a trip. Very cool and awesome images. Can't wait to see the rest.

[Mad Aussie]

It was around 1.45 pm, after a long, slow crawl through the inland trails before we finally arrived at Lake McKenzie.

The rain was falling so we huddled under the rear door of the Landcruiser and enjoyed some shortbread biscuits and a coffee before heading to the lake when the rain eased around 2.05 pm.

Here was our first look (2.08pm)


Without rain around the sand, which is incredibly fine, is usually blindingly white in the sun.
Across the lake we could see the rain coming again (2.10 pm)


After huddling under a tree for awhile and finally giving up and heading back up to the toilet shelter, we sat and waited out the rain. For about an hour.

Back down at the lake we wondered if the sun would come out and truly show off the deep blue and incredible green of this lake or whether our time here would be a bit bland.
Here Glenn is standing almost knee deep in the crystal clear water yet you'd swear it was barely ankle deep. (3.07 pm)


Suddenly I noticed a rainbow forming as I took this shot ... (3.08 pm)


We bolted back up the beach to a better advantage point and were rewarded for the long journey and the persistence we showed by hanging around this long (3.09 pm)


(3.10pm)


(3.11pm)


(3.19 pm)

[Mad Aussie]

These people were watching the rainbow as well


These guys didn't really care. The lake was cold for us Aussie's but these POM's loved it. "Warm summers day back 'ome, me ole cock!"






By 3.30pm we were away again. We had to get to the barge by 5.30pm or we'd be spending a night in the cruiser.
I liked the trees in this shot


We drove through a section of mossy bank after mossy bank

[Mad Aussie]

Time Travel


Emerald Forest


By 4 pm we were back on the beach with plenty of time to make the barge thankfully. You never know how long these trails will take so you need to give yourself leeway.
The rain was starting to fall again


(4.01 pm)


And then the rain came down ... hard. Several hours later, we were almost home and it was still hammering down. We'd even seen another 4x4 hit a huge puddle on the tarmac and get so close to spearing off the road that he pulled over and stopped.

We rolled into Glenn's place at around 7.30 pm ... had a coffee ... put our gear in our car ... and drove the final hour home to Brisbane ... and went to sleep! A 17 1/2 hr day done ... ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz zzz zz z ....

Thanks for coming along for the ride

[Iguanasan]

Amazing... the rainbow was beautiful. Thanks for a lovely trip without the long ride