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Shona & Nikki's big trip!
Well Fraser Island was absolutely amazing! I arrived in Rainbow Beach, a small town a few hours north of Brisbane, on Thursday afternoon. There was a meeting at the hostel for everyone going to Fraser. Telling us all about the 4x4's we would be going in, the dingo's (dangerous wild dogs who live there), the dangerous sea we cant swim in (loads of sharks, deadly jelly fish, and strong currents) and lots of other stuff, started to wonder why I was going actually. Then we had to get in groups of 11, I started talking to some people and got into their group. We were eight girls to only three guys and a mixture of German, Chilien, Austrian, Belgium, English and American. We had a couple of drinks that evening luckily everyone was pretty cool, except for the Chilien girl who turned out to be most annoying ever but I wont go into that. Got on really well with two girls especially - one English and one American. The next morning we packed up the jeep with tents, cooking stuff etc on the roof and squeezed the 11 of us inside - and we were off! It was a bit cramped and uncomfortable but it was fun. The guide saw us off at the barge and then after an 8 minute journey we were on our own on the biggest sand island in the world, apparently with more sand than the Sahara! It was one of the most beautiful places Ive ever seen. On the first day we drove along the picturesque beach then through some v.bumpy tracks through forest to Lake McKenzie. Which was without doubt the most gorgeous lake Ive ever seen. Totally unspoilt and surrounded by rain-forest and soft, bright white sand with crystal clear fresh-water. Ahhh. It was so nice and refreshing to swim in on such a hot day. We all loved it. Had a long soak, lay in the sun, and took lots of funny group photos (involving making, and falling out of, pyramids and other strange poses).
Then we had a picnic in the woods. We had planned to go to lake Wabby that afternoon but a local, with a weird sense of Ozzie humour, told us it was all dried up (which of course it wasn't!). So we went furher up the beach and set up camp for the first night. We put up the tents and cooked dinner on our little hobs. Then we all sat around and got to know each other a little more. We saw our first dingo that night, it came up really close and even tried to get inside the jeep. Don't like them at all. We all got extremely drunk and embarrassed ourselves, some more then others (hmm I wonder who?!). Everyone started dancing around, some danced on the roof of the jeep in their pj's (hmm I wonder who?! cringe!) and some stripped (nope not me!). Then most of us ran into the deadly sea (v.stupid) and got knocked about a lot by the waves, it was a lot of fun - luckily none of us got stung by the deadly jellyfish or attacked by sharks.
In the morning I woke in the tent to the sound of the crashing waves and stepped out onto the beach, which was a great feeling (even with a banging-head hangover). We had a big brekkie (used 30 eggs!) then headed to Eli creek and jumped in the cool water which did wonders for the hangover. It has a strong current which means you can sit at one end of the creek and just float down to the other. Nice and refreshed we carried on driving up the beach, passed by Chard Rocks, some multi-coloured cliffs and headed to the Maheno Ship-wreck which had been there since the 1930's, which was interesting to see.
As we headed up to Indian Head we went over a huge dip in the sand and braked (apparently the wrong thing to do) which meant that we went flying everyone got thrown about and I landed on something hard and my poor fat bum cheek is all shades of black, blue and red. Awfully huge painful bruise.
Unfortunately the weather had turned miserable, wet and cloudy so when we reached Champagne Pools only me and two other girls braved the rock pools, which is the only salt-water safe to swim in on the island. It was actually warmer then outside! V.nice.
We went to a campsite with a BBQ for lunch where one of the guys who is a chef made us a lovely chicken stir-fry. Then we drove back down South, found a nice spot on the beach and set up camp again. Had a few drinks and played some games. Slept terribly that night as it is three people squashed into each small tent, the wind was howling and I was scared of dingos!
In the morning we walked to Lake Wabby (the one we had believed was dried up). It was a really hot sunny day. We walked through a gorgeous rainforest until we reached the sand dunes - it looked like a desert! Miles of white sand, except it was surrounded by forest. It was a beautiful sight. Stupidly although we were all hungover and dehydrated we only had a pathetic drop of water between the 11 of us! We walked up and down the dunes in the soft-sand (not east to walk in) for around 40mins then found the lake. It was very different from Lake McKenzie that we'd seen on the first day but just as amazing. Looked like a big beautiful oasis in the desert. There was a really steep drop from the top of the dune (which apparently gets steeper everyday) straight down into the water. The water was greeny/blue there were sand dunes as far as you can see on one side and lusious rainforest across the other side. We took turns on rolling down the steep hill and into the water. I did it 3 times to add to my bruises! Got sand in everyplace imaginable. We relaxed and played there for a while then made a mad dash for the ferry which we made just in the nick of time. It was a beautiful island but I didnt fancy being stranded there! Im pretty sure Im not cut-out for camping and couldnt take longer than those three days but it was such a cool trip, one of the favourite places Ive been so far. For some reason my whole body hurt so bad when we got back - not sure if it was from sleeping on the floor, getting bashed by the sea whilst drunk, bumping and hurting myself in the jeep or from throwing myself down steep hills into lakes. Who knows but it was well worth it!
Our group had a few farewell drinks that night before we all went our separate ways. Yet more goodbyes. Boo.
The next morning I had to get up v.early for my coach to Brisbane I got up 15mins before my coach was due. Threw my stuff in my bag and I was on my way again.
Caught the bus to the sunshine capital Brisbane, where I spent the day aimlessly wandering the streets as I had 12 hours to kill before catching my flight to Singapore! Absolutely loved Singapore Airlines, the flight was great and loved the Airport in Singapore too. Which was just as well as I had to spend 6 hours waiting there. They had free internet everywhere, a pond with huge colourful fish and these amazing massage things (also free), you sit down and slide your feet into these sockets and it gives you a great (if a bit rigorous) foot-massage, felt great. Actually it almost made me miss my connecting flight!
Anyway, yesterday I arrived in crazy Bangkok feeling extremely tired, dazed and disorientated. I met up with Nikki who has been here a couple of days and have been enjoying it since, but thats for the next entry....
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