Megan McCormick travels to
Queensland, Australia's second largest state whose
3000 mile coastline borders the
Great Barrier Reef, the worlds largest living organism. She begins her journey at
Surfers Paradise on the
Gold Coast. Surfers were originally attracted by the beautiful deserted beaches and gigantic waves, but unfortunately they were followed by the big developers eager to exploit 70 kilometers of idyllic coastline.
From here, Megan heads north by bus to
Noosa another surfers mecca but one which has avoided the scourge of the developers. Its also renowned for its fabulous cuisine, and Megan meets a local chef called
Gary Flynn, who combines produce form
Queensland with
Thai food to make innovative dishes unique to Noosa. She then continues her journey along the
Bruce Highway to
Harvey Bay, from where she catches the ferry to
Fraser Island.
Fraser Island is the worlds largest sandbar. There are about 70 fresh water lakes on the island, which are the only places you can go swimming, as the sea has strong currents and is infested with tiger sharks.
Fraser is also home to a great deal of wildlife. Megan takes a
4WD tour of the island with a ranger, and catches sight of a group of dingoes, which roam free on the island.!
Its a 10 hour drive from Fraser Island to
Airlie Beach and the
Whitsunday Islands, known as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. Megan spends 2 days on board the
Matador, an 80 ft long yacht which holds up to 20 passengers and 4 crew. She then goes diving in
Blue Pearl Bay on
Hayman Island, where the coral is beautiful and varied. It isn't deeper than 30ft and there are hundreds of very friendly
Sergeant Major Fish. One of the hidden dangers of north Queensland are the crocodiles which lurk in rivers and creeks.
Megan heads north to the
Magnetic Islands. The islands are so called because when
Captain Cook sailed by, his compass went crazy and he blamed it on magnetic fields that he believed were in the granite rocks. Here, she goes diving on the wreck of the Yongola, a passenger and general cargo ship that was hit by a cyclone in
1911, sending all 121 passengers and crew to a watery grave.
After arriving in
Cairns, Megan hooks up with a marine biologist who teaches her all about coral.
The Great Barrier reef is actually a huge living organism, and each piece of colorful coral is in fact a tiny animal also known as a polyp.
From Cairns Megan flies to the northern most tip of
Australia to
Thursday Island, the capital of the
Torres Strait islands. For nearly a hundred years, Thursday Island was the center of the
Japanese pearl trade, and a great many divers lost their lives seeking pearls here. Megan meets the last surviving diver, and learns a little about how oysters produce these precious gems.
Megan travels back onto the mainland of the
Cape York Peninsula, where she joins a hunt for wild boar. Over
200 years ago, Captain Cook let pigs loose on the mainland and islands so that shipwrecked sailors would not starve.
Generations later, the pigs have become wild boar that roam the land killing and eating the indigenous creatures & nowadays they are hunted to keep their numbers down.
The final leg of her journey takes Megan back out to the Great Barrier Reef. She flies to
Lizard Island, a luxury resort close to one of the reefs most amazing dive sites, the
Cod Hole. Its a fantastic dive experience with which to end her trip to Queensland, on the very top tip of the continent of
Australia.
- published: 16 Apr 2010
- views: 5061