Travelling Worm

This is the blog of a 25-year-old bookmark. I proudly boast my own Hallmark serial number, 95 HBM 80-1. You’ll probably want to read all about me and my Travelling Companion (the TC) .

Today’s travel notes

Me and the TC have been on Fraser Island for a week, just off the coast of Queensland in Australia. Fraser Island is pretty special, because it’s composed almost entirely of sand. It is 125 km long and 15 km wide, making it the largest sand island in the world.

I’ve written a few blog posts about the island already, describing the island itself, the sand, the swimming, the 4wd adventures and the dangers. Now I’ll show you the creatures I met there.

Travel tip

Don’t hug a dingo.

The book I’m in

Lucifer’s Shadow, by David Hewson.

Intrigue, music and romance in Venice. A clever plot, set simultaneously in the 18th century and the present day. This worm gives the book a mark of approval. High praise indeed from someone of my discerning nature.

The photos

Me and a crab on Seventy-Five Mile Beach:

The TC and I were out for one of her habitual early-morning strolls, when we saw this dingo. She was trotting along the beach, minding her own business, as was the TC. Me, I was still recovering from a recent close encounter with the island’s wild life, as pictured above, so I chose to stay in my book in the TC’s bag. The TC and the dingo both stopped and looked at each other, then they both veered off to the left and right and continued more or less in their chosen directions:

This eagle cruised over us on the same early morning stroll:

Later, we saw more eagles on a couple of occasions. Here is a short video of two taking off from the beach just in front of our vehicle:

This suave dude has a style all of his own. He’s a monitor lizard, who came to investigate us in the Lake McKenzie car park:

Wanggoolba Creek is in perpetual rainforest twilight. This little kingfisher seemed to glow in the dark:

A truly awesome giant turtle emerged from the surf on Seventy-Five Mile Beach as we were passing:

Here it is again, with some people in the shot to give some idea of the turtle’s size:

We stood well back and watched the turtle as it hauled itself over the sand. It was obvious that this was hard work for the creature. We think it was coming in to lay its eggs in the dry sand at the top of the beach. Alas, a few other people arrived after the above shots were taken, and went too close. So the turtle turned round. People formed a circle round it, so it panicked and started going round and round. The TC had to put on her “I’m a Greenie” hat and tell people to leave a clear path so that the turtle could go back into the sea.

Here’s a video of the turtle, taken before it turned around:

Want to know more about Fraser Island? Try my YouTube playlist, or my other blog posts about the island.

That’s all for today dudes.