Fraser Island (Day 11) Lake McKenzie Walking Trail

Day 11 saw us head off on our first tramp, on Fraser Island. The trail is called the Lake McKenzie Trail and is 11.5 km long. However there is a shorter tramp that brings you as far as a place called McKenzie's Jetty which is only 3.5km long and was therefore far more appealing. (Well we were on our holidays!)

The shorter tramp starts off with about a 2 km walk through a forest which ends at the Jetty and from there you have the option of returning on the same route or complete a loop via the beach. The beach option is only possible if the tide is out far enough, something the receptionist at the hotel failed to mention!

Here's some pics taken as we walked through the forest.




As we walked through the forest we came across a lot of Gum trees, that's Eucalyptus trees to the rest of us, which were shedding their bark. Some of the bark was a vibrant red colour like in the pics below.

We were to learn during our stay in Australia that there are many types of Gum trees like the one below which is called a Squiggle Gum Tree because of the marks an insect leaves behind. The picture below that seems to be some sort of fungus that grows on the trees and the last is a pic of two tree trunks that have been painted, presumably by Aborigines?

After the walk through the forest we arrived at McKenzie's Jetty. Which, you can see by the pics, is not exactly in mint condition.

After a short stop and rest at the jetty, we headed off down the beach back to the hotel. The picture below is of coffee rock which is some of the rare rock found on the island

When you are on holidays the tendency is to lie by the pool and generally take life easy. When you have travelled such a distance and spent so much money there's more incentive to get out and see the place. We have only started tramping since we went to NZ and have found it a really brilliant way to experience the various landscapes in the various countries. You are more or less guaranteed to have most of the time in isolation, away from traffic and noise pollution generally, and you get to see and experience nature in its purest form. The nicest thing to do is to sit down, shut up, and just listen.

Sharon has to remind me every so often on our walks that shutting up doesn't come that naturally to me!

Cathal