Hi Di Ho Campers.........hope all is well with everyone back home, we are great and now nearly finished our time on the east coast of Oz (although you are not all completely up to date due to lazyness again on our part!!!).

I wont rabbit on this time and just get started with the journal................

Landed in Hervey Bay the day before our trip to Fraser Island to attend a meeting with everyone else going on the trip at the hostel. They have to hold a meeting with everyone to let us know the rules of Fraser, how to drive the jeep without tipping it, getting stuck in the sand or ruining the engine with salt water, times of the tide so we didnt get stuck on the beach at high tide and how to be dingo safe!!!! Never told us anything about the huge sandflies that attack you regularly throughout the day though!!!!!

Headed off to Fraser with Greg at the wheel of the 4x4 and I will give everyone a mention now....... a crazy Irish Man (Neil), Welshie (Jasmine), Ben, Reece, Louise, Steve, Jen, Smoiles, Julian and of course Amanda....and what a great group to have for the journey!

Got to Fraser, put the pressure down on the tyres and we were off like a bat out of hell........at least until we hit the sand and that slowed most of us down....it was soft as hell and most of us made air everytime we went over one of the many dips and bumps....sore butts all round but what a laugh in the process!!! And our jeep can say with pride that we never got ourselves stuck in the sand once unlike another few groups we could mention but wont!!!  Greg even got a new nickname...Colin McRae...due to his driving skills!!

The first lake we stopped off at was lake McKenzie, a fresh water lake with the clearest water you have ever seen and crystal white sands....really would take your breath away and by far the best place on the island. We spent an hour or so there before heading off for another journey that would bring a tear to a glass eye with the bumps and damage to our butts and landed at Lake Wabby.....another beautiful lake but you had to hike over sand dunes to get there so we decided against it and headed for the beach.

Once on the beach the drive was a little less painful and we could at least get the speedo over 15kmh...next place for us was Eli Creek, again another freshwater creek to swim in and cool down...then to the shipwreck Maheno a passenger liner that was blown ashore by a cyclone in 1935 and is still there today. We spent most of the journey that day having karaoke in the back of the jeep with Irish leading it most of the way....best of all was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen...class!!!!

Last part of the day was our drive to our campsite for the night which was right beside the beach (our groups were not allowed in the campsites due to the level of noise we created and it was lights out and noise down at 9pm int he campsites!!!!). Group effort to put of the tents and set the campsite up then it was straight onto the beer and start the BBQ going for dinner. Had a great dinner of sausages with sand, steak with sand, chicken with sand and mostly eveything with sand!!!!! There were another 5 jeeps of people camped at the site and as you can imagine it was a bit of a messy night all in....got to bed in the wee hours of the morning and then had to get up in the wee hours of the morning to beat the tide!!

And when we say early the tide was out from 6.30am that morning until 7.30am which meant we all had to be packed up and on our way by 6.30am!!!!! There were a few still drunk (Jas and Irish) and the rest with some serious hangovers to contend with but you just had to get on with it!!!! Got to our first destination Indian Head just as the tide was coming in...Indian Head is the best vantage point on the Island and you can spot sharks, rays and turtles fromt he top. We lazed about there for a while and then headed to the champagne pools which were another 30 min walk up the beach, we couldnt take the jeep as we werent insured past Indian head......nightmare trek as you can well imagine with the hangovers we were nursing but we all made it to be utterly disappointed with the champagne pools......they were freezing cold water holes and with the tide coming in they were also full of jellyfish...nice!!!!!!

We headed back to the jeep up the beach and it felt like forever to get back, when we did we realised we hadnt kept enough water and were all completely dehydrated and the tide was still in so we couldnt drive down the beach to a campsite to get more!!!! Saw a couple of dingo's hanging around, probably waiting for one of us to pop it with dehydration then decided to take the risk and head back down the beach before low tide........lesson learned very quickly and we filled anything that could hold water in the jeep then headed off for our next camping spot.

Again we had all the jeeps there that night and the drinking games started in earnest quite quickly, played a couple of games of ring of fire and there were a few casualties after that I can tell you....tried to set up another game but nobody was up for it...shame!!!! I will let you guys know how to play it when we get home. Then we were invited to join Tom and James and their jeep for a game of Flaming a******s.....yip you are hearing right......you get 3 sheets of toilet paper, stick one up your nether regions with the other 2 hanging out and it is then set alight and you need to run as far as possible without falling to the sand to put it out!!!!!!! One that runs the furthest wins....well done Tom and James its the funniest thing weve seen in a longtime!!!! This then progressed into Fighting Tigers which meant 2 people stood together with the toilet paper between them, it was lit in the middle and again the first one to drop lost!!!! Amazing what you can think up when youve had one too many!!!

Another great night had and another hangover for the morning journey to lake Birrabeen, great fun for all with the bumps starting in earnest again....not a good mixture!!!! Lazed about on Lake Birabeen again then headed onwards to lake Boomanjin....obvioulsy with kareoke in full flow...and then off to the boat to head back to Hervey Bay...boooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

We then headed to Bundaberg for a couple of nights to see the loggerhead turtles hatching on the beach....what an amazing sight that was.... a nest of around 120 turtles hatching on the beach at night...then we took them to release then onto a flat stretch of beach and make their way to the sea!!! Got some pics but it doesnt really doesnt do it justice as it was pretty dark and the camera was not picking up what the eye could see....once in a lifetime stuff though!!!!!

Landed in Airlie Beach the following day and met up with our crew from the jeep along with Tom and James for our journey out to the Whitsundays on a catamaran. As always got loaded up with booze for the journey and headed to the boat...spent a couple of hours on the boat....boozing as always..... and got to South Molle Island around 5pm where we were ataying for the night. Ended up quite a crazy one with drinking games to start the night and continued on the same path until we all ended up in the pool around 1am....more fool us as were going on a boat at 8am that morning!!!!!

Sailed away from South Molle at around 8am with a raging hangover and it didnt take long for the sea sickness to kick in with the hangover.....Greg was first to hurl over the side followed closely by Amanda....poor old Jasmine tried to be sick the whole journey and couldnt....dont know whats worse!!!!!

Landed at Whitehaven beach another pristine white sand beach, the group donned their extremely sexy stinger suits and headed to the ocean for some snorkelling, there are deadly marine stinger in the ocean at this time of year and you cannot go in without them...for this reason myself and Louise decided the beach was a better bet and lay there rain-bathing!!!!!! No sunshine that day!!!!! Felt better on the beach but it wasnt long until we had to start the journey again and the sickness kicked in once more.......really didnt make for a great journey and we were glad to be on dry land!!  There was some amazing islands as we sailed back but didnt get any pics as we were unable to hold the camera long enough without being sick!!!!!  Nice!!!!!

Another slightly drunken night....learned our lesson from today and didnt hit it too hard....still ended up in the pool and jacuzzi waking up the other residents....but hey its a backpackers place and you get used to that kind of behavior!!!!

Day 2 on the boat was fine, felt a little sick but nothing like the day before. Headed off to another spot for some snorkelling...amanda still hasnt made it in yet but we have still the Great Barrier Reef to go!!!!! The snorkelling here was better, loads of fish to see and the skipper was throwing in bread which attracted loads of fish around you. After snorkelling it began raining heavily and we headed back for the 2 and half hour journey back to Airlie Beach.

The trip wasnt the best, didnt go to as many places as we thought we would but was awesome fun as the people we were with were a great laugh especially with Tom and James who had their clothes off more than they were on!!!!! You know who you 2 are and we have the pics to prove it!!!!!

Well thats all for now, should be one more installment for the east coast and we will get that done soon....honeslty!!!!!

As always love and miss you all laods.

Luv,

Amanda and Greg xxxx