Fraser Island Australia - Anatomy Of A National Geographic Assignment

Over the past couple of decades, National Geographic Magazine has published an ongoing series of stories on spectacular natural areas around the world. I have had the privilege of photographing eight of these landscape stories, and hope to do many more. One of my favorites was on Fraser Island off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
At 72 miles long, Fraser Island has the distinction of being the largest sand island in the world. For the last 750,000 years, ocean currents from the southeast have been washing sand ashore, where it collects on volcanic bedrock. The island is a phenomenal place for a landscape photographer. There are sand dunes, of course, but there are also rainforests, eucalyptus woodlands, mangrove forests, wallum, peat swamps, and coastal heaths. If you have a special four-wheel drive vehicle with sand tires, everything is pretty accessible as long as you learn how to drive on the beach at low tide and avoid getting your vehicle stuck in deep sand.
Sand dunes are alw...