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I arrived in the early afternoon to harvey bay for the start of thr 4x4 tour to fraser island. After arriving i was hit by the pantsness of koalas hostel! I have since cancelled staying with them further up the coast. Nothing was provided by the hostel, no bed sheets not cutlery, the place was a dump and i had the coldest shower to date. I hired with a fee a blanket which was so rough they gave me a sheet out of sympathy. Becuase i knew i wasnt staying long i put up with it for the day and met with my group for fraser island and sorted out food and drinks for the weekend. Our group was 8 girls and 2 guys, and another 3 4x4's were also going to the island.
5 oclock the next morning we got up to get our equipement and make our way over to the barge. The short trip was funny as sally got the short straw to drive first and its a lot more difficult to drive than any car. We had a short barge ferry to the island and on getting off our problems with the 4x4 started. The 4wd we needed to get it in didnt work and our tyre pressure gauge to let out the air didnt work. After having to risk it we went on the bumpy terrane to see the famous lake mackenzie. The photos dont do the lake justice, the water turns all different shades of blue and looks beautiful. Becuase it was raining and cold i didnt brave going in this time round and we then started our journey to see a few more lakes and make our way to the campsite. On the way we eventually gave up with the seat belts as they didnt work and you had to climb to get our of them whcih left us with lots of bumped heads as we were going over the very uneven ground. I got a long go at drivign as we has driven the wrong way, and it was so much fun!!! However... as we couldnt get the 4wd going we could only stay in 1st and 2nd gear and while driving sparks were coming out the back of our van and there was a constant burning smell. It was a bit worrying on the drive!
Before leaving people had warned me how cold it was in the evenings and so i literally bought all but 2 t-shirts with me (which still isnt a lot) and even though i had wrapped them inside plastic bags inside my bag they all got drenches from wholes in our roof which had dripped all over our stuff. Luckly for us that night there was a lot of cloud so it was a bit warmer. Unfortunately again for us 3 out of 4 tents we were given were broken and all the pots given to us were full of bugs. The BBQ was so nice but probably unheigenic and we couldnt clean it much as we only had 2 cantiserts of water for the weekend and they said we could get water on the island but all the taps we came across said untreated. I shared a broken tent with sally and alice and surprisingly had a brilliant sleep.
Bright and very early the enxt morning we were off for a 3 hour drive down the beach. I didnt fancy driving as the sand pulled the van all over the place and i didnt really fancy driving it. We crossed many creeks which were lots of fun, and as we didnt have seat belts we were literally flying in the back of the van, getting whiplash! We travelled up to indian head first whcih gave us a lovelyl view and we watched the whales migrating and jumping in the air. Afterwards our group went off the itinery and went to the champaign pools which were gorgeous and very refreshng as it was quite a hot day and we had been pushing the 4x4 a lot!! There was a massive bang/crack on our journey up to the pools and we very quickly exited in fear of the old banger blowing up. We didnt have much choice though and had to get back in and keep going. The creeks, although injuring us, had done the 4x4 some good and we (after not seeing a creek coming up and going a bit too fast and landing heavily) knocked the stick into the 4wd. You cannot swim in the seas becuase od sharks so the champaign pools allowed waves to crash over into the area allowing people to swim without being eaten! the rest of the day we kept going to see different areas on fraser island from the desert plains of rainbow gorge to the going extinct area of lake wallaby. We were camping on the beach that night and were looking forward to some nice pasta and cup of tea when we saw we were almost out of water. We rashioned out the last of it and decided to have our kangaroo steads and the biggest bits of bacon (3 rashers long in length) in sandwhiched for dinner (probably a mistake becuase they were salty, and watched the shooting stars that evening while drinking goon. The dingos are pests ont he island and turned up as soon as we started cooking and nicked the others groups biscuits. We hadf to cook away from tents ebcuaser if they smell meat on them then they claw them to shreds.
The next day we went to look at a few more sites before finishing at lake mackenzie again where we got some water and had a bit pasta meal. me salyl and alice decided to brave it and go in, me being first and like a nutter i ran and dived in. It was sooo cold but was was so refreshing (as we hadnt had showers for 3 days) and stayed until we turned blue and had to head back to the barge.
On returning we were lucky and managed to get our full bonds back despite having broken tents which we thought we were going to get charged for (even though they were given to us like that) and i stayed in a room with sally and alice. Bed bugs are rife over here and unfortunately it was my turn to get bitten to peices and now i have to go and find a washing amching to wash all my stuff incase there still there. Im choosing very carefully where i stay next!!
Overall i had a lovelly time and met some lovelly people especially alice and sally.. Fraser island is so beautiful and i recomment anyone to go and see it
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