Arch Cliff (Fraser Island)

[Kyle]There are no actual arches at Arch Cliffs. Our best guess is that the dunes that make up the “cliffs” and are collapsing in a roughly semi-circular shape, might have looked like arches and cliffs to whoever coined the name as they sailed by at a distance of many miles. At any rate, it is very pretty and has that curious Australian feature of having sands of completely different colors right next to each other with absolutely no transition whatsoever.

The sandy cliffs attacted the odd (fancy) tour group too

A trip ashore for another beach walk (and dune climb)

Arch Cliffs is another one of those places that has no hiking trails, per se. However, there is a closed 4WD fire road that leads inland from the campsite at the north end of the beach (Bowarrady Creek), so we walked to the creek campsite and found the trail. We had initially planned to do a nice, mild walk where we went in for fifteen or twenty minutes and then turned back. Further study of the map revealed that the road forded a stream in only four and a half kilometers. We thought that might be pretty and changed our turn-around point to that. Like back at Garry's, most of the walk was uneventful, but it was well shaded, and it felt good to be out in nature stretching our legs.

The very best part of the walk turned out to be almost immediately after leaving the beach campground. About a hundred meters in, there was a zone about another hundred meters wide where the birdsong just completely took over the forest. So many different varieties were chattering away or whistling long, lilting songs. It really did sound like one of those phony jungle soundtracks that they pipe into the tropical rain forest section at the zoo. We knew when we started hearing it again on the way back out that the sound of surf on the beach would not be too far behind. Later on the trail we heard (but never spotted) several whipbirds, with their impressive 'whip crack' of a call and mostly getting the traditional simple 2-note female reply)

We loved the fire-trail walk

And the birdsong surrounded us as soon as we enter the trail from Bowarrady Creek Campsite

The Male (eastern) Whipbird has a distinctive call

[Maryanne]We haven't shared that Fraser Island is quite a special island in a few other ways. It's the world's largest sand island for a start. It also the only place on Earth where tall rainforests grow on sand dunes at elevations of more than 200 metres (656 feet), and it has half the world's perched lakes (lakes formed when depressions in dunes fill permanently with rainwater). And the amazing interior forests are due to a symbiotic relationship with a range of fungi that helps trap and retain the required nutrients in the sand dunes. Its original Butchulla name is K'gari means 'paradise' (remember Garry Owens from Garrys Anchorage was also of the Butchulla mob?). I was so happy we were able to spend a few days and nights here this time.

In the evenings we simply sat and enjoyed the sunset, and were occasionally entertained by the spouting of a passing whale, and one in particular that seemed to want to spend hours tail-slapping in the distance.

Sunsets and passing Whales