Fraser Island

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Wanggoolba Creek (General)

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stomps
stomps
First Reviewer
5 out of 5
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2
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8
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Editor Pick

Wanggoolba Creek Walk, pt. 2

  • May 21, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by stomps from Houston, Texas
Wanggoolba Creek Walk, pt. 2

This is a continuation of my Wanggoolba Creek Walk review.

In the creek there are some very old and exceptional ferns. The fern that James pointed out to us was over 2,000 years old, and had huge fronds that he said were some of the largest in the world. Because it is so old, if you walk in the creek, polluting it with your oils, you could possibly kill the fern—so if you even think about doing this, you are slapped with a $1250 fine.

At this point James left us to move Uncle Gus to the end of the track. We walked through the forest for around an hour, first along the creek and then uphill past some massive trees. It’s no wonder they logged on Fraser for so long, because some of those trees were absolutely humongous (possibly not on Californian redwood standards, but still). It’s also amazing that trees this big can take root in sand—but they have and since the sand is so rich in minerals, they have done quite well.

One thing that definitely provided us with entirely too much amusement was the rotten tree near the end. All of us got inside it at one point or another, so there’s plenty of pictures of us sticking our heads through various holes in the trunk. It was pretty cool to stand inside, since the trunk had rotted from the inside but was still standing to almost its original height. Looking up was like looking through a telescope.

When we reached the end of the track, James and Uncle Gus were there waiting for us. Once everybody filtered in, James decided to show us one of the dangerous inhabitants of the island. The funnel web spider, the most poisonous in Australia (and therefore, the world), used to only live in Sydney but has slowly made its way north. Now, it lives in little holes underneath trees and logs. He just wanted to make sure that we didn’t go sticking our fingers in any holes just to see what was there, since you can die from the bite rather quickly. He told us that he used to actually stick a twig down one of the holes so we could meet a funnel web for ourselves, but once one got so angry that it shot up the twig and was nearly on him before he could drop it! Needless to say, he has good reason to leave them alone now.

Time passed so quickly on this walk, and we were so completely enclosed by the rainforest that it seemed to be brilliant midday when we finally emerged, that we didn’t realize how late it was getting. However, James did, and with a declaration of “It’s beer o’clock! We’re late for beer o’clock!” we were herded back into Uncle Gus and headed back down the bumpy sand track to Eurong.

From journal Fraser Island: Literally Paradise

Editor Pick

Wanggoolba Creek Walk

  • May 21, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by stomps from Houston, Texas
Wanggoolba Creek Walk

Our next stop after Lake Birrabeen was the fairly close-by Central Station. This used to be the main station for logging on Fraser, because of its close proximity to lots of giant satinay trees, which were perfect for use as a ship’s mast. This also makes it a great place to take a short hike through the Fraser Rainforest.

James took us along the path for a short while. Before we started along the path, he stopped us and asked us very seriously if we had picked up our DBPS in Rainbow Beach. When he was greeted with a blank look, he elaborated… “Your Drop Bear Protection System?” My friend and I looked each other and stifled our giggles, because we had heard the myth of the drop bear from another James when camping at Lake Cootharaba. Sadly, none of us had bought our DBPS’s so we were all in great danger.

There used to be koalas that lived on Fraser Island, but when the loggers came, they chopped down all the eucalyptus that the koala lives in. The koalas had no other choice but to start eating small animals, like lizards, to stay alive. They have begun eating larger and larger animals, so now, if you walk through the forest in Fraser, or many areas of Australia, it is best to walk with your hands making a cone above your head. Then, if a drop bear jumps down out of a tree onto you, it will simply slide right off.

Not only are there drop bears on Fraser, but there are hoop snakes to watch out for as well. These snakes like to live at the top of hills, and when they see some likely prey, they roll up into a wheel and roll down the hill after you. The only way to avoid these are to run in zigzags, of course, while holding your hands over your head to protect yourself from drop bears.

James proceeded to run through the forest like that and we all stood back and laughed at him. He was quite sad that no one believed him—although one girl screamed when he talked about hoop snakes because “she HATES snakes!”—because sometimes he actually gets whole groups mimicking him through the forest.

The track ran along Wanggoolba, or the Silent, Creek for quite a while. This creek actually is completely silent. You really do not know it is there until the path turns and you see water running below you. The creek is silent because there is nothing for it to trickle over besides sand. It’s fascinating and definitely a new experience to watch the water flowing along without any noise at all.

This review is continued in Wanggoolba Creek Walk, pt. 2.

From journal Fraser Island: Literally Paradise

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