Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Me and sarah got up early on sunday (22nd feb), at 6 to check out and meet everyone who was going on the trip. We were divided into two groups. Me and sarahs group for our fraser island, 3 day and 2 night camping trip. We were put into groups and then the organiser from the hostel realised our group only had one guy and 10 girls! She asked the other group if any of the guys wanted to swap, and one canadian guy, Brian, very hot but not my type, and two really funny Irish guys, joined our group pretty quickl Then we were those three guys, a swedish couple, me and sarah, and four german girls. Eleven in total. One of the german girls voluntereed to do the alcohol shopping and we all gave money, and me and sarah were picked- we didnt volunteer- to do the food shopping and got money off everyone. We were given a recommended menu and went with that.
When we got to the supermarket it was like a game of supermarket sweep- two girls from the other group from Beaches were also getting the stuff on the set menu. So we ran around like crazy people, sweeping the shelves clean and racing down the aisles! We got what we needed and were on budget- the other girls went way over and had to take stuff off.
We drove to the 4X4 rental place and got the car- one of the irish guys was the first driver. We got the ferry to the island then drove east to the other side and the sandy tracks were pretty smooth- though some people in our truck thought it was pretty rough. Not new to me, I thought it would be rougher. It did get rougher though..
We went to a resort area called Eurong where you get onto the beach- and then its 80km and hour down pristine beach and splashing through some waves! It was awesome. We went north and parked, so we could do the 45 min walk to lake Wabby, a beautiful green lake surrounded by forests and then by a massive encroaching sand dune on the other side. I got there ahead of the group and climbed the sand dune for a good view, then I walked east over some more dunes- at one point it was like being in a desert, then I came over one dune and saw the sea! I loved it. I went back and leaped down the dune, and into the lake to join the group who were all swimming. There were loads of fish- they nipped at you, I sat and let them after a while, and they actually ate off all the rough skin from my feet, elbows, knees- it felt tickly! They were catfish in the lake too.
We walked bk and then drove north along the beach to Eli Creek- now this place we all loved! Freshwater creek that you walk up and then float down it to the sea! The warer has been filtered by mangroves and is crystal clear! So pretty.
We then went north again and saw the Maheno ship wreck- this is a passenger liner that sunk in 1935. Oh and we saw a Dingo on the beach- a wild, alpha female we think- she was lying on the beach with the sea behind her, got some awesome photos.
We then got to Base Camp, about 5pm, and had a brief before making camp. The brief was horrible- the guy scared the crap out of people by going on about what a mad snake season they'd been having, and how they are five snakes classed as extremely venemous which they wont bother calling an air ambulance out for us if we get bitten by them! You do two things when you're bitten- put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye, and start praying if you're religious. And they had been seen all around the camp...and then there were the gianas as he called them- lace monitor lizards, which had become regulars at the camp and ran at people. If you didnt move they climbed up you and bit your face, and their bite is septic. And then he went on about spiders, and he described the wild dingos that are seen around the camp, and how it was not a good season to be around dingos either. Oh and the scorpions etc. Then at the end hes like 'so get pissed and party!' but 'oh, by the way, the lights go out at 9pm, and you cant hang out here after 9, you go to the beach to party'. Walk down to the beach in the dark...pissed. Great!
The guys then went and set up the tents, and us women got the BBQ dinner ready. We all ate and then started drinking- me and sarah had vodka and coke, but didnt get too pissed cus we had a tiny torch and werent planning on going to the beach. We played drinking games- one called Chickens, which is basically a crazy german spin on the drinking game Tennis. And we played 'Welcome to the wild wild west' - also anothe version of Tennis though with some shooting actions init. It was pretty funny. One of the german girls said how we didnt know each others names yet- so we had to stand up, say name, age, where your from, and your fav colour, and fav sex position! At the end of that all we could remember was everyones fav sex positions lol! No names. We had nicknames like 'anything that lasts longer than ten mins' and 'doggie' LOL. Only the girls were playing the game at this point- the guys never understood why we called each other these nicknames during the trip!
When the lights went out we went to our tent, despite the irish guys trying to get us to the beach lol. Later in the night, Bryan, the crazy canadian guy, came into our tent, competely pissed. Sarah said he's been trying to undo the zips to our tent for 20 mins, then came in and went bk out. We talked about him for 5 mins, then I said 'give me your light' when i heard a noise in the tent- and Bryan was still in the tent! Lying right in front of us, staring at us. He was so pissed. He started panicking, saying he'd seen 'f***ing loads of dingos! Dingos man!'. I asked how many and he said 3 lol. We then kicked him out to find his tent, which was like half a metre away!
Me and sarah were first up and set up brekkie- when we did the food shopping we didnt realise it meant we were like 'food marshals'- basically everyone asked us all the time what was for brekkie, what was for lunch, for dinner, how much could they eat, etc etc. Nobody had the initiative to just not pig out too much, or to get any of the food off the truck and pack it up again! Me and sarah sorted it all. Never again lol, the german girls were actually a nightmare- they expected gourment food or something and we were f***ing camping. One of them was like 'did u buy cold bottled water, the tap water here is a bit warm' and the other was like 'we cant eat this pre made pasta sauce in a jar- we should make sauce from scratch'. I was like 'good f***ing luck with that, do u want o roll pasta too?'. And others insisted on us buying tea, and then never touched it cus they couldnt be arsed to boil their own water. She asked me 'are u going to boil water for our tea?'!! This is when the Irish guys were brill, taking the piss out of them in such a way that most of the time they never understood when they did it. They had me and sarah in stiches most of the time. One of the swedish guys was fussy too- he didnt like our burgers, they were too thin!! I swear it would do some people the world of good to live cheap for a while, maybe live as a student like I did, or go camping!
Anyhow, the next day we got up and saw a lace monitor in our camp, and a big grey spider. We went further north to Indian head. The group took about half an hour to start a walk, by which time I was long gone, with sarah. This time we waited a bit and spoke to some park rangers we bumped into and they told us about the island some more. The spider we saw in the morn was a huntsman and was friendly they said. We climbed indian head, only a little walk, and then we drove north to the Champagne pools- pools by the sea that waves splash into and they bubble like champagne. Spent a while here, sunbathed, had lunch, rode some waves, then went bk to base camp. I had my turn at driving and the irish guys said I was brill, no getting stuck when i drive :-) I think the best driver is the swedish guy, hes the fastest. Nobody sits in their seat when he drives!
In the evening, me and sarah were a bit stressed from everyone moaning about food, esp the nazi's as they'd been nicknamed! So we started drinking at 5pm! Our group joined us at like 6, and we all had dinner. Later on the drinking games started, though I was barely tipsy and sarah was quite drunk. We were planning on avoiding the irish guys, who were really determined that we were going to the beach tonight, even if they had to carry us! So we were planning to hide in the girls shower block when the lights went out and everyone got confused and headed to the beach without really seeing each other, and then we'd go to our ten when they'd gone. Then a nice looking 4X4 landrover pulled up at our campsite, and we werent allowed any visitors at the camp so no-one knew who they were. Two Australian guys, twins, walked up to our camp and me and sarah chatted to them. Turns out that one girl did invite them- an american girl in the other group. Then all of a sudden a guy comes over, camp manager apparently, and has a bit of a go cus they arent supposed to be there, and he sent them away. They parked at the beach and then snuck back up in the dark. We chatted for ages, and when the lights went out we headed to the beach, with sarahs little torch, way ahead of the groups of campers.
The ozzie guys showed me and sarah the stars and the milky way, and we walked in the sea in the dark because if you scrape the sand the plankton make it glow, it was awesome. They told us loads of stuff about the island that we wouldnt have known otherwise- they live in Noosa and come here to surf and drive about. I found out that there used to be wild horses on the island, wish they were still here it would be awesome. Everyone else from the campsite came down to the beach and the party begun. They went bk at about 11 or something, while thom and james walked me and sarah bk later, in the dark and with no torch- not good when u think of the snakes....at one point me and thom heard a loud hissing noise on the path and we ran past it- he was freaking out so I thought if he was I definitely should be!! Sarah was scared too- she had a piggyback all the way to camp lol. I met a couple of people at camp who were still up- one of them had brought my sandles bk from the beach, I'd lost them lol. And he said that when they walked back they had found two snakes in the path- one a treesnake, one a black one with a red belly- one of the extremely venemous ones, cant remember its name. Only saw them cus they had torches. I think me, sarah and the twins were lucky walking back!
That night me and sarah had another visit from the drunk canadian guy Brian. This time I wasnt so patient and pushed him straight out, dingos or no dingos! Sarah was annoyed that he'd left the tent open again, do not want snakes in our tent!
Anyhow, next morning me and sarah were first up again, I went to the truck to get brekkie set up for everyone, and I was walking bk from the truck when Brian the crazy canadian shouted 'look out!'. I looked around and realised I had almost walked right into a lace monitor lizard, a smallish one (1m long, normal size). It just walked over to the bins and scavenged a bit and I kept walking. Later on in the morning though, I was on my way to the kitchen area and I heard something running at me- I turned around and saw a massive lace monitor lizard running full pelt at me. I freaked a bit and tried to run to either side but I was right in the middle of the bins and had the benches on one side, so I was stuck. He was stood right up on his legs. Then this random girl comes running down the path heading for the showers, scared him, and he turned and ran bk into the bushes and up a tree. Very good timing- he was about 2m long, way bigger than the lace monitors that we'd seen cut through the camp, and definitely not as chilled out. Think it might have been a territorial male. One of the german girls went for a shower later and screamed her head off- I came running over to find that she'd just seen the same lizad as before, in the same tree, and he was asleep. Or was asleep before she screamed lol, but he wasnt bothered. I would have been quite happy if I'd seen him in the tree lol.
Oh and one more thing in the morn- one of the guys found a massive grey spider, tarantula, think it was a Huntsman. And when me and sarah went to the kitchen, I spotted another big spider in the doorway. Grabbed sarah and stopped her- if she had jept walking it would have been on her face!
When we eventually left camp that morning, we went inland through the pine forests- amazing huge trees, made our landrover look tiny- and went to Lake McKenzie, stunning white sand and turquoise, clear water. Hung out there for a bit, then had lunch, and just when we thought we should leave to go catch the ferry bk, it started to pour with rain. Got to ferry in time- the other group didnt make it though, and came bk to beaches hostel. Had a meal here again, went to bed and had to get up at 4.30 am for our bus the next day- not the OZ experience bus this time, me and sarah got a premier bus, and we went to Rainbow beach, our next stop south....
- comments