North of Brisbane

The last three capital cities we have to visit are Sydney, Brisbane, and Canberra.  First on our southerly route is Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. 

On our way to Brisbane we stopped by Rainbow beach, just south of Frasier Island. For those wondering why we bypassed Frasier Island (avoided really), it is due to the crowds (over a thousand arrive per day in some cases).  The rampant bogan (roughly translates to redneck) 4x4 drivers also put us off, we met a few of them near the ferry departure points, and were not impressed.  Finally, Frasier is mostly more of what we have already spent weeks enjoying, rainforests and beaches.  Due to the sandy bottom, the ocean surrounding Frasier has no reefs, and is pretty empty (aside from the migrating whales).  So in the end, we opted to avoid paying hundreds of dollars each for the privilege to being trucked about on sandy 4x4 tracks with hundreds of other tourists.

We weren’t able to find the rainbow in “Rainbow Beach”.  Climbing the enormous dunes made up for it, though. It's hard to get a sense of the scale, but these sand dunes are hundreds of feet high, and drop down right to the beach.  Only a thin layer of forest colonizing the surface keeps these dunes from drifting inland and burying the town and farmland behind.










Continuing towards Brisbane (locals pronounce it Bris-bin), we detoured into the Glasshouse Mountains. These peaks started life as magma intrusions into the surrounding sedimentary rock millions of years ago. The surrounding rock has eroded away over the eons, leaving the tough basalt behind.










Next stop: Brisbane.