Here we are another up date, their coming thick and fast eh! So this one is all about probably the number one tour/activity/piss up or whatever you wanna call it, Fraser Island. Like everyone else we went for the self drive hire option. This is basically when you are thrown together with 10 others, given a big 4 wheel drive safari van with camping gear and let loose on the island. Obviously before you go they give you all the spill about how to drive on sand and also about how if you drive like a crazy hoon its gonna cost ya as you will lose your deposit, not good considering how skint we are! Driving like Miss Daisy was definitely on the cards!

After a pretty comprehensive briefing we were off on our off road adventure. Our group consisted 4 English, 3 Irish, 1 Scot, 1 Dutch, 1 Swede and 1 moody old Czech bird. It turned out to be a pretty good group and we all got on, although as you can probably tell from how I have described one of them, we did have one pain in the ass. To start off with one of the Irish lads (Eoin) volunteered to drive us there. During the briefing it had been explained to us about what gear (there were two gear sticks?!?!?) to use for driving on sand but to be honest I don't think many of us paid that much attention so as the trip went along we kinda just made up ourselves and luckily (?)whoever was driver always had help from at least 10 back seat drivers!

On Fraser Island the beaches are the smoothest part and you can wang along them no problem, with occasionally slowing for the odd river mouth or crop of rocks. However it is when you go inland when all the fun begins. As the island is totally made out of sand all the tracks are just dug out of the ground and the only way to drive on is at a half decent pace or otherwise your getting stuck. On the first day we visited Lake McKenzie which was a fair whack inland and so the route to it was pretty hardcore. After an hour of being thrown around like an old rag doll we arrived to this stunning lake. Lake McKenzie is awesome. Its made up of this crystal clear water surrounded by pure white sand. We spent a couple of hours there chilling in the water and general taking it all in before we all decided that we better head or otherwise we were gonna be setting up our tents in the dark and considering none of us had a scooby what sort of tents they were, it probably was a good idea to do it in the daylight. Our journey to the campsite was pretty intense, as our new driver (another Irish fella, Brian) decided to go at warp factor 12 and I swear we spent more time in the air than on the track!!! Although we did arrive in one piece and with time to spare, so no complaints from me. Setting up camp didn't go too badly although it probably could have been smoother, with some people pulling their weight more than others, mentioning no names. Cough, splutter #**#Czech bird#*#*. That night after polishing off a pretty basic barbie, the beer and goon began to flow. As you can see from the pictures the chicken hat was one of the passengers on this little tour and tonight was the night it shined. Man it was a pretty messy night with everyone totally wasted, especially myself. At one point we headed over to another campsite to party with some other campers, however when we arrived it started to rain a little and so we all piled into their van, I think there was about 20 of us all piled on top of each other, a kinda mass bundle. I don't think some of them were too happy, but hey what did we care we were wasted. I would like to go on about the good the rest of the night was but I don't remember and so any other question should be directed to Linz. The next thing I remember is being woke up by Harriot (sharing our tent) and informing me that the tent was blowing away and we needed to fix it, although to be careful as there was a dingo outside staring at the tent. So half cut and shouting abuse at this Dingo, which was just sitting there, I managed to put the tent back together. Waking in the morning I wandered out of the tent to find that this dingo i was shouting abuse at was still there, although in the cold light of day it looked more like the gas bottle, doh!

Day two was spent hungover and the main activity of the day was to drive up to Indian Head, a large look out post at the top of island. The view from on top of this was amazing totally and made me forget about my hangover for at least 5 seconds. From on the top we managed to see stingrays swimming around, however no sharks as the water was too rough to make them out. Here we spotted out one and only dingo and as Linz does she snapped away at it and so its on the photo page. After just being able to set up camp the previous night we though it was better to set up early doors and so after a quick photo stop at the Maheno ship wreck, we set up camp. It was on this trip to and from where me and Linz both attempted the driving. I think we both made a pretty good go of it and didn't have too many complaints from the punters in the back. This was the only time we gave driving a go as to drive you had to put up with Miss Prague in the front, who refused to go in the back. The rest of the day was filled with up lazing on the beach and a pretty intense game of touch rugby?!?! I say intense as 8 months of no exercise and a nasty hangover made me sweat buckets and almost die! That evening after making the worlds biggest spag bol (thanks to the chef can be made on the message page) we broke out the goon again. The second night was a little quieter than the first but although still pretty funny. Highlights including stalling and pressing the horn on the car while two people attempted to sleep in the back, sorry Julia and Harriot, although it was pretty funny. Also watching the old Czech bird attempting to sleep and then coming out to dig a hole under her tent in her pants was quite amusing.

On our third day we took in a couple more of the sights, Eli Creek and Lake Wabby. These were pretty cool as you could swim in both. Eli Creek was dead nice as you could just sit in it and let the water take you down stream under tropical rainforest. Whereas Lake Wabby was completely different being situated on a huge sand dune. This sand dune was awesome and some people even manage to run down it and dive into the water. I did attempt to roll down it and this didn't really work and all I got for my troubles was boardies full of sand. We missed the barge we were supposed to catch and were a couple of hours late. This meant a pretty hectic trip back on the beach as we were battling against the tide coming in. This coupled with the fact the Dutch bird was driving (only 6 months experience and they drive on the other side of the vehicle) gave a few people a few heart flutters, especially when she decided to swerve round a log on the sand. But give her her dues she had the roughest part of the journey and got us back in one piece, so well done Sophie.

Our trip to Fraser Island was great and we were so lucky we got a group we got on with. Again as we say most times a defo highlight of trip and a recommendation for all.

Grant