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So the 5.30am start was greeted by all like a kick in the head. Especially as we were then sat in the tv room to watch a safety video that included valuable gems of info like 'do not sleep in the road'. Thanks, we'll try to remember that one! Then we were split into our groups. Ours had the 4 of us (obviously) plus 2 english boys and an austrian couple.
The first task was to get all the equipment into the vans. With an idiot proof demo we were ready pretty quickly to get to the supermarket and buy supplies. Having done budget catering for the masses quite a lot, our efficiency was award winning. We had meals fit for (back packer) kings and came out with change from a $20. Amazing.
By 12.00pm we were finally ready to get going, and the first driving challenge was to reverse onto the barge. So us ladies stood back and watched the boys perform that one! Then just 45minutes later we rolled up onto the biggest sand island in the world and we couldn't of been more excited!
Driving on the sand was a real experience as we hadn't been given a great deal of advice on how to do this (unless you include the videos 'don't have passenger hanging off the car') but everyone did really well at the driving. Well, apart from debbies one blip that invloved a lot of people shouting 'BRAKE...hit the brake!'as we approached the trees,to which she replied 'I am!!! Oh er no I'm not!'. Nice work.
We saw a couple of beautiful lakes in the afternoon, then set up camp at Lake Birrabeem. There were 4 cars that had gone out from the hostel, plus a couple of others on similar tours. So this resulted in many drinking games, a bbq feast and a rowdy camp site. It was also one of our groups birthdays, so we had party hats and cake to celebrate his 21st!
There was quite a bit of rain in the night and the morning so we couldn't drive on the beach to our next camping ground, Lake Allom. We left early and saw more amazing lakes, but had a lot of trouble navigating our way around the inland roads as the map we'd been given didn't even have them all on it! In the end, it had started to get dark and we had to make the decision to give up, and camped in a car park by Lake Garrewera. now this was an experience!
Away from the safety of the dingo fence campsites and the rest of the groups, we were suddenly aware of the seriousness of a hungry wild dog that's reknowned for mauling children to death...eek! We decided that the very best course of action was to follow the dingo safety rules (be confident, stay in groups, look after your children and small teenagers(!)), and get bladdered.
We put the head lights on, had the radio blaring and danced around (confidently!) in a big group. Even with all of this, we had 4 dingoes around us that walked around the tents and the car, clearly unphased by our 'scare them away' efforts! Even so, we had an amazing night, and felt closer to our group after a semi dramatic encounter!
Day 3, we got up early again so we could get to Lake Wabby and Lake Mackensie. Both were absolutely beautiful, and it was even warm enough for a swim. We met up with the other groups to find out that only 2 of them had made it to Lake Allom and no one saw the turtles that were supposedly there!
That evening we had an all you can eat pizza deal, and attempted tpo socialise at the irish bar. However, a couple of beers down and we were done for the night! What a trip!
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