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HERVEY BAY AND FRAZER ISLAND
Hi all,
After a monster 12 hour coach journey (this time with DVD player so I watched Friends most of the way there) we arrived in Hervey Bay. We checked into the Koala’s hostel and literally went straight to bed. I spent a day catching up with my e-mails and journal and then the next day I went down to the 10Km stretch of beach and walked to the Botanical Gardens to have a wander around. I didn’t realize how far I had walked and ended up being ½ hour late for the meeting about Frazer Island! I somehow managed to get lost on a straight road?! Frazer Island is a listed World Heritgae area and is the world's biggest sand island (said to have more sand than the Sahara Desert), Apparently all the sand from the Eastern Coast of Australia eventually ends up on Frazer Island. It is a huge sandbar measuring 1200km by 15km and we were getting ready to drive around it in a 4x4! I met the rest of the group that I would be going with – 11 of us in total – Mark, Sean, Gav, Owen, Dave, Sharon, Nina (the Machina crazy German), Andrea, Jacqueline and Bruner (even crazier Brazilians). We had a talk on the do’s and don’ts - no swimming in the sea due to lethal undercurrents and man-eating sharks and no feeding the Dingo's as the become aggressive. We were given a shopping list which included ordering the meat (steaks, sausages, burgers etc…), groceries and most importantly alcohol. We ordered our meat from ‘the butcher’ and then off to Spar for a group shopping trip. We bought so much food, and in total the meat and groceries came to $14 each which is about 6 quid – not bad. Alcohol was the obvious box of goon – 5 litres for about 4 quid – always good value for money! Once all the shopping was done I packed my day bag ready for the trip and then off to Hoolihan’s for a beer.
The next day we were up at 6 to be at the meeting point for 6:45. We met with the hire car company who told us how to drive the 4 wheel drive vans and where and when to drive – follow the tracks and don’t drive at high tide……
Then there were lots of forms to fill in, and guess who had the pleasure of that job – yep moi – I obviously looked like the most responsible! Once that was done we collected and checked all our camping gear, checked the van for previous damage and loaded her up.
Everything was good and so off we headed towards the ferry port, Sean at the wheel.
Once across the water to the Island we sped off towards the first stop on our itinery – Lake McKensie. It was quite a hot and hairy ride – we were driving on thick sand, up and down hill and it was pretty jumpy, we got thrown all over the van, but it was such a laugh – especially when all the gear nearly fell on our heads! My favourite part was when the huge kitchen knife was balancing scarily on the edge of box just waiting for one more bump before it headed our way! We stopped the van and I, fearing for my life, secured the gear. As soon as we got to Lake McKensie we all stripped off and jumped straight into the water. It was gorgeous, white, sandy beach, clear blue warm water – heaven! We played Frisbee for a bit and sunbathed. Stomach’s rumbling we went to the picnic area and cracked open our supplies.
After lunch we headed for Lake Wabby, the drive was really tricky and we got bogged down about 3 times and nearly crashed into a tree! We arrived at Lake Wabby lookout in one piece – just, but it was too late to go down to it as it was nearly hide tide and we didn’t want to get stuck with nowhere to camp. We sped down to the beach – our home for the night. We found a really good spot near Eurong next to some more Koala campers so the lads put up the tents whilst the girls cooked. As soon as we got out of the van we were greeted by a Dingo – great!
We had burgers and Steaks followed by lots of alcohol. Cards and drinking games followed, one game even resulting in us creating a new species – the Dingeroo, cross between a Dingo and a Kangeroo – hey it could happen! I visited our neighbours only to find that it was the lads I had shared a dorm with a couple nights previous. After dancing and drinking the heavens opened so we were rained into our tents, I passed out in the wrong tent – mostly on purpose as it was a lot comfier! Going to the ladies was a bit of a mare as you had to go in two’s armed with only a flashlight in case any Dingo’s were around. Needless to say we got to know each other really well, very quickly!
The next morning we were all woken by the sun streaming in through the tent at 7am – we were all really rough so straight to the stove to cook a fry up. After washing in the sea, we set off for Indian Head, stopping at the ship wreck on the way. After taking photo’s and being told off for standing on the ship we carried on down the beach highway/runway, planes landing all around us. Once we got to Indian Head we climbed the rocks to get to the lookout where you can see Tiger Sharks and Dolphins. We only saw one Tiger Shark, but it was really cool. We then headed down to the beach and went for a swim to cool down and have a much earned beer in the sea. Next stop was the Champagne pools which were lovely and then a spot of lunch. As it was getting late we headed back to the beach to find out next camping spot. We camped near to lake Wabby and found that we had more of our fellow Koala’s as neighbours. More eating, drinking and games and star gazing, it was amazing how much of the Milk Way you could see - I've never seen a night sky like it, and we saw a couple of shooting stars. I made a couple of wishes, none of which have come true yet, but I'll keep you posted . Time for bed – in the right tent this time!
The next day, after brekkie, and more washing in the sea, we drove to Lake Boomjin (or something like that). Again, straight in the water to cool down, freshen up and build a human pyramid – guess who on top – yep me the smallest! (photo on it’s way soon).
The girls sunbathed, the boys played beach football, it was a lovely day. Sadly it had to end and so packed into the van we headed for the ferry. This journey prompted the Brazilian's to tell sean off for driving too fast (which only resulted in him putting his foot down) and Nina the Machina, who hadn't paid any attention the whole trip to declare 'we are going the wrong way!'???. We all cracked up laughing as we were never sure if Nina had even been awake for most of the trip. Once we arrived back at Koala’s in Hervey Bay I couldn’t get in the showers quick enough – 3 days without a shower – there’s a first, and hopefully last!Nina, who had a room booked, preferred to use the garden sprinkler to shower after the trip? Feeling human again, we all headed to the bar for a Mexican meal and couple of end of show drinks – as we didn’t feel that we had had enough over the last few days!
The whole trip was absolutely amazing and we had such a laugh.I have never camped before but I loved every minute (well apart from the horseflies) We said our see you soon’s as I will be meeting the Irish lads on Magentic Island, we have planned to do the Sky Dive on Mission Beach together……..
Onto the coach for another 12 hour journey – destination – Airlie Beach……
Phew – that’s everything, I think
Lots of love Jules x x x
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