The Fraser Island

If there is a heaven it probably looks like the Fraser Island.

Fraser Island is a sand dune. It is 120 km long and 15 km wide, which makes it the largest sand dune in the world (Aussies love to come up with these absurd comparisons). If you want to travel around you need a 4WD; there are no paved roads on the island - it's all sand, sand, sand and a little more sand. The northern half is protected as the Great Sandy National Park.

The island was named after Mr. Fraser whose ship was wrecked on the island coast in 1836 or Mrs. Fraser who, according to a legend, lived for a couple of months after the ship crashed in a water tank. When she left the tank, her legs were so deformed that she couldn't walk. She survived with the help of Aboriginals living on the island.

Much of the island is forested with a great variety of trees and plants, some of which can't be found anywhere else (most of them live in symbiosis, that's how they survive on the sand base). There are also about 200 lakes, some suitable for swimming (swimming in the ocean is not recommended because of the lethal undertows as well as man-eating sharks). Other wildlife is in abundance, including about 40 different mammal species and more insects and reptiles than an ordinary visitor wants to know.

The island's most popular inhabitants are without any doubt the dingos. There are posters all over the island asking people not to feed the dogs and suggesting what to do when you happen to meet one (people leave rubbish everywhere so the dogs can feed themselves without any help - we saw a dingo battling with a Diet Coke can on one of the beaches). The locals, of course, say that dingo is just a small dog and running into one is all right, of course.