Raising the Bar on Beauty in Fraser Island & the Whitsundays

“The sun. Yellow stars like the sun, to give off so much steady heat for ten billion years or so, are balanced like on a knife edge between the inward pull of gravity and the outward push of thermonuclear reaction. If the gravitational coupling constant were any smaller, they’d balloon and all be blue giants; any smaller, they’d shrivel and be red dwarves. A blue giant doesn’t last long enough for life to evolve, and the red dwarf radiates too weakly to ever get it started. Everywhere you look, there are these terrifically finely adjusted constants that have to be just what they are, or there wouldn’t be a world we could recognize, and there’s no intrinsic reason for those constants to be what they are except to say God made them that way. God made Heaven and Earth. It’s what science has come to believe. Believe me.” (a passage from John Updike’s Roger’s Version by a character named Dale)

Dale is a scientist who attempts to prove that God exists through mathematical equations. His argument is that there are so many variables that if even the slightest bit different, would negate the possibility of life on Earth. He goes on and on about how the expansion rate in the Big Bang theory, the strong force, which binds atomic nuclei together and the mass of neutrons had to be precisely what they are in order for Earth to exist. He reasons that so many finely tuned variables could only be managed by a Higher Power, since it is too unlikely all of these variables would miraculously fall into place without such a force.

I don’t know much about the physics and statistical probability of all this, but what I do know, is that whoever had a hand in fine tuning the ecosystem that exists on the world’s largest sand island, Fraser Island, or the coral reef systems that give life to thousands of different species under the Whitsunday Islands did something right.

Fraser Island was created entirely of sand moved from the far south-east of Australia and some from thousands of kilometers away from Antarctica over millions of years. Miraculously, plants learned to grow on this island and over time the island gave birth to coastal heaths, eucalyptus forests, rainforests and wallum heath lands, in addition to 40,000 migratory shorebirds.

I spent 3 days and 2 nights in this World Heritage listed magical place, swimming in crystal clear lakes, hiking up huge sand blows that are reminiscent of the Sahara Desert, and strolling through lush rainforest.

From Fraser, I made my way north to the Whitsunday Islands, where I spent a couple days lounging at a luxurious resort (that I wasn’t actually paying to stay at), snorkeling the reefs off Border Island and sunbathing on Whitehaven Beach. The sand on Whitehaven is 99% pure silica, which basically means that it feels like silk and the locals recommend sitting by the water’s edge and exfoliating the skin with it.

The past week has been a slice of heaven: warm weather, turquoise water, vivid marine life and pure relaxation. It’s easy to see why Dale’s theory may hold some weight. There must be Something or Someone at work to create so many astonishing natural wonders.

I only have a handful of days left in Australia. I will snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, check out the night market in Cairns and head to the tropical rainforest that extends to the ocean in Cape Tribulation. The natural wonders ahead may seem even more remarkable than those that came before, if that’s possible. And it leaves me questioning my basically atheistic viewpoints. I don’t want to get all preachy here, but there is something so absolutely stunning and carefully balanced happening within each unique Australian landscape that it seems more than just a coincidence in physics. I ask myself everyday how it came to be that I am so lucky to see so many beautiful places and experience so many once-in-a -lifetime moments over and over again, day after day. Just when I think I’ve hit the greatest height of amazement, something else comes along to raise the bar. We’ll see if the wonders of Asia will hold a flame to the beauty of Australia and New Zealand. If nothing else, at least the food will get better as I don’t think I could look at another slice of flavorless pizza or over-battered fish n’ chips if you paid me!

My next blog post will likely be from a high rise hostel in Singapore. Apparently I can’t bring chewing gum or cigarettes into this country, so not sure how my relaxed Australian attitude will jive of the Singaporean way of life, but I guess we’ll find out.

Til next time, cheers mates!