Video Transcript
Welcome to Out of the World.
In this episode, I’ll take you to the biggest sand island in the world. We’re in Queensland, and this here is Fraser Island, or I have to say, K’gari.
In the previous episode, our road trip already turned into a boat trip. We explored the Whitsunday Islands and found true paradise on Earth.
We drove south to Rockhampton and passed the tropical Capricorn.
Getting some gas here in Bundaberg. And now we arrive in Hervey Bay for another major wander of Queensland. Good morning.
It’s nice and fresh this morning. That’s why I got I have warm clothes on. I’m awake. The family is still a little bit sleeping over there in the car. It’s very early. Susie is going to drive me down to the docks in Hervey Bay, and me and Jens are going to go to Fraser Island, the nature wander. It’s not really suited for Céline, so Sus will stay here with her. It’s me and Jens on adventure.
But first we need some… Coffee.
With East Coast Tours, we get dropped off at the ferry, and it’s already a sight to witness this jigsaw puzzle of cars.
Then we cross the Coral Sea to Fraser Island, and the views are getting better by the minute.
K’gari, formerly known as Fraser Island, is the biggest sand island in the world.
It’s just off the Coast at Hervey Bay, but it’s 122 kilometres long. It’s also on the UNESCO World Heritage List, not because it’s so big, but because of the beautiful nature. This is the only place in the world where you can find tropical rainforests growing on sand in this size. The boat took about 45 minutes, and we’re now on K’gari, Fraser Island. You like it? Yeah.
As I told you before, this place is very special because the rainforest grows on the sand here, which normally shouldn’t happen.
But we’re just south of the tropical of Capricorn, and the right climate and the fresh water on this island makes it so that there is subtropical rainforest all over the island.
We make one of the most unique walks on Earth. Since this rainforest developed in 800,000 years on drifting sand.
We see mainly satin, brush box, pines, palms, and gum trees. But we soon spot animals, too, in this jungle as two monitor lizards join the party. Our guide just told us that some of the trees over here are nearly a thousand years old.
That’s how long it took to grow rainforest on sand. It has something to do with all the bacteria that over time came to be in this Earth.
It’s awesome.
A pair of kookaburras hang around the Wanggoolba Creek.
We end our walk through the beautiful subtropical forest at this building over here, which is the only old building in the area from 1920.
This is the old Central Station garage.
Hey, bus, wait for us!
We drove from East to West to arrive in Eurong, a resort village where we have lunch.
Enjoy.
We continue our journey driving the longest beach in Queensland, which also happens to be the main road on this island.
This was pretty awesome. We saw a wild dingo on the beach.
It was awesome. It’s something that you rarely see here, so very nice.
The Dingo is Australia’s wild dog that was probably brought to the continent by Asian seafarers about 4,000 years ago. They often hunt alone, and they can be dangerous, so beware. At our next stop, we visit a very photogenic shipwreck.
The S.S. Maheno was a luxury ocean liner between New Zealand and Australia until in 1935, it got in a cyclone and got washed ashore here in Fraser Island. It’s been an icon ever since, and we can enjoy some history walking around here on the beach.
The most bizarre thing, we see a dingo walking on this shipwreck.
They say that a dingo is dangerous for kids, so that’s why Jens is on my neck.
Nothing to worry about.
The road that we’re driving, or actually the beach, is called 75 Mile Beach, and it’s actually an official Australian highway.
There’s a speed limit, 80 km/h, and along that road we’ll find some icons like the next one called the Pinnacles.
It’s pretty interesting that in hundreds of thousands of years, the sand of Fraser Island created these multi-coloured rock formations. Our next stop is the best place to go swimming in fresh water.
It’s actually the biggest production of fresh water on this island by the Eli Creek, and we can just swim around in it. Yeah.
We’re going swimming.
We’re in the Eli Creek, and it’s actually quite cold.
Jens finds it’s very cold, but it’s shallow, so we can walk, drift a bit, right into the rainforest.
It’s That’s really nice.
That was fascinating, but a little bit too short.
I think next time we should bring a tube because it looked awesome to go tubing. But it’s only five minutes because we’re already back at the beach.
Let’s go. On to the next site, which is our favourite one.
The most beautiful lake that you can find on Fraser Island is Lake Mckenzie. It has powdery white sand on the beaches, and it has different shades of blue in the water. K’gari means paradise, and if you’re searching for paradise, this is it.
This 1,200 by 900 metre lake has such pure H2O that it’s basically a swimming pool. It’s unsuitable for fish to live in, but on the plus side, you don’t have to bring a bottle of water because you can drink this. The beaches are pure silica, as white as powdered sugar.
That’s it, unfortunately, for our episode in paradise. But be sure to tune in next time because we’ll be cruising the east coast, the south coast all the way to Perth. We love Australia. See you.
Oh, and don’t go anywhere yet because we do have a special dessert and preview for you.
It’s Jens’ birthday. Oh, we got an apple! Yes. We have some apple.
We have a lot of fun in Hervey Bay before we continue the road trip. From Hervey Bay, we are driving down south towards Noosa and the Sunshine Coast.
But we stop at a really nice place to camp, which is called Tiaroright, and right in the middle of the centre of this little village, there’s a free campground. It actually looks like a paid one because it’s perfect and it has a playground.
Happy birthday to you.
Good morning. We have a beautiful sun today, but this wasn’t always the case in the last days. We were driving towards Brisbane, and all of a sudden we got caught in this storm. Lightning, rain, everything you can imagine. But fortunately, we could see my family over there in a little town called Tallegalla.
My great aunt, Cori and her family, gave us the warmest welcome and shelter from the rain. I hoped you liked Queensland because I sure did.
We’re traveling on through Australia, and in the next episode, you’ll see us in the south. So we’re driving south along the east coast, and I’ll see you in the next episode. Ciao.
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Wout of the World
Online travel show in Dutch and English with World traveler and actor Wout of the World. In dozens of episodes Wout takes you out for adventure all over the world, always in the most budget-friendly way. Enjoy over 120 countries from your couch, phone or the computer.