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Three days of crystal clear freshwater pools and streams, rain forests surviving on sand, shipwrecks and 4×4 driving across the beach – brilliant! Only slight downside was that it rained non-stop for the first two days! Still, a trip that’ll stick in my head for a long time. How can you not when it’s like this (Lake McKenzie)?
Amazing view from the middle of Lake McKenzie
We booked the trip (Palace tours www.palaceadventures.com.au - they also offer non self-drive options) in Cairns and it basically consisted of the following:
1 night accommodation at NEXT backpackers hostel in Hervey Bay
Day 1: Drive to Fraser and see Lake Birrabeen, Wanggoolba Creek and Lake Wabby. Camp that night
Day 2: Up early for a full day or in the island to see Indian Head, the Champagne Pools, The Pinnacles, Maheno Shipwreck and Eli Creek. Camp
Day 3: Back to the mainland after visiting the main attraction (and thankfully it was beaming sun that day) Lake McKenzie.
1 night accommodation at NEXT backpackers hostel in Hervey Bay
There were a few trips to choose from but most of the others we saw weren’t self-drive, or started from Rainbow beach, which after taking the ferry crossing to Fraser Island, you then spend the rest of the day just driving up the beach and not seeing much (starting the trip in from Hervey Bay means you go across the island on the first day so you can see things along the way).
We arrived at the hostel (via the greyhound bus from Airlie Beach) a couple of hours before the 4pm tour brief in which they described the overall organisation of the trip including bringing your own food for the trip, camping (no toilet/shower facilities as it’s on the beach), who can drive (over 21 with manual licence) and group sizes etc. The aim being you group together to buy some food and organise who’ll be in your car for the trip (8 people per car, inc. driver). Luckily we already knew a few people that we had met on a tour in the Whitsundays so we grouped up with them and another couple.
The next morning we checked out and sat through a formal DVD of what to do on the trip regarding driving techniques (driving on sand, keep left, don’t stop), dingoes (be dingo safe people!), and the amount you can be fined if you don’t dig a deep enough hole for your, eeer, waste… All there was left to do was load up the cars (to the brim), meet our part-time guide/school teacher and head to the ferry! Apparently I was the most eager to drive so I found myself in the driving seat for most of the trip
On to the ferry over to the island
First tracks of the day!
About half an hour later we were on the island and gunning it across the sand, and the clouds started closing in!
It only took a few seconds to realise you can’t actually steer on sand and you’re forced more to follow in the tracks of other cars than to cut your own – something that was a little irritating when the car ahead couldn’t stay straight and you get forced into the same manic left and right motion as them. Eventually, after a bit of beach, we reached road and a stop in a semi built up area (I had no idea towns existed on Fraser).
Lake Birrabeen: Luckily when we first got out it wasn’t raining but after 5 minutes the heavens opened on those that had decided to go for a swim in the relatively cold lake, and the game of football that had begun in the beach…! After about half an hour of enduring the rain we headed back from our walk round the lake to find everyone pretty much waiting at the cars because of the rain! Sadly this was pretty much the outcome of most of our visits, bar the last day for Lake McKenzie.
It rained, lots
White sand though!
…and mud!
We traveled onwards for another good hour and got to our next stop, Wanggoolba Creek. It was more of a lunch stop than anything, but nice to stretch the legs. Spent about half an hour there and carried on to Lake Wabby.
Map of the area
Hidden behind a few massive sand dunes was Lake Wabby. The freshwater lake was pretty big, however you’d be hard pressed to know it was there if someone didn’t tell you the way. Great for sand tobogganing, or just generally being kids in a massive sand pit…
The massive dune that hides the pool
Bubbles in the lake!
Back on the ‘road’
We travelled onwards though some dense wooded areas (yes, the only rain forest on a sand island in the world!) and along the beach to our camp ground.
The camp was very basic, a few small 4 man tents (of which we were luckily able to get one to ourselves) and a few large pieces of tarpaulin supported by a few rods. There were some largish bbqs, however they were fairly difficult to light in the tropical storm we were in…! A couple of ‘roo burgers and beers later, we were all a happily chatting under cover.
The following day we set out with a new eager driver – one of the girls wanted to try out beach driving. We didn’t realise quite how long and taxing that stretch of driving would be! Eventually, we ended up at the tip of the island where it all started, Indian Head. A large rocky outcrop that formed the beginnings of the island, sand gathered behind it and it began to grow from there. As one of the highest points on the island (if not, the highest) it’s a great lookout across the beaches and inland onto the constantly shifting sand flats.
Keeping spirits up!
View from the top – Lake Wabby to the left
Our next haul was to the Champagne pools, so named because of the white break over the rocks into pools at the water’s edge that creates small bubbles that slowly accumulate in the rock pools. It was still extremely windy that day so it was great to see it in full force. The upside of having a bit of bad weather I guess! I can see the attraction of the pools, but when we were there the winds made it resemble more of a wave pool than a Champagne pool!
Down to the pools
Will and Mimi enjoying the bubbles!
Pretty violent today!
A couple of hours there and we headed back down the coast to visit a few landmarks. First stop was the yellow cliffs or The Pinnacles. This was a ‘light’ photography stop, not much to see apart from the layers of sand that formed the cliffs in that area.
Second stop was the shipwreck of the SS Maheno. A ship that was being towed to Sydney at the end of its life in 1935 that got decoupled from its tow in heavy storms and drifted to Fraser Island and has been there ever since. It was however subject to a number of bombings and tests for the next few years so it didn’t really rest in peace!
SS Maheno
SS Maheno
Our final stop of the day was at Eli creek. An amazingly clear fresh water creek that ran into the sea, had been turned into a lazy river and was pretty darn cold in the wet! Still thoroughly enjoyed it though.
Not so keen on getting in!
Some braved it!
Mimi is loving it
Smiling, but it’s cold
We headed back to the camp and settled down, hoping that tomorrow the rain would have disappeared and have a bit of sun for the best lake on the island…
It may have been our last day of the tour, but our first full day of sunshine!! If we had to pick one day for it to be brilliant sunshine, it would have been today! We packed up camp and headed off to Lake Mackenzie in the 4×4′s. By the time we got there it was pretty busy, probably because everyone was hellbent on making the most of the sun.
The lake itself was amazing to see in the walk down from the car park. Distant green banks surrounding the still turquoise water and to top it off, the most amazing white sandy beach (I’d say, better than that of Whitehaven beach in the Whitsundays). It would have been nice to while away the rest of the day there but unfortunately our tour was at an end so we had to get back to the 4x4s and head for the 2pm ferry.
Pretty fine lake…
Bubbles pic! Such clear water
Amazing view from the middle of Lake McKenzie
Camera couldn’t cope with the white!
Back on solid land, all there was left to do was unpack and get our deposits back for the vehicles. We stayed the night that was included and headed off the next day.
Overall, a great trip. We were fortunate enough to be in a great group (apart from 1 crazy driver…!) that we had met before and I was the most keen driver so got plenty of time behind the wheel. In our opinion, this trip is much better than the Whitsundays, and that’s us saying that with 2 of 3 days rain!
Third capoeira class going well! Getting some nice blisters on the feet now…! Still, absolutely loving it!
We’re at Mestre Bimba’s school (Associação de Capoeira Mestre Bimba – map below) in the heart of the old district of Salvador. Cobble streets with capoeira bateria (the type of music that accompanies everything capoeira, below is a compilation of the music from Youtube), brilliant!
After initially booking just a 2 day/1 night tour (750,000IDR per person), we changed our mind last minute to make the most of our time over on Flores and have 3 days/2 nights (1,500,000IDR per person) instead.
Having bagged ourselves a private tour – just one of the many benefits of visiting in low season – we met our captain and crew, our boat was driven by the captain’s father and the rest of the crew consisted of the cook (captain’s wife) and 2 deck hands (the captain’s 2 young sons), and set off for Manta Point. Even before we reached the first stop we’d seen schools of jumping fish (not sure what type of fish they were but they looked a bit like tuna) and a pod of about 20 dolphins!
Having reached Manta Point, on the south eastern tip of Komodo Island, we were shocked by the strength of the current given the seemingly serene surface of the water. After quite a bit of fin kicking we followed our captain (a self-proclaimed expert in manta spotting!) to the see the first of about 6 giant manta rays. Fighting against the current to get closer was tough, a couple of scuba divers had managed to tether themselves to a rock to get close but still seemed to be fighting a losing battle against the sea. Happy to have at least one sighting, we allowed the current to guide us along a coral wall, and we spotted a few cheeky turtles too!
Manta – about 2.5 metres span
Manta
*Sadly, our waterproof camera decided to become not very waterproof..as in, not at all…the camera broke and will no longer accept that there is a memory card inside so there are no more water photos from this trip, just a few others that we managed to take with my iPad!*
Next stop, Pink beach. This stop wasn’t quite as expected, we’d seen pictures and it had indeed looked pink but it wasn’t when we were there, maybe it’s a time of day thing, or a seasonal thing, either way, it wasn’t pink but it was nice all the same.
We made another random snorkel stop, saw loads of fish and a lovely turtle that I managed to swim alongside for quite some time…I think he was an old one because of the detail on his shell (and he was slow enough for me to keep up with!)
At dusk, we stopped off at flying fox island, unsurprisingly, to watch the flying foxes…there were 100′s…
Our guide gave the tree a shake…!
Vast mangroves
We overnighted at Komodo Village (where our captain and his family are from), we had a quick walk through the village, said hello to the very friendly locals and stopped to watch a group of lads play volleyball. Back at the boat, we watched the sun set from the jetty and waited for dinner. The family (bar the eldest child) decided to sleep in their home (it was offered to us but we didn’t want to put them out and we were happy to sleep on the boat), beds were made and we all settled down at around 9pm, ready for the usual early morning wake-up call from the local mosque.
‘Fresh’ fish!
Kids strolling along the boardwalk with a couple of chickens
Locals enjoying a game of volleyball!
Sunset panorama
Sunrise
Day 2, hiking day…the day to see the dragons! On most tours, visiting the Komodo’s would be done on the first day however, as our first day fell on a Sunday, we switched the days around (the entrance fees are 75,000IDR more per person on Sunday’s and holidays).
We paid our entrance, guide and hiking fees (510,000IDR for both of us), the entrance fees are valid for both Komodo and Rinca ON THE SAME DAY (it used to be valid for 3 days but not anymore), the guide fee is per guide and not per person. We met our guide, Rizal, a great, knowledgeable young guy, decided on the medium walk – there’s a choice of 3, the guide will probably suggest which is best and which has the best likelihood of you seeing dragons depending on where the sightings have been on previous days. We immediately saw our first dragon, strolling along the sand in front of the entrance. We saw 8 dragons on Komodo…
Entrance sign
Casual Komodo dragon strolling past the entrance sign just 10m away from the beach
Obligatory elfie with one lazy Komodo
The stick probably wasn’t going to help much…
Sleeping Komodo at the top of Fregata Hill
Komodo Island beach panorama
We had another snorkel stop after lunch, this time we decide to swim amongst the mangroves. We saw so much, a huge fish (we need to work on our identification skills!), a sea snake, needle fish, trumpet fish, flat fish along the sea bed failing miserable to hide, a carcass of some fish that looked like it had a ‘normal’ skeleton at the back and a long needle nose (about 40cm total), Goby and Pistol Shrimp.
Heather exhausted from chasing Komodos
Great snorkelling around the mangroves. So much life! Shame the camera broke!
Next up, Rinca. Same situation as Komodo, pay the fees (an additional 110,000IDR for both of us) for the hiking fee and guide (the entrance to the National Park had already been paid on Komodo), our guide this time was Emanuel, an equally knowledgeable young guide, he works 10 days on Rinca and then has 10 days off back at home in Labuan Bajo. We saw a further 6 Komodo’s, 4 grouped up in the shade under the kitchen (due to their long memory, they still think there’s a chance of being fed even though the park stopped feeding them over 20 years ago) and then we saw 2 baby Komodo’s, they are much more energetic than the big guys and were out on the hunt for food.
Close with the sleeping Komodo
Our guide through the jungle
Entrance sign
Walkway
We sailed to Kanawa Island to watch sunset, have dinner and prepare some fish bait (out of parcel tie) ready for some fishing…
Kanawa sunset
Kanawa sunset
Kanawa sunset
Excitement rose with the possibility of catching squid… The young lad managed to spear one, but it’s body fell back in…then he caught a big ***Kalaputi*** fish.
Kaliputi fish
Excitement over, we all bedded down for the night, as the whole family slept on board this time, we set up camp on a mattress on the floor at the front of the boat, we left the sides open to allow a breeze through and so we could watch the night sky, literally sleeping under the stars.
A 6am rise with the sun lead to some early morning snorkelling off the boat at Kanawa (it’s a 100,000IDR per person fee to set foot on the beach but free to snorkel). A great way to start the day…pristine coral, LOADS of fish, clams and 2 turtles, one virtually swam into my arms as Matt followed him – a happy little turtle, eager to play.
Heather doing some press up’s at the end of the boat
We returned to the boat to be served a breakfast of rice, fried egg and the fish caught last night, supplemented with another fish caught in the morning…delicious, fresh, pure white fish!
More dolphins showed up just as we pulled up for the second snorkel of the day, ***Alum Kul-Kul. We tried to follow a group but we couldn’t catch up with them. We spent an hour investigating, as usual, the area was teeming with life.
Back at Labuan Bajo by 12 noon after a thoroughly enjoyable few days!
I’d highly recommend this type of tour, you get amazing views of the islands, see plenty of sea life, you’re almost guaranteed to see Komodo dragons, see amazing sunrises and sunsets and generally have a great time on a boat! Obviously, we were very lucky to get a private tour, we may have felt differently had we been on a packed boat but I think if you visit in low season you’d be ok, otherwise, try and get your own group together, at least that way, you know your boat won’t be filled with annoying strangers!!
A few facts about Komodo Dragons:
They can live 50-60 years in the wild (up to 90 years in captivity due to lack of predators and constant feeding)
On Komodo, the male:female ratio is about 5:1, on Rinca 3:1
The sex of the Komodo is determined on incubation temperature (much like snakes) – cooler temperature=female, warmer=male
Incubation period is between 8 and 9 months
The eggs are only cared for by the mother for the first 3 months, then they are left in the nest (usually monsoon rains mean that mud covers and protects them) – a baby Komodo would not know/recognise it’s own mother
Females can lay about 30 eggs at a time although only about 15% survive
The first eggs to hatch usually eat the unhatched ones
Baby Komodo’s are about 30cm long
Young Komodo’s tend to climb trees to keep away from predators, until they become too heavy for the tree (around 3 years)
Adults only eat about once a month (but are greedy and will eat at any opportunity they can)
They hunt and eat large prey; deer, water buffalo, the odd human…
Their bite is very infectious due to the 60+ different types of bacteria in their mouth (usually from animal carcus’)
They eat the whole animal (including bone) until it’s too big such as a deers head complete with antlers, as such, Komodo poo dries white because of all the calcium
Males have 2 penis’ (don’t know why!)
Mating season is July/August, Komodo’s are harder to spot as the females go up into the hills to hide and the males try to find them! [take note, this coincides with high season for tourists]
Below is a map of the trip, including the stops we made: