Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Arrived in Hervey Bay after our time in Byron, we were just in time for our team briefing, there were 18 people in total and we were all separated in to two groups, we ended up being in a group of 10 English people. We then headed off to complete our shop for the next 3 days, and of course to buy our goon again...
We were up early, put our bags in storage and headed off with our one and only tiny rucksack, which was incredibly difficult to narrow down to. Drove in the 4x4 wheel drive, thankfully Robbie was willing to be the first to drive the safari truck, and we boarded the ferry for transfer....
The journey begins...We decded to follow the advised itinery for the next few days so that we got the most out of our trip, and headed on in to the well known large sand island known as Fraser Island. We were worried about the weather especially when we're probably not the worlds best campers but even though it remained overcast the first day it was still warm and the rain kept off, until night time anyway. We started off with a picnic lunch consisting of the typical English food of sandwiches and crisps, and even crisp sandwiches during the trip with the odd bit of fruit before it became mouldy! Each time we ate we looked at other groups food which always looked much nicer and super healthy, well jealous! Robbie and Pete the two older guys in our group took the first turns to drive the truck down the tracks, but then Kat decided she wanted to give it a go so unbeknown to her took on the longest and bumpiest track of all! ...fun times! ....and it wasn't because of Kats driving, it was as bad a ride on the return journey! ... by the way she also ended up being the only female to drive the vehicle as Laura thought she had lost her driving licence and the others weren't game.
After lunch we headed to the well known lake McKenzie and we could see why it was well known, pure white sand, super clear water and so calm, this was heaven for the island as we were told before we arrived that we weren't allowed to go in the sea due to way too many sharks and jellyfish hovering about.
After a few hours it was time to find our site on the beach and set up camp behind the sand dunes, oooo what a place, it looked so luxurious, ha! The tent was put up with a bit of help from the guys in the other group as we decided to all join together, and the cooking on the hand made gas stoves began....
Out came pasta bolognese, quite impressed to say that we were on a beach without facilities which we will talk about more in a minute. And by the way we both did actually have a big input in to the preparing and cooking, maybe that's why it was so good, he he!
The real night got going after dinner when the goon made an appearance, cheesy tunes, dance moves (Macarena) and lots of giggles until the short downpore which brought the night to a bit of a halt. And as we said no amenaties so things got interesting when we were handed a shovel, a HUGE shovel, to go to the toilet with, in at least in two's or three's as the random Dingo's may attack, digging holes in the dark was so much fun, even better when Kat and Laura realised we were the only ones without a torch! ....We're not used to knowing about camping equipment and roughing it!
We woke up absolutely boiling, to a bed full of sand and of course the sounds of the sea in the background. We packed up base and our stuff and headed on to the next destination the Indian point or head lookout were we were supposed to see sharks and dolphins etc, but only managed to see turtles and stingrays due the sea being a bit choppy. The Champagne Pools came next, a small enclosed pool separated from the sea by a ring of rocks, really pretty, and everyone made the most of the sun now appearing and climbed in to the clear warm water.
Eli Creek was very cute and the final stop of the second day before this time heading to proper camp site, thank god, we thought one day was enough without ANY facilities, ha.
We arrived at the camp site to be greeted by the Aboriginaol owner, and unfortunately this was the only aboriginal we actually saw which was a major disappointment as we had been told there would be a few to teach us about their culture and entertain us....(some excuse that the others had been stranded on the main land or something??!!) We laid out our beds (mattresses & sleeping bag) in the Retunda, were we then slept in the kind of hut with the full 18 of us (both groups), amusing to wake up to that many people and annoying that the person next to you is very close and snoring rather a lot all night, ha!
We both set off to work collecting wood for the fire as the guys had asked us to, apparently the fence type pannel pieces weren't good enough and not what they were expecting, but we found our job easy for the fact that the block wood was just gathering together under a tree, looking good and waiting to be collected, he obviously asked the wrong girls!
We both took part again in preparing and cooking the food, we had a proper Bbq this time, with all the sound equipment so felt like kings. The camp fire that was lit at night also gave the night a great atmosphere, as well as providing the heat for us to enjoy melted marshmallows, but without the little grains of twig that came off with them would have been better! The Limbo game was played and new drinking games were learnt along with the 'gotta be done' chessy tunes again.
Rise and shine... we left the camp site by 8,30am after breakfast and headed to Lake Wobby, parked up on the beach and walked from there, or should we say professionally trecked up and downhill across a whole dessert in 35 degree heat, thinking it was never going to end, 2km seemed like forever! We finally reach our destination, but with a little bit of disappointed as it was not up to the same standard or appearance as Lake McKenzie, it was still very natural and fresh water but the tea tree that fell from the trees turned the lake green so it potentially looked like a swamp.
We realised we had spent too long here but the guys were enjoying themselves too much sand surfing down the steap sand banks. So we only had a very sweet short time viewing Lake McKenzie again for the finale, it was paradise.... :-)
Time flew and our adventure was over as we boarded the ferry for our retutrn to our Next Backpacker hostel at Hervey Bay. Kat and Laura not having anything at all planned (even a bed for the night) on our return, but managed to book in again for another night and as we felt so dirty spent the night doing laundry and washed the entire contents of our backpacks!
We both realised we haven't done anything like this before, its hard to explain but it was the best and most natural experience ever!
- comments