“And this is where the funnel web spiders live…”

 The morning was a fairly leisurely start; everyone was still half asleep.  We did have a bit of a hilarious incident. Sleepily getting ready, I heard a meek “is anyone out there?” Silence. “Umm.. can someone come let us out?” For the unfortunate members of the tent across the breezeway from me, the door was hopelessly locked. A few lock-pickings later, they were freed. That’s a great way to start your 6:30am.

 We began the morning with a lecture from Barry. Afterwards, we loaded up onto our bus/vans which led us to a walk by the central station of the Great Sandy national park along the Wanggoolba creek. It was a winding pathway through the cold rainforest. The drivers of the “Trailblazer Tours” warmed us up to the area by pointing out the spots where funnel web spiders could be found. Oh, but don’t fret. They like to come out at night.  Mostly. Our main concern for the hike was the leeches that will latch on for a free ride and just a spot of blood.

Apparently Fraser Island is more or less a death zone. 4/5 of the world’s most venomous spiders are found here, as well as a similar figure for snakes. If you manage to evade them, the dingoes might maul you. If you’re smart and decide to stay inside an electrified fence area, be sure not to cross the electric grates which will quickly throw you for a loop. If you manage to get past those, you’ll find yourself on the beach where you may be struck by lightening or hit by a crazy driver since the beach is officially a road. Reaching the ocean, you can try to swim back to the mainland if you get past the tiger sharks… that is, if the rip tide doesn’t pull you under first.

It’s a really welcoming place.

Back to the events of the day: we meandered through the gorgeous rainforest which was very quiet, including the “slient” stream that cut through. The water was absolutely crystal clear, almost so much so that you could count the sand grains on the bottom if you really tried. There was a TON of different fungi on the ground and all over the trees, including the glowing sort (thanks to luciferase).

Skywards

Not the glowing sort, but still pretty awesome

Elkhorn ferns

Finishing our walk, we were driven over rough sand roads to Lake Birrabeen. It was freezing. However, it had glorious pristine sand which made my hands feel like silk. Barry, braver than the rest of us (and a kiwi to boot), dove right in for a swim in the perched lake. Brad diverted his crew to find some crawdads with menacing pinchers. He also showed us some old turtle egg shells as well as some lovely plants.

Freezing cold... way too cold to swim!

Ansley's face: Priceless

Gorgeous little flower

We had a lovely picnic lunch by the lake courtesy of trailblazer tours. From there we all (again) headed out via bus/van to see the colored sands. These looked like those sand bottles... except giant. And SO windy that I think if I had a sizable piece of fabric on me I could have done some impromptu, and possibly fatal, para sailing.

Colored sands

Backtracking a bit, we stopped at the Maheno wreck which was like a giant dose of tetanus. Apparently the ship wrecked there quite some time ago, after being stripped for parts and while being towed. There are actually several stories buried underneath the sand, apart from what we could see. Essentially, the ship is freaking massive.

One big "oopsie"

The whole bio crew!

Desperate for science, as always, we performed an experiment on “pipis”. A “pipi” is a Maori name for an oversized version of the tiny little clams that I dig up in Florida when I (rarely) visit. So, each of the pairs of students waltzed over to their respective pipi spots and began to dig. Afterwards we held pipi races to see whose pipi buried itself faster. The times ranged, anywhere from 32 seconds to 15 minutes. Lazy little mollusks. While waiting, Brad pulled a sand worm out to show us. Apparently the little buggers are quite keen on eating the poor pipis. I guess the worms need something substantial considering many are 3-4 feet long. They put Georgia’s earthworms to absolute shame.

Go pipi, go!!

On our way back to Eurong, we stopped at Eli Creek where many of us waded down through the crystal clear fresh water. Apparently it was actually pure enough for us to gulp as we swam. I opted not to.

I desperate need for a warm-up, we assembled a rough rugby game led by Pete, a bus/van driver. The game itself was windy, sandy, and really fun! I was of course a complete disaster and threw the ball once which was NOT a good team strategy. All in all it was still a blast trudging through the sand in an attempt to tag the carrier on the opposing team. I even had the opportunity to impart some knowledge about the game to the rest of the folks tagging along. Me knowing something about sports… that is a terrifying thought.

On the way back to hot tea and spaghetti dinner, we saw a whistling kite as well as a sea eagle. The wildlife here is marvelous; it just takes some time to spot it to fully appreciate it!