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It was a bit uncomfortable last night, Chris slept ok but I didn't. I dreamt about dingos! In one dream I ran after Chris who went walking into the bushes on his own, next thing I knew there was a dingo by my side. I jumped then fainted and couldn't get back up. I really do have the strangest dreams. We both woke up at 4am desperate for a pee! It was raining outside and still dark, neither of us wanted to go far so we just did our business a few meters in front of the tents lol. The alcohol must have really kicked in while I was sleeping because I was wobbling all over the place!
A few sleepy hours later we climbed out of our tent into the cool fresh morning air. It was 7am and the sun had just risen, well we knew it was up but there wasn't actually any sunshine coming through the clouds. After a very cold drizzly day yesterday, we had given up at this point of any hope we would get a warm sunny day on the island, especially after Tony said the island experiences around fifty days of sunshine a year! For the rest of the time it's cloudy and it rains! Sounds similar to England.
After breakfast Chris drove to Eli Creek. We drove along the 750 mile long sandy beach highway at 100 kph an hour, we didn't see many other vehicles, it was great! The views out to sea and inland were very pretty.
About twenty minutes later Tony stopped us all on the highway and made us get out of our cars. We had to keep the engine running this time so we didn't have to have a tow start to get going again. By now a few more lights on the dash board had gone out. He told us to look out into the sea. We weren't sure what we were looking at until suddenly we saw a pointy fin splash through the water, it was a shark! Then we noticed huge shoals of tiny black fish all along the beach! There were so many fish that the sea looked black! We all stood there for a coupe of minutes until suddenly Tony told us to follow him into the sea! At first I thought he was crazy, we could see more and more sharks fins and tails whipping out of the water, they were literally meters away from us! Chris and most of the boys went straight in up to their knees. I had to stay further up on shore just incase I dropped the camera into the sea. By now the fish were swimming around our feet, it was impossible not to step on them, we could even catch them with our hands. A few of the girls screamed and giggled, it was very funny. I looked back to check that my sandals were still up on the beach and noticed three dingos heading towards us! I thought great, danger was all around us! A few people on the beach stepped back out of their way but a few others just stood there. The dingos didn't seem to be bothered by us at all and continued walking up the beach.
We carried on watching the sharks for a bit longer, I must have taken at least a hundred photos trying to capture the perfect shot! I wanted to capture the sharks outline of it's body while it swam through a tumbling wave. I came close a few times and then just as I thought I had caught one, Chris walked in front of the camera. We saw at least four sharks at one point, they must have been about three to four meters long! It felt a bit crazy standing in the sea considering the island is strictly no swimming because of how many sharks there are.
After forty five minutes we carried onto Eli Creek. Chris really enjoyed driving on the beach, no traffic, loads of space, beautiful scenery and a new kind of terrain. All was going fine until we drove through a small stream which made the water spray up and cover the windscreen. I wanted to take photos out of the window so asked Chris to put the window wipers on. He pressed the button and we all watched as the window wipers slowly moved to the middle of the screen and then come to a complete stand still. They had completely conked out as well as the lights, indicators, horn, speedo, rev counter and fuel gauge! We couldn't get Tony's attention because he was well in front. We had to continue driving almost blind until we finally reached Eli Creek. We drove and parked next to Tony then showed him our wipers. He came over and had a quick look then said "I knew this would happen" We were all thinking, if he already knew then why didn't he do something about it before we left the hostel?! Still, there wasn't anything we could do now so we jumped out and went to see the creek.
Almost everyone used the public chemical toilets by the creek. They stunk so badly but it was better than using Shane the shovel! We walked along to the creek, it was freezing so no one got in. If it was warmer it would have been really nice floating down it under the trees.
Next up to drive was Blonde Emma, she drove us to Maheno Ship wreck where we took some more photos. It was cool to see and we were told about it's interesting life it had had. What was most interesting was the fact that when it first run a ground, a man found it washed up on the beach, contacted his fiancee, family, friends and a vicar. The couple were the first and only recorded people to ever get married on board a ship wreck. They got married in the fancy ball room, it was already laid out perfectly for a fancy wedding. Then later the ship was used as a bomb target. The back half was completely torn away from the front.
After we carried onto Indian head where we walked up to a high view point on top of a cliff. We got to see great views of the beaches on both sides. As we looked down into the sea below us we spotted a Manta Ray, a Spotted Eagle Ray and a sea turtle. It was like a game trying to spot something, unfortunately it was the wrong time of the season to spot any whales though.
We all walked back down and jumped back into our cars. This time brunette Emma drove. She drove us to the Champaign Pools which were situated on the beach. They were basically large rock pools, and the bubbles from the spray of the waves made fizzy champagne like bubbles, hence where it got it's name from. We walked down to them and everyone stood there for a moment staring at the water which we all knew was going to be freezing. Me and Chris weren't going to bother this time but then the Emma's got in. Only up to their knees though. So we thought sod it and went over to them. Chris was first to jump in then I followed slowly with the girls. There were also a few large fish in the pools. Chris swam over to a patch where the waves were coming in. He managed to find a rock to hold onto while huge waves came and tried to force him off. It looked like fun so we all gave it a go. The pull from the waves was very strong. We played in the waves for about twenty minutes then got out. It actually felt warmer being in the water than getting out. The wind was freezing so we rushed back to the cars with our towels wrapped around us.
We still had to leave the car running otherwise it would never start, the good thing about that was the heating was also left on, so it was nice and warm when we got back in. Brunette Emma carried on driving and all was ok until she stalled the car, in the middle of the soft sand! The worst place possible! The car wouldn't start again so Tony had to come to our rescue again and tow us out. Brunette Emma swapped seats with Chris so he could try to get us out by tow starting us again but this time the car was completely dead and wouldn't start at all. Eventually after a couple of pulls Tony managed to get us out. It was great fun because the car was thrown all over the place, we all had to hold on tight! Chris could hardly control the car as there was no steering, which meant we had to go slower than before. It must have been really boring for the groups in the other cars behind us. Tony really should have organised a replacement before, instead of waiting for something to go wrong first. Tony stopped to talk to someone and got us stuck in soft sand again!! He tried to tow us out but the car wouldn't budge. Us girls had to climb out and help push while Chris stayed and tried to steer the bloody thing! It was hilarious for us to do and we must have looked so funny to everyone behind us, we still had our towels wrapped around us while we were pushing! Once we got going again we drove through some water coming from the forest, it gradually made it impossible to see through the windscreen. Tony had to call someone in another car and grab his water to clear our screen. Every time Tony had to slow down he had to signal to Chris with his hands. It was starting to get a bit frustrating.
It took an hour and a half to get back to camp, when we did Tony came over and shook Chris's hand then handed him a beer. He said he was the first person to not break the tow rope. Apparently people break it a few times each go. Chris didn't really care, he was more pleased and interested in the fact that he just got a free beer!!
We got settled back in camp and some of us started to make hot drinks and food. The sun was setting and I had a great idea for a big group photo, so I ran back onto the beach and towards the sea with a huge stick. I stopped just before the water and started to write Fraiser Island 2012 in the sand. I got as far as the 'I' then realised I was spelling Fraser wrong. I quickly ran to Tony to double check the spelling then started again on a different section of the beach. When I was finished I ran back and asked the group to come onto the beach. Everyone joined in for the photo and just in time. The sun set was absolutely beautiful and perfect. When the photos were finished being taken I knew someone would want to mess up the writing and that person was Chris! Of course, I could feel him wanting to do it. He jumped up and down and ran all over it like a little kiddy while smiling at me all pleased with himself lol.
We all walked back into camp and made dinner, this time Chris cooked. We had the same as yesterday but this time we had marshmallows afterwards. We huddled around a small hobb and heated them up. They were great! After we stayed up drinking and having a laugh, this time all the others stayed up drinking too. There seemed to be more dingos around our camp tonight and they weren't affraid to come close. At one point I saw a dingo walk around one of the cool boxes which had food in it. The edges of the lid were very flat so I didn't think a dingo could open it but this one did! At first I said hey there's a dingo over there, then when it opened up the box I realised the box was ours and starting screeching dingo! Tony chased it off and ran after it. The bloody dingo managed to grab a bag with the Emma's butter and cheese inside. It was very funny and we all learnt a lesson, we quickly put out box into the car.
We ended up going to bed at half twelve, we left Mo, Shawn and Julia up. Julia was so drunk she was swaying all over the place. She was definately going to have a pounding head ache tomorrow. Before we went to bed, Chris had a wicked idea to fill an empty goon bag with hot water and use it as a hot water bottle for the night! We made a test bag first to make sure it didn't leak then the girls copied us. I wanted to zip mine and Chris's sleeping bags together to make a big one so we could sleep together, it actually worked so we had one big sleeping bag, a goon hot water bottle and an extra couple of ground mats that Chris took to put under us. So it was a lot warmer and more comfortable.
Charlotte & Chris
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