Dear The Framptons and Willie

Thank you for both buying us our Fraser Island Tour. We have just got back and it was the most amazing time ever. This blog is going to be a bit of a change from the norm. Basically, where we have had more than one person buy us the same gift, I have tried to only thank one person per blog and allocate another activity to someone else (just in case people were wondering why they hadn't yet been thanked for something they bought which we have already done).

Fraser Island, however was so good and there is so much to talk about that I am going to have to split into two entries. Therefore, this entry is dedicated to the wonderful gift that Cara, Shaun, Holly and Ava bought for us and tomorrows blog will be dedicated to the wonderful gift that Willie bought us. Thank you so much because this has been the highlight of our entire travels so far. We have just arrived back in Noosa, so happy and buzzing and it is the perfect end to our time with Chloe in Australia.

Fraser Island is an island. It is completely made of sand and is beautiful. It is rich in unique and diverse vegetation and has several of the most beautiful lakes in the world. There is so much to see and do on the island that the tour lasted three days and we were never bored and could have happily stayed longer. Fraser Island is in fact the biggest sand island in the world and is quite proud of this fact, particularly as Dubai is currently in the process of building a bigger one. So in a few years time Fraser Island will sadly lose this title, so it is important to visit Fraser while it is still the biggest because no one wants to visit the second biggest sand island in the world.

This is actually the third time I have visited Fraser Island and on all three occasions it has been my highlight of Australia. It is testament to Fraser that I still haven't got bored of the place. I would say this is probably my favourite visit so it is just getting better and better. I think the reason why this visit stood out is because of the guide, Jake. I have never met a guide on any tour who took so much pleasure and put so much effort into ensuring that everyone had a good time and the tour was the best. He was the perfect mix of genuine enthusiasm for Fraser, interesting facts and stories and a deadpan delivery of made up nonsense which made it entirely believable even when you knew it was a lie. Which has just made me think that maybe Dubai really isn't building a bigger sand island, Oh.

So our tour started on New Year's Day at 6.45. Chloe and Donna were not so impressed that I had put such a stop on their New Year's Eve plans and, even with our relatively quiet night out, it was still a challenge to get up in the morning. Particularly Chloe who forgot to set her alarm. When we knocked for her at 6.43am she was still asleep. Yet managed to be ready and waiting for the bus on time. Maybe I have been spending too much time alone with Donna who needs at least a 2 hour warning and then will still be half an hour late but I am so impressed with someone who can get ready in 2 minutes. I clearly married the wrong sister.

We were then taken to the tour company's office where we were made to watch an information video about what to do and what not to do when driving and staying on Fraser Island. We were clearly told at the beginning that there were two parts to the video and not to leave before the second half. That didn't stop us getting up half way through and walking out and missing some vital information about how to defend yourself from vicious dingos. In our defence, we were hungry and had spotted a 7-11 across the road. Oh 7-11! how much we love you and your delicious goodness. We have missed you through Bali where you don't exist and down most of the East Coast of Australia where you haven't been. We love you so much I have written a poem:

ODE TO 7-11

Oh 7-11! Oh 7-11!

You really are food and drink heaven

To be found in Thailand, Australia and possibly Devon

Go there, buy a croissant stuffed with ham and cheese

Just pick it up, give them your money and say please

In Thailand, there will toast it for you, roast it for you, they will do their most for you

It is also useful for beer and Diet Coke

Or if you want a smoke

Yes, 7-11 is definitely no joke

So because Fraser Island is a sand island to get around involves a lot of off road driving. Therefore the group traveled around in three jeeps everywhere. Jake always drove the first jeep so we quickly jumped in the second and third cars which meant that we got to drive the jeep ourselves...although, obviously taking it in turns with everyone else in the jeep in a very methodical and thought out way so everyone gets an even chance and no one is unhappy. This methodology stretched to where everyone sat in the car as well so all the passengers got an even chance in the good seat at the front and the bad seat in the boot. I started in a different car to Donna and was horrified, when I moved into her car on the second day, at their slapdash approach as to who sat where and who drove when so quickly tried to established a similar methodology to their car as well (whether they liked it or not).

There are two types of road on Fraser; either inland driving, which involves lots of bumps and is very slow and the far more fun, beach driving. The whole of the east side of the island is a 70 mile beach which doubles as a major road. There is something really special about zooming along the wet sand with the dunes and cliffs rising to your left and the massive waves crashing to your right and the sun shining in the sky, glistening off everything. On Fraser Island, the journey is as exciting as the destination.

The first place we drove to on Fraser Island was the campsite where we would spend the next two nights. It was already all set up when we arrived, including the little tents we would sleep in right next to the beach and the dining area where the dedicated team of volunteers (who helped make everything run so smoothly and meant we didn't really have to lift a finger the whole time) were preparing lunch.The camp was right next to the beach and the surf on Fraser Island is always loud. They should introduce a beach with big waves at Glastonbury so we wouldn't have to listen to the Welsh people farting all through the night.

Out of all the volunteers, my favourite one was Benny. He was from Belgium and cooked our food most of the time. He was very jolly. He had previously been a baker. I found that quite exciting as I have never met a baker before, but to top it off, he had won a bread making competition when he was younger which meant that he was the best bread maker in the whole of Belgium. This man is clearly the most famous person we have met on our travels so far. He had previously made bread for michelin starred restaurants and was now cooking sausages for backpackers.

Going on a tour on New Year's Day in Australia is a bit different than in England. In England, everyone would be hungover and still in bed. In Oz, it is the busiest time of the year. Even at seven in the morning as we were driving through Noosa, the streets were packed with joggers and walkers and people having a picnic. Picnics! At Seven in the Morning! On New Year's Day! What is the world coming to? Despite Fraser being at its busiest, the advantage of having a good tour guide was that Jake knew when to go and where to go to avoid the crowds. For example, Lake McKenzie is the most famous lake on Fraser. If you have ever seen any brochure photos of the island then you have probably seen this lake. It is a beautiful crystal clear lake with a rich blue colour surrounded by lush green forest. The water is so pure that you are not allowed to wear sunscreen to avoid polluting it and the sand is pure silicon white. It is quite stunning. Unfortunately, being the most famous lake, it is also busier than a cake sale at an American fat camp hosted by the best cake maker in Belgium. We went to Lake Birrabeen instead. This has the advantage over Lake McKenzie of being just as beautiful, just as crystal clear, just as perfect sand but completely also deserted except for us. There was no annoy kids getting in the way of our photos, nobody shouting, no fat men floating around on rubber rings, no having to search for a space amongst the hordes, no only be allowed to stay there for an hour...just us and the quiet beautiful lake.

Camping on Fraser Island involved having to deal with deadly wild animals. The worst of these are dingos and march flies. Dingos are orange wild dogs that look small and cute but apparently are really vicious and evil and will bite your face off if you are not careful. The list of things that you need to do to avoid trouble with the dingos is long and exhaustive: don't leave stuff in your tent, don't leave food around, don't go to the toilet in the bush by yourself, carry a stick around to hit them with, don't invite them to a dinner party. The information video at the beginning told what to do if you were attacked by a vicious dingo but unfortunately we missed that bit because we were in 7-11. Ahh 7-11. Luckily, we never had to put that into practice because the only dingos we saw were happily walking along the beach minding their own business and still looking small and cute.

Less deadly but far more annoying were the march flies. These look like giant ugly evil flies that would follow you around constantly trying to land on you. I could cope with that level of affection if it was for the fact that if you didn't swat them away within one second they would give a you a painful bite for no discernible reason other than they are evil. March flies have now overtaken mosquitos as the worst insect in the world ever FACT.

Phew a lot of information. With that, I will leave the first half of this blog as I think it is already far too long. Tomorrow's blog will tell you more about what we actually did on the island and includes an exciting revelation about us deciding to change jobs when we get back to England. I bet you can't wait.

All our love

Jim, Donna and Chloe