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We woke up early in the morning to load the 4WD up (four wheel drive), and then we had a little chat with our tour guide. As we checked out, we got a telling off from the woman at the hostel due to the room being very untidy, as she said that a guest arrived into our dorm and couldn't work out which bed was free, as our mess was all over the spare bed haha, woops. Good start...STANDARD REALLY.
After taking the short five minute ferry ride over to the largest sand Island in the world, we boarded into our tag along vehicles, and off we went, cruising along the main road on the Island. The main road being of course, you guessed it....covered in sand. There were 3 vehicles in total, one driven by the guide and another 2 tag along vehicles. Our guide was a speedster, he even overtook a patrolling policeman within five minutes of entering the Island. We all dipped in the lake and started chucking the rugby ball about. The Canadian lads were quite impressed how anyone could throw a rugby ball hmm the normal way, as they were used to the American football way. Eli Creek was our next port of call which was a large pretty freshwater stream and that is where we all filled our water bottles up. The water tasted fresher than alot of water in Australia, and the tour guide was telling us how he gets all his water from there and refuses to drink it from taps on the mainland.
We saw the Maheno Wreck (a ship wreck from the 1930's) where members of the group continuously took photos of it. There was only so many pictures I could take of an old bludy wreck though. The pictures looked better from a distance in my opinion, as cars were on the beach driving towards the wreck and the rain was bashing down onto it. The only time rain actually poured may I add.
We set up camp for the night which was an aboriginal site, and the two main rules were that we couldn't whistle or spit, and this was all to do with aboriginal culture. I forgot about rule one and whistled 'we all love Leeds in the shower'...WOOPS. We played some drinking games (but without much drink), which included picking a box up with your teeth. That game was all to do with flexibility so surprise surprise, I came last in that one. Beer pong was played with me and Adam (sound lad from Essex), against a German girl and Natalia (another sound girl from..hmm..hmm...near Adam). We were terrible and lost so we just sulked by the campfire and watched Troy (The aboriginal owner), play the Didgeridoo. We were warned so many times about these dingoes, and how we were only meant to walk to the toilets or showers in twos or threes, as the Dingoes were less likely to attack if you are in a group. If anything went missing though, the reply was "It will be in the Dingo den". Before I went to bed, I saw a drunken girl from a different group who was also in the campsite covered in sick walking to the toilets held up by four different people. A girl behind her in a strong Brummie accent said "she'll be as rite as rain in the morninggg". It made me chuckle anyway. Broken Britain has turned up on Fraser Island......booo.
We all woke up the next morning and our group had a little feast of a breakfast. A fantastic Fry up it was. After showering I heard people complain about the state of the showers, but compared to anything in the outback, this was pure luxury. There a few mossys flying around, but that was about it. It also turned out that the night before other people from the other campsite had spat on the fire (broke rule number two) and then also broke a shower head in the girls toilets. What a bunch of rebels this group was turning out to be haha. I was quite lucky that our group was all extremely pleasant. We never really saw the other group again anyway, but it just shows you how it's just pure luck what sort of people get put into your group. It could make a break your experience really.
Day 2 and we visited Eli Creek again, and the champagne pools. Just like the whole of the trip really, where we went, the rugby ball followed. A girl from Finland was passing the rugby ball with me for at least half an hour. What a charmer I am eh? Indian Heads was probably the place where the camera told the best views of Fraser Island...it did look very nice indeed. We then possibly did the best thing on Fraser Island, we walked up this extremely steep sand dune. It was a hard work getting to the top, and we then had a race down to the bottom. I was doing well until half way down and then fell and momentum just made me keep rolling, rolling, rolling. It was awesome fun, and I did want to do it again, until I was quickly reminded how much time and effort it took to get to the top of the sand dune.
We woke up on day 3 and the 2nd night in the tent didn't seem as uncomfortable as the first one, and unlike the first night, no rain got through into our little luxury guest house (hmm a tent). It didn't even have a conservatory thing, like I remembered the tent I stayed in when I went to Scotland with school did. I did wake up in the middle of the night and didn't want to wake anyone up so I went to the toilet on my own with full attention of my big blue eyes on the prowling dingoes hiding in the bushes. How brave am I?
We took a 30 minute walk to this beautiful lake with white crystal sand and to quote the guide "folks, get the rugby ball out of one of the cars, as Rich can't do without his toy". During the walk I taught a German girl how to speak my language. "Over t'hill" she said in a perfect Yorkshire accent. First I teach a girl from Finland how to throw a rugby ball and now this, do my talents carry no bounds? I also saw the crazy polish kid that was in our hostel in Brisbane. His English had still not improved. He greeted me with "ahh u ok.....Vodka Vodka Vodka". After taking the 5 minute ferry back to the main land, it was strange to see roads again. We then drove back to the hostel with a sign saying "Rainbow Beach Business Centre". That sign made me chuckle as this 'business centre' they talk about had one cash machine in the whole village/town.
I may have missed a couple of things out of here so I'll quickly go through a couple of stuff I may have missed off. We did alot of driving on sand (hmm obviously) and we even encountered a traffic jam at one point, and then saw a passing Dingo which caused chaos to the oncoming traffic. We also passed the airfield and also saw a plane taking off on the sand. If I remember anymore poignant stuff that happened on Fraser Island, I'll just edit this blog entry and add it in another day.
The weather forecast was not so good for the whole time we was on fraser, but as I have learnt by now, never trust the Aussie weather forecaster. It was sunny for the majority of the time on the Island. Now to mention about our group as a whole. The whole group was a nice mix of young and not so young (joke ha), and everyone seemed to all get on quite well. I met some very good people and hope to stay in touch with a fair few of those. The tour guide also said how our group was such a breeze and one of the easiest groups he's possibly ever had. We all discussed in a group back at the hostel on how our tour guide quite possibly made our trip what it was. I did my little speech at the end and said "Brad, you were the best tour guide I have ever had.....well you were the only tour guide I have ever had". He then told me how we were a very good group and how he'd never forget me. Wherever I go, I seem to get people saying that to me, I never have quite figured out why hahaha.
I stayed in Rainbow Beach one more night. The Air Conditioning in the room went crazy and I thought I was in Alaska. I never thought I would sleep in my Leeds Rhinos winter coat in Australia in the height of summer. The next morning I was out of there at the crack of dawn and was on the coach for my next journey on my travels. The bus went quick due to me talking to an interesting Norwegian girl. She was telling me how she studied Religion at University, but I had to mention to her that God Was a Yorkshirewoman. I also watched the film 'Taken' which is just the film you want to watch when you're getting abit bored on a coach.
I am aware that most people from this Fraser island trip may read this, so I do hope I haven't offended anyone when I've wrote this. I've just tried to write an honest and entertaining blog as I try to everytime. So after another fantastic week, another new chapter in Australia begins. Just to look back one more time.....for me personally, Fraser Island was probably the best thing I've done on my travels so far. The past few days went by so quickly, and the largest Sand Island in the World certainly did not disappoint. I went into this tour with no expectations and was fairly sceptical as usual (it's just my way), but I would recommend this to almost everyone. A great Sand Island and a great time had by all.
Next stop Byron Bay
Richard
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