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Kat and Em's Travels
Saturday 11th November
We had a 4 hour journey down to Hervey Bay and then arrived at Beaches. We just relaxed on the beach all afternoon. Had food, burned some pics to CD. Sorry about the lack of pics on this website, it's always so slow every time I try or it doesn't work!
Sunday 12th November
FRASER ISLAND! Had to get up at 5.45. We met our self drive jeep safari group - Sami, Adrian, Charlene, Beth and Tom from England, Laura from Canada and Eric and Christine from Norway. It seemed like a pretty good group and 3 people were willing to drive. We had to have 4x4s as Fraser is a sand island and it's the only way to get around! Kat and I were the designated food shoppers for the group. We had a quick discussion about what we all wanted to eat over the next 3 days, mainly sandwiches, burgers and hotdogs and pasta and sauce, and then we went for a supermarket sweep stylee trolley dash around the supermarket. was well fun! meanwhile the others were sorting out the alcohol. somehow our group spent $100 more on alcohol than the other groups. Maybe because they were mainly foreign. They also had to go to the 4x4 hire centre for a talk on driving the jeep. Me and Kat didn't volunteer to drive. I was really glad about that when we got to the island! We had to watch a safety video before we left. There is a lot of wildlife we had to be warned about, like dingoes which can attack! And shark infested waters. Then we were off to the ferry terminal. Laura drove to begin with which was a bit scary as she wasn't used to driving on the left hand side of the road! We saw dolphins during the ferry crossing which lasted about half an hour. Once we were on the island we headed for Central Station and then went on a 50 minute walk through the bush to Basin Lake. We were the first people there and it was gorgeous! Fresh water, no crocs and you could see to the bottom. On the way back we saw an absolutely huge iguana on the path! Never seen anything like it. After making lunch we drove to our campsite. We had to drive along the beach and you have to be careful when you go because of the tides. We were glad we chose the Beaches package as it meant we had a base camp with toilets and showers. With some other companies people had to camp on the beach and dig holes in the sand to go to the toilet! At the camp we were given a talk by the ranger who can only be described as an older version of Alan Potter for the people who know him! He was so funny, he was incorporating all sorts of crazy dance moves into his speech, it was brilliant! Then we put up tents and Eric got the BBQ going. After it was time for drinking games. Alcohol was necessary to get through the uncomfortable nights sleep in the tent as well as the fear of dingoes, spiders, big rats and snakes! Luckily we only saw one dingo and that was from a distance. Another group had their steak stolen by one! We went down to the beach to carry on the drinking after the lights went out. Now that was scary! 2 torches between a lot of people, one of which went missing amongst the drunkenness.
Monday 13th November
We woke up about 7 and had some breakfast. Left over sausages, yum! We realised that we'd left some of our cups out over night and someone had stolen them! So we made it our mission to steal someone elses back that day. We piled into the jeep and went to the Pinnacles and saw a shipwreck on the beach. Then we went to Eli Creek. It was really pretty and you can float down it, bit shallow and cold though. Afterwards we drove to India Heads where we had the most amazing view over the ocean and the beaches. Later on we went to the Champagne Pools where we spent the afternoon. Not as great as it sounds, the water looked dirty and we weren't used to that on Fraser! That evening we didn't plan on getting too drunk but it happened again. We had lost time to make up for! And we managed to get the cups back, wahoo. Didn't want Beaches charging us. Adrian managed to get hold of a torch from another group too, phew!
Tuesday 14th November
Everyone woke up hungover to the joy of taking down the tents and packing everything back on the roof of the jeep. We went to Lake Wabby. First it was a short bush walk and then we hit the top of the massive sand dune. The lake was at the bottom, it was quite steep but Tom and Sami rolled down into it. So funny! The whole area looked like desert and then there was this lake beneath it. We all swam across to an island on the other side of the lake and had a mud bath! Lake Wabby was definitely our favourite lake. In the afternoon we went to another lake called Lake McKenzie. It was really busy but again so gorgeous. It looked like Whitehaven beach, the sand was white. On the way there I thought we were going to die. The jeep had got stuck in the sand a few times before and we'd all had to get out but this time it almost toppled over, it was scary! I was glad to get out, felt a bit sick. I realised that I actually am brown here, there was a lot of white flesh around! Then it was time to head back to the ferry terminal and on the ferry our jeep started rolling as the handbreak wasn't working, oops! The ferry announcer suggested the driver put their head under the front tyre! Luckily our jeep passed the test when we got back to Hervey Bay and we didn't have to pay any extra money. We all checked into the same dorm apart from the Norwegian couple. I think they felt a bit left out amongst all the English drunks, makes sense. Then we dressed up (as far as dressing up goes for backpackers) and went out for Chinese buffet which was bring your own drink and where you could draw on the tables. That was a novelty! And it was a nice change eating out. I got quite drunk with Beth, we kept on buying jugs of beer back at the hostel and were talking to some guys. One was from Sweden, we see him everywhere. I can't remember what the others looked like.
Wednesday 15th November
We got woken up by a massive storm, hail stones and everything! So glad we weren't in a tent that night. Kat and I moved rooms, everyone else was checking out. Charlene works for Tony and Guy in England so she gave me a quick trim before she left. We met a girl called Anna who was in our room and we went down to the esplanade with her and bought a few items of clothing! I never want to buy anything because I can't fit it in my bag but we all gave in to temptation, it was cheap! Then who did we bump into but Frank! It was weird not seeing him for a few days as we'd been travelling with him for a week or so. We had lunch together and then all cooked together in the evening. Pasta and sauce with pumpkin - Anna's contribution. It was really tasty! We laid off the drink that night.
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