Page 39 - ELITE PLUS MAGAZINE VOL10

FRASER ISLANDIn May 2015, my television filming team and I flew to Brisbane, Australia, to film a documentary on four World Heritage Sites (WHS) of the State of Queensland including Fraser Island which was declared a WHS by UNESCO in 1992. From Brisbane we flew 50 minutes northward on a domestic flight to Hervey Bay, then embarked on a 40-minute ferry ride to Fraser Island.Before leaving on the trip, I did a research on Fraser Island and learned that the island is approximately 120 km in length and about 24 km in width. What’s so spectacular about Fraser Island is that it’s the largest sand island in the world, covering an area of 1,840 square km and that it consists of several kinds of forests – rainforests, eucalyptus woodland, mangrove forests, peat swamps, and coastal heaths. I was amazed to see from the ferry that the island in front of me was covered with dense lush green rainforests and became anxious to see and learn how trees could grow on sand into forests.We stayed at Mercure Kingfisher Bay Resort which is an Eco friendly resort designed and constructed to blend in with the surrounding rainforests. We walked on the sandy path to explore the premises of the resort and learned from a receptionist who acted as our guide that the sand obtains sufficient nutrients for plants to grow from rain and wind. The result has been the spectacular growth of the rainforests which become the dwellings and sources of food for many species of wildlife on the island.The next day we explored the island on a 4WD vehicle driven by Martin Goldsbury, our experienced and knowledgeable local guide, who took us from Kingfisher Bay on the Western side to the Eastern side of the island. After a 40-minute drive on the deep sandy road through rainforests and eucalyptus woodland, we reached the East Coast and continued on the unique coastal highway which was actually the wide, solid sandy beach stretching almost the whole length of the 120-km long coast. It was a smooth ride on the hard even surface of the coastal highway all the way to Indian Head, the most easterly point and the northern end of the island.We climbed up to the top of Indian Head where we could see the scenery around us, especially the Pacific Ocean. This was a good spot where the sea was clear enough to see a few rays coming close to the base of the cliff. Looking north it was our first observation of a sandblow, a Nature’s creation as a balance between rainforests and sand dunes.Sandblows are sand dunes which are moved across the island by the wind encroaching on nearby rainforests devoid them of vegetation. The year-round strong south-easterly wind moves sand from the existing sand dunes at the rate of 1 to 2 meters a year and can grow to a height of 244 meters. It is estimated there are now more than 40 sandblows on the island.Elite+ 37