My second day on the island passed pretty uneventfully lazing by the side of the pool, staring at the beautiful surroundings (which included the 20 somethings in their bikini's) and thinking about what I was going to do next.
The plan was to hitch to lake Mackenzie a fresh water lake in the middle of the island that had beautiful white sand and a range of light and dark blue water.
I went to bed early and was up the next morning at 6am.
I had all my gear including the tent packed fully and was standing at the only exit to kingfisher bay with my thumb out by 6:30am.
After an hour of standing there seeing only two cars both so packed that neither had any room for me, I went to the little store and bought more water I already had 3 liters but a little more wasn't going to hurt.
The shop keeper and I got talking and apparently you could walk to Lake Makenzie I'm just under 2 and a half hours, I went back to hitching as carrying what was now just over 30kg because of the weight of the water, event for 2 & a half hours seemed too much.
But after another hour and a half of waiting a walk to the lake seemed possible so I put on all my gear and headed off.
After an hour I got to a sign saying:-
Lake Makenzie 3.5 hours.
I couldn't believe it I was thinking I was almost halfway there and I had ANOTHER 3.5 hours to go, but I was committed now so I kept on.
That backpack was so , SO heavy 30kg. Step after step up steep hills and just as difficultly down the steep ones , which went on hour after hour, I took regular short breaks and drank the right amount of water, but when I had been walking just over 4 hours I thought I must be getting close.
I hadn't seen on human being the whole time on the track which was just beautiful .
When I finally did run into other walkers going the other way I took the opportunity to have a break and talk to them.
They had just come from the lake and were on their way to Kingfisher Bay where I had just come from,
I asked them how long they had been walking and their answer brought on a slight depression, they had been walking just over 4 hours, I was only halfway to the lake.
As I started on my way again I felt deflated and wished I had stuck it out trying to hitch a ride.
After 8 hours of walking I was still on the track but it was starting to get dark and a storm was brewing so I set up my tent the only place I could right in the middle of the track , had a small meal and went to bed.
The storm was fierce that night and I was lucky not to have a branch fall on the tent during the night, but in the morning the storm had cleared and I was ready to continue walking.
By the time I FINNALY made it to the lake I had been walking a total of 10 hours.
I set my tent up to dry out and drank the last of my water.
I went searching for more water but all the taps (there are amenitys set up by the ranger service) had signs on them saying the water was undrinkable.
I took some beautiful photos (see them under the photos tab) of the lake and of an iguana eating turtle eggs right at my feet and of course went for a swim.
I was starting to get thirsty and by now the tourist busses were starting to arrive, I spoke to on of the tour operators about drinking water and he said to fill my bottles straight from the lake as it was "the freshest in the world!", so I did.
With all my photos taken and with a determination NOT to walk back I started trying to hitch a ride BUT everyone and I mean everyone was too full of gear and couldn't fit me.
After an hour of this I started to feel quite sick and went the toilets and threw up.
Another hour of trying to hitch a lift and more disappointment as well as another trip to the toilet to throw up again.
Now I was starting to worry even if I wasn't sick I couldn't do that walk again, not to mention that it looked like the water had made me sick.
So I went to the bus area and starred talking to drivers and basicaly begged for a lift back , I finally found a driver to take me and after throwing up a third time I made the 45 min bus trip back to Kingfisher Bay.
The first thing I did when I got there was throw up and then went and bought some dry food and water.
As sick as I was I set my tent up on the beach tried to eat a few tasteless biscuits and drink some water but of course only threw up again.

Over the night the vomiting continued at first every 45 mins then every half hour, then every 15 mins by this time it was after midnight and with the increasing pace of everything I was really scared not to mention sore as I had only been throwing up stomach acid for hours.

I made the decision to go and get help.

The only thing I took with me was my wallet and made my way to reception of the hotel.

By the time I got there I was almost ready to pass out the hotel clerk told me there were no doctors there and the closest 4 wheel drive ambulance was 1 & a half hours away.

He sat me down with a bucket that I continually used got on the phone and started organizing something with the ambos while asking me lots of questions thongs were quite bad now and truly was about to pass out.

Then the clerk came and told me a helicopter was on it's way from the mainland and that would take me to the hospital in a 10 minute flight.

I told him about my $3000 worth of equipment in the tent on the beach and he said he would get it sorted.

When the helicopter arrived they bundeled me on to a deck chair taken from besides the pool and carried me to the helicopter after strapping me in we took off.

The trip was quite short and suddenly I found myself in ICU in Hervey Bay hospital and was in such a bad condition was kept in Intensive Care with dripps and tubes and wires for THREE days!!!

After that I was sent to the ward to recover before I was finally discharged.

Thanks to Dad and my mate steve, all my gear was organized to be sent via the barge from the island to the mainland to be picked up by my mate .

The whole ordeal was an absolute nightmare and as my friend Michelle commented on a previous post it all sounds quite remarkable but I'm glad I lived through it as for some moments there on such a desolate island I'm sure things could have gone EXTREEMLY badly.