Monday 17 October 2011

Fraser Island

Possibly one of the best trips I've done in Australia! Fraser Island was AMAZING!

Got up early and got my bag ready for the trip. We were only allowed to take a day pack with us, the rest of our stuff got put in storage while we were away.
First thing we had to do was sort out all our food for the trip into our groups esky (aussie word for cool box!). Our menu for the trip was:

Day 1: Lunch - Ham salad wraps, Tea - Chicken Stir Fry.
Day 2: Breakfast - Cereal and toast, Lunch - Cheese salad wraps, Tea - Spag bol.
Day 3: Breakfast - Cereal and toast, Lunch - any leftover food!

Once we'd sorted all the food we met our guide, Luke, and loaded up the 4x4 with all our gear and set off for Fraser Island!


We got a ferry over to the Island, which is the largest sand island in the world, and the only place where rainforest grows on sand! We'd only been on the island about 10 minutes when we spotted a dolphin in the sea - pretty amazing! Then after about 15 minutes on the island disaster struck.... we broke the car. Loads of smoke was coming from the bonnet and it turned out some pipe had burst or something (my knowledge of cars is not great!) so we all had an early lunch and waited for the company to bring us a new car!


Once we were all sorted again we set of for Lake Wabby and on the way we saw whales in the sea - amazing! The lake was gorgeous, and about a 45 minute walk through the rainforest. So we all had a sunbathe and a swim with the fish! 



By the time we got back to the beach, Luke was waiting for us to take us to our campsite. He'd set up a communal area for us all to sit and cook our food etc. So we had to set up our tents. I shared with Siobhan. Once the camp was set up Luke told us that we were lucky because it was a full moon, and if we went down to the beach we could watch a moon rise. So we did that which was pretty impressive! 


When we got back to the campsite the madness began as the goon boxes were opened! Me and Laura were in charge of cooking our groups tea that evening so we didn't drink much at first. After tea the drinking games began. We played a game where a goon box was put in the middle, and you had to pick it up with your mouth, without your knees, arms or hands touching the floor! Then after everyone had had a turn, about an inch was torn off the top and the game continued until there was just a scrap of cardboard in a hole in the ground! One guy in the group called David was stupidly bendy and won the game! It was fun though, lots of drinking games and dancing!



Next morning we were all up pretty early, a few of us a bit hungover! It was Uli's turn to drive and we went to a creek which we all swam through then the boys began a game of water rugby which was a bit mad! 


After that it started to rain, and didn't stop til the evening! It was still a good day though, we went to the Champagne Pools for a swim, and various lookouts on the Island, one of which is not normally part of the trip, but because of the weather Luke said he'd take us there as it was a fun drive.



After this it was my turn to drive! I was pretty nervous but it wasn't too bad, especially as the car was an automatic so I didn't have to worry about gears! I think I did pretty well, I didn't get stuck anyway! Though I did drive through a wave at one point which I shouldn't have done! The water went all over the car and I couldn't see a thing - was a bit scary!


Before heading back to camp we went to the Maheno shipwreck, which was cool. Took lots of photos, and luckily the rain had stopped by this point!



The drive back to camp was a bit dodgy as it was getting dark and the tide was coming in so there was a lot of driving through water, but I made it!
Tonight was Uli and Johannes' turn to cook, and the made a lovely spag bol for us all! After food the drinking started again, though not quite a heavy as the night before! Spent most of the evening on the beach!

Next day we had to get up and pack away all the tents as it was our last day on Fraser Island :(
Once everything was packed up we set off for Lake McKenzie! It was beautiful. Really clear water and soft fine sand. You could actually exfoliate using the sand! We had about 2 hours by the lake, swimming and sunbathing, and some of the boys were doing cool flip thingys in the water which was cool to watch!


After Lake McKenzie we drove back to the beach and had lunch, before heading to the ferry to leave Fraser Island. It was sad to leave as it had been such a fun few days. I definitely plan on going back at some point in the future!

That night we all had drinks in the hostel bar as a farewell before we all went our seperate ways. A lot of people in the group were heading south so I won't see them again as I'm going north. It was a good night with lots of singing as there were some guys playing guitar and bongo drums! But I went to bed quite early as I was tired from such a mad few days!

Next stop, Agnes Water and the town of 1770!

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