The May 2007 edition of National Geographic features an article on Bulldog ants which can ONLY be found in coastal parts of eastern Australia.
These fearsome insects (part wasp/part ant) are 2 inches long, have a red body with black lower abdomen and possess the biggest, nastiest looking mandibles (jaws) I've ever seen since I watched Starship Troopers.
If that was not enough, they are naturally agressive, can jump 2 feet into the air and have a sting that has been likened to, "being jabbed by a hyperdermic needle." There was even a photo graphically showing an ant clutching a honey bee in its jaws it had snatched from the sky!
I had no idea (and neither did my guide) if they lived as far north as Fraser island................but on Day 2..............we were about to find out...........
There were 2 types of accommodation available on the biggest sand dune in the world. Camping OR log cabins. (with the latter being significantly more expensive)
The backpackers place in Rainbow beach were steering us towards a camping deal but Maria was not sure. She never was a backpacker. Well, neither was I for that matter.
"Is it the creatures that bother you," enquired the bleached blond girl from behind the counter.
Maria was completely unaware of any creatures and lulled into some false sense of security asked, "creatures? What creatures?"
"Oh, I just meant the dingoes, but there's a huge electrified fence, so don't worry," replied the girl pushing a wide-angled smile our way.
The decision had been made the moment the word, "creatures" was mentioned. We were stopping in the log cabin regardless of cost.
I had done some homework on Australias most deadly creatures but did not expect to find all of them living on Fraser Island!
On the first day of our 3 day Eco tour with a multi-national group of 25 youngsters (and I include myself) our Guide gave us some spiel on what sort of animals, insects and plants we might encounter. In our customised 4x4 vehicle he mentioned over a speaker system that Fraser was home to 3 species of poisonous spider, death adders, tiger sharks, stingrays and dingoes (that were particularly aggressive at this time of year.) Even the plants could kill with one brush of their venomous leaves. Nowhere, it seems was safe.
OK OK ........it was an 18-35 tour and Bob with his "Billy Connolly-style" stories was just ensuring we were all excited. Indeed, we were all captivated. However the story he told us of a fatal attack on a 9 year old boy in 2001 by a dingo was true.
In the same year a 34 year old Brit and keen photographer (sound like anyone you know?) went missing near to a lake we were due to visit on Day 2. He had become parted from his group in the sandblows. Despite several rescue parties (including the army) they failed to find him. It was not until 2005 that a tourist discovered his bones.
So it was with some trepidation that our group departed the vehicle at basin lake, an almost perfectly round freshwater entity surrounded by pristine white sand.
True to form, I quickly became excited by the new, and ignoring the 21- year old Canadian girls who were stripping down to bikinis for a dip, I was drawn to the glistening silky webs in the bushes.
With camera in hand I walked barefoot amongst the many hundreds of webs that lined the lakes green fringes. The combination of early morning dew and soft shafts of light from above made for some beautiful shots. I took a close up of a spider performing a tightrope act inches from my nose. I took an underneath shot of a perfectly formed funnel as the light shone from............HOLD ON...................FUNNEL?????
I thought they were only in Sydney. ARRRGGGHHHHHHH!!
I was treading half naked amongst hundreds of the most poisonous creatures on earth. I slowly retreated, walking backwards like Shaggy from Scooby Do and on to the safety of the bus.
Ranger Bob confirmed it was the funnel web spider, a smaller version of its Sydney cousin but just as deadly! What an escape.
Later in the day we hiked past giant ferns following the crystal clear river (creek) in the sub tropical rainforest. I spotted an eel and a catfish as we dodged gnarly tree roots - there's always a victim though!
Day 2 had us driving along "75 mile beach" which is a compacted track of completely white sand amidst a forever changing multi-hued aquamarine coast. On the way to the beach a python had blocked our track for a bit although everyone was keen to take photos.
As we drove (quite quickly) along the beach someone spotted a whale breaching in the distance. Drawing nearer it was indeed a huge humpback making spectacular clearances of the waters surface. The white underside and huge fins were visable as it hoisted itself several feet into the air. The bus erupted into spontaneous noise.....
The Americans were the loudest (aren't they always) screaming, "yeeeeeehaaaaaa," as the monstrous mammal splashed back down, simultaneously the British shouted, "yipeeeeeeeee" whilst the Germans yelled, "Jaaaaaaaaaaaaa."
After reaching the rusted skeleton of the Maheno shipwreck protruding from the sand I noticed movement in the deep tyre tracks of our vehicle. It was fairly easy to spot the burgundy body against the white grain.
"Could it be?" It was so big - at least an inch and a half long. The massive jaws gave it away. It was probably best that people didn't know what they could do as a multitude of small cameras were pushed in its path. I raced to find the zoom lens before it was too late.
My shots were all blurred! A German called Florian has sent me a shot I'll place on the blog as evidence. It WAS a bulldog ant!!! "yeeehaaaaa" errr....... I mean "yippeeeee."
As we drove back, a lone dingo made an appearance on the beach. Sticking close to the jagged rocks we were allowed to take photos but not approach the animal.
The final day and our group had shrunk. Many people only did the 2 day package. The weather was cold with grey skies and a constant breeze.
Despite this our spirits were really high. Our smaller conglomeration had bonded like sticky sweets in a bag. We were the Eurofighter plane - a group consisting of many different parts that interacted perfectly - well all apart from the Danes who were more interested in reading books than playing volleyball.
We played our game on a cappucino sufaced beach. Mysterious brown swirls and bubbles coated the compacted minerally sand nearest the lakes edge.
Although the lakes we visited on the final day lacked the lustre of the previous, due to the absence of the sun, we were just as happy.
We had collectively shared the very wild experiences of Fraser island.
To mention a few, there had been sea eagles, Mata rays, snakes, spiders and scorpions, dingoes, whales, meat eating plants and one........just one, Bulldog ant......Thank goodness.
