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After returning to Brisbane back from surfers, we decided to book our train ticket straight up to Cairns from a STA travel agent, this proved to be harder then we thought! from a $300 train ticket we managed to purchase a $500 ticket tour of the east coast visting Fraser Island for a 3 day safari then travelling up to the Whitsundays for another 3 day boating cruise then eventually ending up in Cairns on the 11th! we decided this would be a better option and allowed us to see much more on the way! hopefully we will get you the photos as soon as computers decide to do thier job properly!
So Fraser Island! the deal with this was to be put in groups of 11 for a self drive 4X4 safari. Basically we now owned a huge land rover to explore a totally sand island for 3 days! fun! after a hairy drive to the Island (our woman driver decided to drive in Low range 4X4 on normal roads) which didnt go down to well, we arrived in one piece to explore the incredible Lake Wabby! This was an incredible fresh water lake surrounded by huge sanddunes as far as the eye could see (well at least as far as the crystal blue ocean on the other side of the island!). These lakes were the place to swim as the sea was infested with things that wanted to kill you, such as bull sharks, hammer head sharks, tiger sharks, huge stingrays and a vicious rip tide that would send you on a one way ticket to New Zeland! So we made the most of this swimming opperunity and swam to a island on the other side whilst Arun panicked about the huge sea Hippo's that were after him! That evening we set up at base camp around 6 in the evening and we were all shattered as we had been up since 5, but still we cooked (well the girls in our group did) so correction- we ate and then drunk 4 liters of $11 wine and successfully knocked ourselves out for the evening! the next morning at 6 we got up greeted by rain and cold weather, luckily our tents leaked so our fresh clothes too were drenched and both Arun and Alex's phone gave up the ghost! Spirits still high/hungover we clambered in our van and sped off down the 75km beach to Champagne pools and India head. The champagne pools are a beautiful rock formation made by the waves, so that each time a wave hits the rocks a warm crystal clear bubbly water runs over them into the little pools surrounding that were filled with marine life, a very chilled out place to be (apart from the rain- which still didnt put us off from swimming!). From there we had a nice 5km walk in the rain to India head where we were expectant to see huge sharks, migrating wales and the huge fish that were promised to us! guess what- we saw a suspicious looking fish (so called it a shark) and a stingray! still you wouldnt catch it looking over brighton pier so we were happy! On our way back to the car however we were fortunate to see a Dingo, the pride of Fraser Island, we were told they were savage animals to be avoided at all time, but our conclusion was that it looked more like a skinny house dog that was totally un-arsed by humans in every way! After soggy sanwiches for lunch we went to see the impressive shipwreck on the east beach of a huge vessel from the 1940's that was left to corrode and rust on the shore. After this and a short float down the Elie Creek we headed back to camp again to be fed and suitably watered, again a bag of wine, a few beers some drinking games and passed out by 10.30! after another torrent of rain (which thankfully the alcohol got us through) we rose on our 3rd day at 6 again! This time the weather was worse, and we found out the top canvas on our 4X4 wasnt waterproof and all our luggage was also wet, but it was ok because we managed to camp on a Fire Ants nest, which kept us warm for most of the following day! Luckily we got to go to one of the top 10 beaches in the world at Lake McKenzie, and luckily it rained! but it didnt spoil the natural beauty and tranquility of the area, which again was an incredibly pure fresh water lake. We returned back to Hervey Bay that evening (not before having a quick drive of the 4.2 litre beast) to get on a 12 hour bus journey to Arlie Beach! Although the weather was a bit suspect, we had a great time and saw some incredible sights and were thoroughly knackered for the overnight bus!
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