Fraser Island Day 2

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Before breakfast, we took a walk down along the beach, which is speckled with crab holes. Then, after breakfast, we took a hike along the Beerillbee trail, where we saw a flock of sulfur crested cockatoos resting in a tree. At the top of the hike, there is a viewpoint looking over the Great Sandy Straits. We continued down a side trail to Dundongo Creek, but at the bottom where the creek meets the ocean, the creek was flooded and it was high tide so we had to come back up the trail we had just descended. In the afternoon, we took a rented 4 wheel drive car out on the dirt tracks of the island. The ride is a very bumpy one! We drove to the Eastern side of the island and drove along the beach along the Pacific Ocean. We went to Kirrur sandblow and did a short hike to see the huge sand dunes. It is like a small desert in the middle of an island that is otherwise covered by trees. We stopped at the wreck of the Maheno again and then on our way back, we saw a juvenile dingo on the beach.

Dingos are related to wolves from East Asia and were brought to Australia about 5,000 years ago. These domesticated dingos were used by the aboriginal people for hunting but many reverted to a wild state. The dingos on the mainland interbred with domestic dogs and are now considered wild dogs. However, the dingos on Fraser Island were never exposed to domestic dogs and remain genetically similar to the original dingos. They look like a mix between a small coyote and a dog with red tinted fur.