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Woo hoo - just got back from Fraser Island and had a great time! Very happy to have a shower though and use a nice toilet - lets get this out of the way now: no one tells you that if you do the self-drive and camp on the beach, you have to dig your own hole to go to the toilet in!! Nice!! ;)
Had the briefing at 7am and had to watch a vidoe about how to drive on sand and what to do if a dingo approaches you and all the do's and do nots of Fraser Island - there was a group of Koreans that tipped over in the self-drive 4x4 and all ended up in hospital last week! I think they just like to warn you though so you dont let anyone take unnecessary risks. After a quick re-shuffle, we got a group together that included myself, Beth, scottish Chris (from the Oz bus), a couple of German lads (Ferdinand and Nicolaus) and a Canadian couple (Mehraan (pronounced Moran) & Janine). We were 'Group 5' as there were five busses/vans all leaving from Palace. After a trolley dash around the local Woolworths (supermarket) to get food and alcohol, we made it to the ferry terminal just in time! We did make Chris put back half the beers as we thought 60 cans plus a box of wine and some packs of vodka cruisers and Bundy rum and coke would be more than enough between five of us (the Canadians had their own box of wine they'd brought)... how wrong we were (we drank nearly all of it the first night!)! Did good on the food though - we only spent $165 between us, one of the other groups spent $360!!!!
We all went in convoy to Makenzie Beach first, and even though it was a little overcast still, the water was so warm!! It was lovely and you could tell that with the sun shining it would be beautiful. As it was, the freshwater lake was still an awsome shade of blue and turquiose. Plus the rain from the night before had wet the sand and compacted the tracks - so it was actually a little easier than we expected to drive on the island. Although we just let Chris do all the driving at first as he had TA experience, so we let him get on with it! Ferd and Nic were too young to drive (19 and 20) and Janine said she didnt want to anyway. Maron only drives an automatic at home, so he said he'e leave it for now.
We decided to set up camp, after checking out some more lakes, with two of the other vans; so we all made our way past Dilli Village to a campsire set a little way back from the beach behind a big dune. It was a great spot - really shaded, and after all having bbq's and a few beers, we sat round in a big cirlce playing 'I have never' and basically getting to know everyone! There was a group of three swedish boys (Jacob, Per and Daniel); a mother, son and daughter from germany and various other english girls and irish girls and lots of people from other places! I'll try and put names to faces on the photos!! The guitar soon came out, and everyone got a little better aquainted - plus you have to go to the toilet in pairs (in case of dingos) and someone saw a snake - eek!!!!
Everyone was up bright and early the next day, but you cant go anywhere until the tide starts to do down, but the swedish boys' van had got a flat battery from running the light all evening! Our battery wasnt dead as clever Chris kept turning on the engine every once in a while to keep it alive. So we went to get help, but in the end they swapped their battery with the one from Carlos and the girls' van and got it started. Then we all made our way up Fraser Island (its bloody big!) to Eli Creek and then to Indian Head and the Champagne Pools. I had a go at driving on the sand and accidentally took us over a MASSIVE bump that made everyone fly up into the air - whoops - thank goodness for seatbelts! I also went in-land a little way and had to switch from hi to low (or the otherway round) or something - 4x4 off-road driving is so much fun! We also stopped at the shipwreck and generally enjoyed driving on the beach. After walking up Indian Head, we couldnt get our old bus through the soft sand to get to the Champagne Pools though: we tried a few times but just got so stuck! The other two vans got through (after getting up A LOT of speed, and Carlos even went up on two wheels!!), so we hitched a lift!
We all decided to camp together again and set up camp just down the beach from a proper campsite - we didnt have permits for the campsite, so had to rough it (which is actually great fun and much better!) no one had had a shower in two days, but we were hoping to have one in the morning maybe....
It was a little windy on the beach, so we set up a windbreak between a couple of the vans and it all was good. The boys all played football and everyone ate pasta. The sea looked so inviting, but you really cant go in at all, as not only are there sharks out there, but also tons of big, scary jelly-fish everywhere - they get washed up on the beach all the time (and make a really satisfying squelchy noise when you run over them - ha ha) and so even though Jacob and Ped decided to risk it, they ran straight back out of the sea after about 3 seconds as they saw a massive jelly-fish bob up right in front of them!!
Night was falling, and as we had managed to drink nearly all our booze the night before, we'd bought another couple of boxes of goon (wine) at Eurong in the morning; but we only managed to get through one box between me, Beth and Chris (the others in our group all had a night off). Everyone stayed up chatting again and there was an amazing view of the moon - I think it's a full moon on Friday maybe.
Up with the sun again (it does get hot in those tents!) and our van made a run for it and made it to the campsite to wash our dishes and have showers - lush! We then drove back down the beach and inland to find Lake Wabby. It was pretty hairy driving across the island, and we were all a bit scared of Maron's driving!!! He drives an automatic normally remember - so Beth started getting pretty stressed (we did all think we were going to die - sorry Mehraan!)! We finally made it to the look-out though, and decided to head straight back to Lake Makenzie for one last dip before getting back on the ferry at 4pm. Even though everyone had had a great time, no one wanted to stay an extra night on Fraser!! The lake looked awesome in the sunshine, and everyone went in for a dip and a sunbathe. Then it was back to put air in the tyres (you have to let them down a little to drive on sand) and get on the ferry.
It was a quiet night back at the hostel, as everyone was knackered. Pizza was ordered and everyone filled their faces. Jimmy and Kelly arrived in Hervey Bay as well so it was great to se ethem - and Stewart was around too but we didnt manage to see him as he was at a different hostel.
Beth and I are off to Noosa tomorrow - it will be nice to stay in the same place for a couple of days! Then off to Brisbane for a week.
xxxxxxx
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