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Hervey Bay 2 Frazer Island
This has been the most awesome experience of our trip so far….we booked and paid to visit the worlds largest sand island with 8 other people….ON A CAMPING TRIP!!
We arrived at Hervey bay late at night….we got an early night coz after Noosa we really needed it… the next day we headed for the beach but it was sooo hot we couldn't stay on it…it gets alot more humid further up north…..
We headed for our briefing…we all got put into our camp teams and briefed about the do's and donts of the Island….we were also given driving, meat and alcohol forms to fill in what we needed……our group consisted of 3 London Girls, one Danish boy and two couples form Norway…….after the briefing we met up to go food shopping….quite stressful as 10 of you have to do it together, some people don't like this and others don't want that…..(nightmare but also really fun) once that was done we got in the goon and headed back to our room we had planned to have an early night as we had a 6am start…
…However on the way home the bar attender decided to offer us a job…he needed somebody to take the money on the door of the nightclub form 10:30pm till 1:00pm for $60….we were like well yeah…….but he only needed one of us….he said ok we'll toss a coin…..Lucy won the toss and had to work for the night….that same night we met up again randomly with the welsh girls and another girl we knew from Noosa…..so's Donzy stayed out and partied and Lucy went to work!! Lolit was quite scary work the loacls were really rough and a couple of fights broke out....but also a good expereince......... all the girls met Lucy at the nightclub at midnight and stayed out for about an hour coz Lucy got free drinks too…..we then realized that we had four hours to sleep, pack our rucksacks for the Island and also our backpacks for storage……..sooo exciting…we did it, we up shower'd, changed and packed!! even if we were 15 minutes late lol……… then when we walked around the corner to the jeeps……we realsied this is where the hard work began…..the camping equipment was all laid out on the floor and we were to start packing………we were in charge from now on………scary…
Frazer Island….here we come……..stayed tuned for what happened next……
oooooookkkkkkkk......... so we managed to count everything (ten of each cultlery, tent pegs etc) and pack all the eqiupment, food and luggage without any problems we could tell everyone was quite excited, our first giggle was when Katie one of the London girls had to try pull the jeep out of the parking bay....she got us to the ferry unharmed port where we had to change our tyre pressure put on our cap gage thingy on and make sure the jeep was ready for the sand!
The Ferry journey was about 45mins and we arrived to no building, hut or terminal, just a track upon to the sand path....Oiven the Norwigen guy decided he should do most of the driving we all agreed (you should have seen the roads, thick deep sand in some parts and dirt tracks over logs and tree roots in others) we wern't expecting it to have been so secluded, we made head way and after much speculation over whether we should pitch our tents or head to the lakes first, we arrived at Lake Mac Kenzie....it has a natural spring in the middle of the lake continuously filtering the water so it can be drunk, it tasted better than evian....seriously it was so nice to swim & play a huge game of rugby with loads of other backpackers in the water, which did not taste of salt, sting your face or smell of chlorine!! the sand at the lake was sooo white and the water transparent, it was probebely one of the best lakes we have ever seen...ever!! we ate a dinner of cheese and bread at the lake because it was easy and made head way to try pitch our tents. Again after much speculation about where, waiting for high tide to go out (you can only drive the 4x4's on the sand according to the tides times, yes and people do get stuck, the worst part about it is that you cannot swim in the sea at frazer beacuse of the dealy Jellyfish and Tiger sharks SO YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE GETTING STUCK!) and finding a decent spot. We arrived at a quiet spot on the beach underneath some trees, it was beautiful....sooo tranquil, right on the sea shore...bluebottle jellyfish everywhere on the beach soo deadly, but what was quite cool apart from the fact it was dead was a big turtle right by our camping spot..... it was huge!! anyways our first night went sooo well we all worked together (goon fillers, washers, tent pitchers, cleaners, bbq person etc) we soon had the camp up and running! we cooked a BBQ with full salad, mash potatoe and a variety of meat, with no sand in the food!! which was a miracle seems as we were situated on it! .....once everyone was fed and the camp was up and running we took down our shelter down (we had made a shelter to cover the food form the wind and sand) and used the big ground sheet as a place we could sit and play drinking games....it was so fun ten of us.... the stars..... moon.... sea and sand!! we again learnt many more drinking games but for Lucy it was an early night she hit her goon pillow in the middle of the game and crashed whilst everyone continued the party well into the night until the started to rain quite heavy, we all rushed to our tents (yes we woke Lucy up!) and got our heads down for another 6am start! Lucy had an awesome night sleep (being so drunk) but Donna struggled with the heat she had to turn around and hang her head out of the tent for most of the night....it was all good though all part of the camping on a desert Island experience. The next morning we woke bright and early everyone was HAPPY!! lol we had no water left to wash or clean the dishes so breakfast again was bread with jam! the last little bit of water was used to make just 7 of us a cups of tea or coffee (thats all everyone wanted after a night on goon, you now how it is the morning after the night before....a cup of tea/coffee) suddenly the leg went on the table and all the cups fell into the sand! no hot drinks for the campers....not the easiest thing when you know all the food and drink will be packed away for the day at 6:30am! and lunch wont be until after weve had a hard day exploring around 3pm! it didnt go down well but we all refused to let it dampen our spirits! we made good head way to catch the tide going out and head for the Indian Heads...a look out for the Tiger shark breeding ground and amazing views. After an hour and a half of driving the beach we arrived, walked uphill trecking for about half and hour and took in the breath taking views unfortunatly we didnt see any tiger sharks as we were not in breeding season but the views were awesome all the same. From there we headed another 45 minute walk across an amazing beach to the Champayne pools, water pools that are created by the waves from the sea, you feel like you can float in them and it was really hot it was such a cool expereince, after another 45 minute walk back to the jeep we headed for Lake Wobby, 2 hrs away! both of us had a go at driving the 4x4 on the beach on the way back Donna was really good, confidently driving along the vast stretch of sand so Lucy decided she'd have a go, typically she changed over at the wrong time, Lucy had to go over rocks, into water rivers and up and over hills it was scary! as there was deep sand and you have to remember the ten people in the back! (we were also under pressure to reach the lake before the tide came in and no you couldn't put your foot down!) it was such a good feeling driving along a huge stretch of sand on a remote Island!! we passed a ship wreck that was so secluded it had been taken ashore in 1935 during a cyclone....it was very mysterious! we couldn't help making up reasons about what kind of boat it was and how the passengers or crew had lived on the deserted island alone...or even if the had got rescued.....we later found out that it was a hospital ship in the 2nd world war but very little else about the people aboard....... :<!! We hit lake Wobby after a really bumpy journey only to find it was a look out point and 3 hour walk...which was quite frustrating as we'd gone quite far out of our way. So we decided to try find another lake to pitch our tents before it got dark....we arrived at Lake Boomanjin feeling worn out, dirty tired and very hungry, we pitched the tents and again set up camp (we found most people camp in the same place for 2 nights but we wanted one night in each place...harder work but worth it!) after all was done at camp we hit Lake Boomajin, it was the colour of coke a cola... so weird but it was because of all the tea trees surrounding the lake....it was full of tea tree oil!! you wouldn't believe how good it felt to swim in it after a long day!! no shower, shampoo, conditioner, or cream etc but this felt like being in a spa, our skin was oily but not too oily it just felt sooo good!! after our swim we headed back to camp were we ate pasta bolonaise for tea with salad and guess what more bread!! we drank goon and sang and played games by head torch it was completley back to basics....but we loved it!! goodbye hair straightners......curling tongs.....fake tan.....hair extentions etc were at one in the nature and felt great.....Women of the wilderness!!
We woke the next morning (06:30am...& that was a a lye in) to find we were soaked through...... it had rained quite hard in the middle of the night and the tent was only zipped up with the air net to stop the bugs.... soooo it didn't stop the rain!! we were unharmed and laughed about it......we had no time to stress or dry anything we had to take our camp apart and make head way to get to Lake Wobby again!! we managed it well with time but it was such a bumpy road we were jumping all over all each other in the back...but laughing about it also....we learned so much about the people we travelled with (I suppose when your eating, sleeping, travelling, living and breathing each other for three days you would)! We now know many facts about Norway and Denmark and also how different our lives were to the girls who lived in London! two of the girls had never even camped before........we consider ourselves pro's!! Lake wobby was another different but all the same amazing Lake...althought it took us a while to walk form the walking point down through a forest and uphill sand dunes it was well worth it...the view was breathtaking...... golden sand dunes for miles sloping steeply into the lake....people were body bording, rolling running & jumping down the dunes into the lake, at the bottom the catfish were huge and they nibble on you not biting but sucking......a once in a life time expereince...from the lake he headed for the ferry terminal and everyone was in such high spririts we decided to meet up for dinner when we got back to hervey bay hostel.........a Chinese!! how good....everybody kinda made an effort to go to dinner probebeley because it was sooooo good to shower & get rid of the sand & use soap shampoo etc....we had a lovely last meal together and all exhanged email addresses...... well facebooks! it was a strange feeling almost kind of a loss we were sad to be parting and all going our seperate ways.......we all really had such a good time and were lucky enough to have such a good group.......its one of those experiences we will never ever ever forget.......Frazer Island Rocks!!
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