Fraser Island, Australia, January 2023
We are on the east coast of Queensland, Australia, on the largest sand island in the world and with the beach considered the most dangerous on the planet: Fraser Island. When I think of all the places we visited in Australia during our incredible trip, this island is probably not the most beautiful place, not least because we visited it in incessant tropical rain. However, it is where I, a city-girl with very little ability to adapt, discovered a me that I didn't know existed and that today, 4 months after our return to Italy, I miss as much as I have probably ever missed anything.
To visit Fraser Island you need a 4x4, because immediately after the harbor, the cemented roads are replaced by rough tracks made exclusively of sand dunes. As we drove along them, we crossed the beating heart of the island occupied by a majestic and totally uncultivated rainforest. The impact is devastating, to say the least, because a lethal insect or reptile could pop out from every corner, which is not at all pleasant for someone like me, as fearful and squeamish as I am. In short: the conditions are not the best, but the situation changes radically when we arrive at Lake McKenzie (I invite you to google it to understand what I am talking about). It is raining, it is windy, and although the weather is summery, there is very little desire to dive. However, that is the moment when a change occurs in me that I did not think was possible: I realize that on that island, on the beaches of that lake, on the other side of the world, I would probably never be there again in my life. Under the incredulous gaze of my husband, I undressed, headed for the lake and dived in. I was not alone in the water; Australians are certainly not intimidated by bad weather: I remember a young couple very well, she pregnant, both playing in the water with two children. And there, next to them, I felt good... I wasn't very serene, at times I came to my senses and imagined the next day with a fever of 40, but I felt I was fully enjoying what life was offering me and this, at a certain point, overcame any fear. From that moment on, my mood totally changed: I started wearing only a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, flip-flops (not at all worried about being stung by dangerous living beings, because Australians walk everywhere barefoot and I, on Fraser Island, started trusting that people blindly!) and a kee-way, just to avoid getting my shirt wet! Dressed like that, immersed in the pristine nature of that island, during those two days that I will never forget, I really felt like I was in Australia and I fell madly in love with it. But perhaps most of all, on Fraser Island I think I fell in love with how, for the first time in my life, I felt good and embraced by nature; a feeling that is unparalleled and that deeply changed me.
Federica
Fraser Island
4x4 in giro per l'isola
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