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After leaving Brisbane we caught a bus up north to take us to the jump-off point for Fraser Island, home to the dingoes and famous for being the biggest sand island in the world.Apparently it has more sand than the Sahara.30 people, split into 3 groups of 10, (in ours3 yanks, 3 brits, 3 swiss and a french guy,randomly put together by the tour company) went camping together on the island, making our way around by driving a massive 4x4.Everything was provided in the way of camping equipment, we just went to the supermarket to do a big shop together and we were off.
The first day was great, we saw a dingo and swam in a gorgeous lake and explored the crazy terrain that is Fraser Island, both inland and on the beach.That night we put up the tents, cooked dinner, and all got merrily drunk on Goon, Australian gutrot. Great fun, until 9pm when it started to rain.That was the cue for everyone to dive into their tents and pass out.
At about 2am, i woke up to discover i was lying in a puddle. So was Reubs.Our tent leaked like crazy and our sleeping bags, clothes and bags were all sopping wet.It was hilarious like things are when you are still pissed.A dingo was also snarling around our tent which was when we discovered the zipper was broken.The rest of the night was spent with reubs sitting like a wet slug in his sleeping bag clutching a dive knife at the tent flap and brandishing itmenacingly every time the snarl came closer.
The next morning it turned out everyones tent had leaked and a sorry crew we were,soaked, stiff, cold, and brutally hungover. It was still raining.It didnt stop raining all morning.It didnt stop raining all afternoon.It didnt stop...you get the picture.It wasnt light rain either, but driving, forceful, vicious rain.
We spent the day driving aimlessly around the island, seeing nothing out of the winders, and everyone was wet and starting to smell.A really nasty smell, like BO mixed with mildew, booze, and despair.Sitting in the car was not only boring but rank because of the smell.Everytime we wanted to eat, we had to pour water out of our food supplies.Saturated ham, soaked cheese, sopping wet bread, everything.The car windows didnt close properly so everyone got wet inside the car.The smell was getting worse and worse.And there was NOTHING to do about it.4 of us had heard a rumour that there was a hostel on the island and so we tried to go and find it, but incoming tides, the impending dark and the fact that we didnt know where we were going put an end to that.
At the campsite we ingeniously rigged up tents and taurpaulins to provide shelter, but the park ranger made us take them down.Then a tent pole snapped and a tent collapsed. The thought of spending another night in sodden tents in sodden sleeping bags in sodden clothes was REALLY unappealing, but that was what was going to happen. Fraser Island doesnt have much in the way of shelter, its just really only sand as far as the eye can seeI ended up spending 2 hours standing inside the ladies loo at a campsite counting poisonous spders, simply because the loo had a roof.
Obviously, the only thing to do was to get good and drunk and hopefully pass out.So the second night was just one big party, with loads of people from other tours coming to join our group under a small tin roof above a camp kitchen.It was so much fun!.
That night Reubs and I and one of the Swiss blokes and the French bloke tried to sleep in the car.Reubs and one of the guys spent the night snoring like champs,and the French guy kept on tuning on his torch and shining it around the car looking for "Le spider".I had to keep opening the window and get great gulps of air because the smell was bordering on evil.So despite 2 sleeping pills I managed about 30 minutes sleep.And it was still raining!
Finally on the third and final day when the smell was vomit- inducing and tempers were finally beginning to fray (up until this point we had laughed it off, because what else can you do?) the rain stopped, and the sun came out!It was HOT! Stinky layers were stripped off, rockpools were swum in,trails were hiked, photos were taken - it was marvellous.We also saw dingoes, andfinally got to appreciate what everyone else who has been there was raving about.It was great.The trip was great regardless of the s*** weather, but it would easily be a thousand times better in the sunshine.We felt like we were survivors of some great war when we finally returned to the mainland.Other groups had given up and gone home on the second day.Others had found the fabled hostelWe hadnt.We had spent 2 nights and 3 days in the same soaking clothes and wet tents and had lived to tell the tale. We had survived Fraser islands biggest rainstorm of the season. We were triumphant.We were LEGENDARY.
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