Fraser Island Day Two

Most everyone in the large tour group was hung over from the drinking shenanigans from the night before. Our group was one of the first ones up and we made breakfast together. After that we headed out with the whole group to Eli Creek. Geoff and other lead drivers have nicknamed it Hangover Creek. The creek continually flows and is supposed to be some the purest water as a result of the sand filtration. The creek was colder compared to Lake Mackenzie but quite shallow and drains into the ocean. The deepest part I found only came up the my waist. It was extremely refreshing and I am sure woke up everyone who had a hangover. It was an absolutely beautiful place. We spent a good part of the morning here, swimming and sunbathing, I enjoyed sitting in the fresh creek water, watching and listening to the ocean waves crash onto the beach.

After Eli Creek, we drove to the Maheno shipwreck on the beach. The ship used to be used as a cruise liner for people and then was commissioned to be a hospital ship during World War I. It was then sold to the Japanese and when being hauled there, a cyclone hit and the ship washed up on the island. It was pretty cool.

We then drove along the beach to the Champagne Pools. These are rock pools that are full of ocean water. The waves crash on the rocks and into the pools which leaves foam and bubbles in the pools, hence the name. There were a lot of shells along the rocks that were sharp, so people swimming had to be careful not to cut themselves. Mike managed to cut the bottom of his foot. The rocks around the pools were pretty neat. The ocean here was turquoise and very beautiful.

After the pools, we drove to Indian Head Cliff. We hiked up it, which wasn't very hard and they view from the top was amazing. The place had a very somber feel to it. We then found out that this cliff had been used to massacre the men of the aboriginal tribe on the island. The women and children had to watch as the men were walked off the cliff by early settlers. To this day, no aboriginal will climb the cliff. It is quite sad that such a beautiful place has such a bloody history.

When we drove back to our camp site, we drove past rock formations know as the Cathedrals. They remind me of the bad lands by Drumheller and Medicine Hat. They have layers of sediment but these ones have orange, red and yellow colouring to them, they were pretty magnificent.

Since it was our last night camping on the island, many decided to play drinking games to finish off their alcohol. There was a huge group playing a game of flip cup that resulted in a lot of people getting drunk. I spent the night talking with Matthias, Freya, Henry, Mads and Harry. Right before bed, Mike, Harry and I walked down to the beach to see the moon. It was amazing. The moon wasn't quite full but was still bright and reflected off the ocean.