Hi Everyone,

I think a lot of you will be in for a shock with what we have been up to! We have been on Fraser Island living out of our tiny backpacks and camping on the beach for the last few days and loved every minute of it!

We met up with Steve and Chris again in Hervey Bay so the team of 7 was reunited. 2 other girls were put in our group for the trip to Fraser Island who are just like us so it was good laugh! We had a long briefing on the island, Dingos and the 4x4's and then we were let lose! We got a ferry over to the Island with our 9 man 4x4 truck. Fraser Island is the biggest sand island in the world and therefore only has sand, sand and more sand (no roads!) We battled our 4x4 on a very bumpy sandy track through the bush to the beach on the other side (see pic). This beach is their main highway! We got stuck in the sand a few times so all had to push the beast to get it going again. Our first stop was to see Lake Wabby. We walked 1hr through the bushland and eventually got there. It is a big lake with a huge sand hill that everyone runs down into the lake. The lake was clear, warm and had catfish in it - they were very friendly!!

We were warned how to cope in the event of bumping into Dingo's (wild dog / wolf things that live on the island). There was a ridiculous video that we had to watch showing what to do... people crossing their arms over their chests, starring it out and backing away. We found this all very funny until on the way back from Lake Wabby when one was standing in our path. Are immediate reaction was to take the 'brace' postion so we did and it didn't move. It is the most serious we have been the whole time we have been away, so much so that the girls walking behind us stopped and joined in with the 'brace' move in silence because they thought we knew what we were doing! Ha ha. When it didn't move we were shaking then slowing walked around it.

We climbed back in the truck and drove down the beach to a camping area and set up camp. All Lauren's Sea Scout skills and knowledge came flodding back as she named herself team leader and very enthusiastically erected tents and directed others (including other vans) how the camp should be set up... she was even rewarding people with imaginary badges for effort and good ideas! Lauren also took the chef role on and cooked a BBQ for the group - go team! We all got on the booze and had a good laugh sat round camp and were singing to the i-pods. No Dingo's spotted that night but a ranger came to check on our camp and told us that if we saw a Dingo we should shout 'DINGO' and throw something at it. Apparentlythe 'brace'does not work and theyare trying to teach the dingo's that they will get hurt if they approach  humans. Tad embarrasing after the scene we made!!

Day 2 we woke up feeling a little tender partly from the goon but also the aching muscle pain of camping - ridiculous concept to us, why would you chose to do this? We drove to Indian Head which is a cliff where you can see the tiger shark breeding ground. After hiking up the cliff to look over the edge it was too windy so the sea was too rough to see anything - not a bean! We carried on walking to the Champagne Pools which were lovley. Basically like big rock pools - this was great for us as it is forbidden to swim in the sea (unless you are suicidal) because of the sharks and the rocks keep the sharks out of these natural pools. This is also where we had Dingo attack number 2. This time we took the rangers advise shouted 'DINGO' and threw a water bottle at it (full of water for extra impact). It smacked him in the face and he ran away - ha ha sucker! A few more approached us on the beach but after our triumph we had no fear!

We headed south down the 'highway' beach and stopped to see Maheno wreck which is an old ship wreck on the shore. We also went to Eli Creek which is a natural water, real life lazy river. We walked to the top and floated down it back to the beach. Lauren took the wheel of the truck and drove the team down to the site where we would spend our last night. This time Emilie played chef and constructed a spag bol - mmm. We had a wicked night playing drinking games and then went and laid on the beach to see the stars. Because there is no light pollution the view of the stars was imense. We saw millions of them - the milky way was really clear and we saw some shooting stars. 

The next morning we packed up and drove through the bush to Lake McKenzie... WOW! The lake was crystal clear surrounded by white sand . We spent a few hours frollicking there and then had to get our ferry back to the mainland. BOO!

Upon our return we decided to treat ourselves for being so brave and roghing it so we got dolled up and went out for a lovley meal and sipped red wine in an Irish bar with live music - ahhh back to normality (kind of!).

Love to everyone!

Your special little campers! 

Em and Loz

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