Rainforest Creek, Fraser Island
©
2000 Christine Krieg
Rainforest in arid Australia? Yes!
Australia holds many surprises and one of them is the abundance of tropical and temperate rainforests. This particular rainforest is in Pile Valley on Fraser Island, just a few hours northeast of Brisbane. Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island and protected under World Heritage listing since 1992 because of it’s unique characteristics. It contains some of the purest water in the world but also with the highest acidity content. As I hiked along the trail I often could not tell where the creek water began. It was completely transparent.