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21st October 2008
Just got back from a 3 day 2 night trip to Fraser Island. One big piss up basically! We stayed at the hostel next door first called Rainbow on Frasers then stayed in our 2 dorm room Dingo's resort which wasnt too bad. We went to the briefing the day before and we all got put into our groups. Luckily we were in a good group. 11 of us altogether 4 Irish Girls that were travelling together, then another Irish Couple from Dunygaul (sorry Irish I have no idea how to spell this place) 2 Austrians boy and a girl, one guy called martin who was born and brought up in Argentina but his whole family were Italian and me and Mike as the two English. Everyone seemed like a laugh and we all pretty much got along. It was crazy that the couple from Dunny Gall knew Mikes Cousin and family the Dohety's! They were chatting about this for a while what a small world! There are so many irish over here its unbelievable! They all travel in groups as well. We sorted out our Alchohol which as the fun part and me and Mike spent $110 on 2 bottles of vodka, a bag of goon, and 36 beers! We drank it all aswell! They call wine in a bag in a box over here GOON, its the drink that all backpackers drink and its only $10 for 4 litres, Its nasty stuff though but everyone drinks it! The all have t-shirts over here saying "Slap the Goon" Its quite funny really! We were all given a talk about how to drive the 4 x 4 which fit 11 of us in! Bloody high 2 low 2 bla bla, seemed quite complicated to the girls! We had to pay $70 each ontop of what we paid for the trip for the ferry, park fees, and food for 3 days. The organisers gave us a list of what to eat each day and pack all the food into an ice cooler box, biscuits, bread, butter, eggs, wraps, meat, chicken, stirfry stuff, fruit, big tank of drinking water, pots pans everything you needed really. We had to wash our dishes in the sea, not to use washing up liquid as it will pollute the island. There is no bins anywhere either only random designated places all barriered up so Dingo's cant get in. We saw a couple of dingo's there which are the most pure bred dingo's in Oz on Fraser Island. They tend to leave you alone so all is good, its scary when you go to the toilet in the middle of the night though, pitch black you shine your torch to see where you are going and you shine it on a dingo looking at you! Eeek! There was 5 or 6 vehicles and we all stuck together, doing the recommended Itinary. First stop was Lake Mackenzie. A beautiful fresh water lake naturally made no salt and pure white sand. Voted one of the top 10 beaches in the world (even though it is a lake) Completely clear blue water it was gorgeous. This inland, perched lake is a popular site, White sand and sparkling bnlue waters attract many visitors. Best to visit before 10.30am or after 2.30pmEveryone playd frisbie in the water that one of the Austrian guys brought and sunbathed and chatted to get to know each other. Mike was the first driver and I was his co-driver at the front looking for dips in the sand. The road is the sand on Fraser Island as it is just a sand island. We stopped off at Eurong for ice and toilet stop etc. Everyone was on the beers already and it was only 8.00am! We all then went down to the ship wreck "Mahero Wreck" Which has loads of sharp edges and complete rus heap washed up on the beach from years ago. We have to keep checking the tide times of when we are allowed to drive on the beach as 300 vehicles a year get washed upto sea and get stuck writing off their vehicles. The company has all our credit card details so everyone wants to be carful. We kept to what we had to do and set up camp near the wreck on the beach. All the other vehicles follwed and we made a little semi circle of vans to block any wind. We All made our dinners and put the ground sheets infron of each van as a little dance floor / seating area. Everyone had their ipods plugged in and music pumping it was a good atmosphere, goon was getting passed around swigging from the foil bag.... nice. I stuck to my vodka, i'd had a few beers in the day aswell. Everyone mingled and got to know each other it was really good. We all pitched our tents really far over to the side away from the vans and music so if anyone wanted to go to sleep they could and wouldnt be disturbed. I kind of organised this and the vans and dancefloor etc! It all worked out pretty good! Pitching the tent was easy I've mastered it now. We had sleeping bags aswell all provided. We had to wake up early the next day as we were only allowed to drive up until sunset. From 6.00pm to 8.30pm. So we all got up everyone hungover but not too bad, packed up and got in the van to drive to Indian Head and Champagne Pools. Mike drove a bit, so did Connor the lad from the Irish Couple, also Martin the Agrintinian. Champagne Pools were great, Your not allowed to swim in the never ending sea on Fraser due to the rough waters and jelly fish, sharks etc so it was nice to go to the Champagne pools and have a soak. Just a little area really of sharp rocks and those pinicle things that open and close and cut you to pieces if you call on them. The Waves where huge and Mike was having a bit of fun getting close to them, but of course he got washed up and cuts all over his hands and feet! We left there and had lunch and fruit etc. We went to the other side of the Middle rocks to Indian Head. This is a fantastic lookout point after a 5 minute easy walk. Everyone was there, no boundarys over the rock cliff edges though, i'm surprised that people havent fallen after everyone was drinking up there etc! We all had our beer and watched the sea. There was 2 Humpback Wales adults and 2 littles ones wild in the sea. They were jumping on their backs and slapping their tales everyone was truly amazed and excited to see this. They stayed there and entertained us for about 1/2 hour. There was also a school of dolphins riding the waves and jumping around. Giant sea turtles coming up for air every now and again it was great I could have stayed there all day! So lucky to have seen all this as sometimes you dont see anything! We left Indian Head when we were allowed to drive on the beach again which was after 1.30pm. We camped on our own this time to get to know each other, not that we didnt know everything about eachother already being in the back of the van all day drinking! It really is like a little family for a few days spending every second with each other. They give you a shovel at fraser as everyone has to go to the toilet outside all the time! You have to dig your "stuff" with the shovel after use! Not very nice. Didnt shower for 3 days. Pouring bottles water on my face and toothbrush to clean our teeth! We had chicken stirfry that nice which was good. The next day everyone met up at Lake Mackenzie again and nursed our hangovers. I had a go at driving on the beach, but a couple of the girls were feeling a bit sick and nervous as it is a really bumpy ride. I didnt make things any better by driving full speed into a (what they call a cliff edge) I would call a little ditch in the sand! You see I though you were to speed up when you get to drops to make sure you get over them, but now I realise you have to slow down, ooops I put my foot straight to the floor on the excellerator! Eeek everyones red goon went all over there faces and they made me get out and Martin Drove the rest! Apart from that though I thought I was pretty good at it. It was alot of fun driving such a big, heavy vehicle with 11 people in the back! When we were at Lake M, someone turned on their van to put some music on and they were in gear and went staight into our car! Caused a little bit of damage. The guy who did it was so sweet, he was shaking he felt awful, He couldnt appologise enough. We all comforted him and said we would sort it when we got back. We ended up missing the barge / ferry back to the mainland but luckily he came back for us. We filled up our tank of petrol, closed our caps on the wheels and went to the organisers garage where everyones van gets checked for damages. They told us they needed $300 to pay for the damage. So I rounded up the 2 groups and said if no-one objects, we could all pay $10 each and the the person responsible can pay $90. Luckily everyone agreed. I went round everyone and asked them to get there tenners out which everyone was happy to do. I got all the money together in a big wad and gave it to the Dutch guy who was very greatful. There was no way he was going to ask anyone for money he wouldnt dare who would have paid it himself. Good deed done and we all felt good for helping the poor guy out. We sorted all our stuff out and went back to the hostel and had a well deserved shower. Everyone got dressed up a little and got steaming in the hostel. We paid $5 for a bbq at the hostel each which was good. Now it is the next morning and we have said goodbye to everyone, just going to go on the Chopper bikes at sunset tonight, feed the dolphins tomorrow morning then get on the Greyhound Backpackers coach to the town of 1770 for a chill out on the Beach. All is good!
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