Fraser Island

As some of you may know; the coughran family had a holiday trip to Fraser Island. The cats went to the cattery, the dogs went to the kennels, turt went to amy, and the birds had a minder. So. After the hassles of sorting the animals out, we actually left.

Dad reckoned that it would take 9hrs to get to our first destination; our first campsite, located on the north end of the island. Thankfully, the going on the beach was much better than dad had thought; we reached the campsite after about 7hrs instead of 9. YAY! (we left home at 5:30am) We set up camp, and Carl and dad went to find pippies, to go fishing. We saw our first dingo; a beautiful looking female, which unfortunately I didnt get any good pictures of... Dad and Carl went fishing off some rocks; mum and I followed, and I shot lots of rocks, and waves crashing (by shot, I mean I took photos of) Then, when I looked back to the car, I spotted another dingo. So I told mum, and we both carefully negotiated our way back over all the rocks, so I could hopefully get a picture of the dingo (using the zoom of course; wouldn't get that close!) But teh dingo moved north, so mum and I sat in the car and slept. On another day (cant remember whether it was day 1 or 2) Carl, dad and I drove up to the most northern point of the Island, to check out the lighthouse and just see what the place was like in general. On the way up, I was delighted to see two whales blow off the coast! Then,to get to the lighthouse, it was a 1.2km STEEP climb. Then we realised it wasn't really worth the climb; it was nowhere near the water, and there were trees everywhere so you couldnt see anyway!! So we went back down, and drove back south, and made a detour at the really big sand dunes. Climbed up them, mucked around, and me being me, I took photos.

On the following days, we were real tourists. Looking at lakes, cool creaks, forests and other awesome stuff. In total, I saw 8 dingoes, 2 whales breach, an azure kingfisher, lots of other little birds, lots of adult and juvenile white-bellied sea eagles, brahminy kites, falcons etc. AWESOME place to go wildlife watching!

On the last day (today, being 29th of June) we packed up and headed south to the ferry. Then dad stopped, and said he saw a turtle; so we turned around, and thought the turtle was dead. Then I saw it move feebly; so I jumped out of the car, and picked it up. The poor thing could hardly move, and I spotted a wound on the back of it; part of its shell had snapped off. The wound was clean, and not bleeding, so I just left it as the wound was... Unfortunately I couldnt do anything about it anyway. So, I hopped in the car with a 70cm long green sea turtle, and held it (literally in the air, so it wouldnt get bumped as much on the rough ride) while dad drove about 20km over rough roads. (any of you ever been driving along a beach, on soft sand? like that) eventually we got to the calm water between rainbow beach and sth fraser island, and I walked into the water (completly forgetting I had my phone and camera in my pockets; i was so worried about the turtle) and held the turtle in the water to get it to start paddling. I let it go, it tried to swim, but it was quickly flipped onto its back, so I retrieved it and went about 400m down the beach where the water was practically dead still. Then I went waist deep into the water, and released the turtle. Thankfully, this time it started swimming (feebly though) and got into deeper water. Ill just mention that these were, at this time, box-jellyfish infested water (man-of-wars) thankfully it was the one day in the week i wore long pants, or i coulda had a helecopter trip to a hospital!!

The turtle:





The Dingo that sat next to the car

the lighthouse


goanna

carl with his funny new hair style



Lake Makenzie (sp?)



Forest near our 2nd camping spot. Its weird to see giant trees, growing in sand alone


view from atop the massive dunes


Sunset whilst fishing. i was fishing with dad (day i caught 5 fish) i saw the sunset and grabbed my cam carefully... fishy fingers... lol. this is probably up there with my favourite photos ever, that ive taken. i havnt edited it in photoshop yet.


another sunset piccy, another favourite, taken earlier than the prev picture




next to "champagne pools"


just a random shot which i happen to like (no sean, not shooting with a gun)



while bellied sea eagles
Juvenile



Soaring adult


osprey


Oh well. long enough post, I doubt anyone read the whole lot anyway. So, cyas.

You can be a Hero too

Have any of you heard the song, Hero (red pill mix) by Superchick? Superchick is a christian band, and a lot of their songs relate to the kind of life many teenagers are living. Lives full of depression, lives full of sadness, lives without a purpose, and most of all; Lives without God. Sadly, a lot of the stuff Superchick sings is true.

if you go to http://www.musichristian.com/sys/product.php?PRODUCT=31401 you should be able to listen to the track, Hero (Red pill mix)

but if you don't, here are the lyrics to the song...

No one sits with him, he doesn’t fit in
But we feel like we do when we make fun of him
Cause you want to belong do you go along
Cause his pain is the price paid for you to belong
It’s not like we hate him or want him to die
But maybe he goes home and thinks suicide
Or he comes back to school with a gun at his side
And a kindness from you might have saved his life.

Heroes are made when you make a choice
You could be a hero Heroes do what’s right
You could be a hero
You might save a life
You could be a hero,
You could join the fight
For what’s right for what’s right for what’s right

No one talks to her, she feels so alone
She’s in too much pain to survive on her own
The hurt she can’t handle overflows to a knife
She writes on her arm, wants to give up her life
Each day she goes on is a day that she is brave,
Fighting the lie that giving up is the way,
Each moment of courage her own life she saves
When she throws out the pills a hero is made [Chorus]

No one talks to him about how he lives He thinks that the choices he makes are just his Doesn’t know he’s a leader with the way he behaves And others will follow the choices he’s made He lives on the edge, he’s old enough to decide His brother who wants to be him is just nine He can do what he wants because it’s his right The choices he makes change a nine year old’s life [Chorus]

little mikey dean was the one in class, who every day got brutally harassed, this went on for years, so he decided that never again would he shed any tears. So he walked through the door and grabbed the 44 outa his father’s dresser draw, and said i can’t take life no more. And like that life can be lost. But this ain’t even about that. All of us kids sat back, and watched it happen, thinking it’s not our responsibility to solve their problem. It isn’t about me. But this is our problem! This is just one of the daily scenarios which we close to eyes our eyes on instead of doin the right thing. if we make a choice, be a voice for those who wont speak up for themselves. How many lives could we change, re-arrange, now it’s our time to pick a side. So don’t you walk on by that one in the v cause you just wanna make sense and never be seen so let’s wake up, face the world. The time is now!... the time is now!.... the time is now!

I used to be one of those people. this part of the song;

No one talks to her, she feels so alone She’s in too much pain to survive on her own The hurt she can’t handle overflows to a knife She writes on her arm, wants to give up her life Each day she goes on is a day that she is brave, Fighting the lie that giving up is the way, Each moment of courage her own life she saves When she throws out the pills a hero is made

applied to me, though I wasn't quite this desperate. This was when my life felt like it had no purpose. When I felt like I was useless, and that everyone hated me. When I was walking my life without God by my side. Thanks to Jesus, I've been drawn towards the comfort of Gods embrace. My life has a purpose. I have a reason to live. God's love towards me will Never waver. Even if I feel as though I am constantly being rejected by other people, I know the Lord will always be there for me.

Now, I hope that I can have an influence on people who are going through tough periods in their life. I don't want anyone to have to feel alone all the time. I don't want anyone to feel as though they are trapped. I don't want anyone to have to walk through life without ever comming to know God.

Just think; You can be a hero. You can help bring others to God, by showing them what Jesus did for them. By showing them just how much Jesus loved them; he gave his life for them because he loved them SO much. The time IS now.

Just by bringing others to church, or one80... you can help them a lot. If you see someone sitting alone at school; don't just ignore them and pretend they don't exist. Show them they're not alone....

I know this post may not mean much to you. Some of you might not understand what I was trying to say. But just think over it... Post any thoughts if you like.

GO THE MAROONS!

GO THE MAROONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah! wednsdays game rocked! We showed those New South Wales players! FLATTENED! At least, in the first game, we didn't give up! we only lost by 1 point. how many points did you guys lose by? ha!!!

ill finish this post/thread soon.. if ever blogger works properly