Fraser Island

Where to start?!! This was such an amazing experience for us. It was an early start on the first day (5.30am) and we didn't actually get to the island until about 12pm. We had a great group of people in our jeep. There were 9 of us in total and we were all packed into one jeep with all the shopping packed in around us, so we all got to know each other rather quickly!

It took a while to get used to being bounced around the back of the 4x4, I mean there weren't exactly any tarmac roads and those wheels have a mind of their own when it comes to soft sand! The first day consisted of driving to Lake Makenzie where we all had lunch and a swim. It was gorgeous. Then we went to Central Station and did a rainforest walk down to Basin Lake It was a tough enough walk in thongs (aka flip flops!) but we survived and it was so amazing when we got down there. There wasn't a ripple in the water and it reflected everything around it. Some people started paddling but then Paul got a leech stuck to his foot, so we quickly retreated!


Then it was off to find a campsite for the night. It had fallen dark at this stage and we weren't supposed to be driving on the beach in the dark so we were getting a bit freaked when we couldn't find a place, but we eventually found a place beside two lovely Irish girls and had a great laugh. We cooked dinner (by "we" I mean the women folk!) and had a few drinks. The men folk set up the tents! Anne and myself were sharing with two lovely girls from the UK, Ruth and Cara and we had a great laugh with them. The funniest thing about that night was "trying" to go to the toilet! We obviously had to go in the bush, and you had to go in pairs so the dingoes didn't get you. So we trudged into the bush to find a spot where nobody could see us but where we wouldn't get lost or eaten by dingoes! I don't think either of us envisaged having to go to the toilet in the bush together at any stage in our lives! It was hilarious!

We were up bright and early the next morning to make as much as possible of the day, plus you can only drive on the beach at certain parts of the day due to the tides. We went to Eli creek first, then the Pinnacles, then wreck of the Maheno and then onto Inian heads where we saw whales, sharks, turtles, mantarays and eagles. The next stop was for lunch at Champagne pools, given their name because of how frothy the water looks when it crashes in over the rocks. It was just beautiful, the weather was the key factor!

We were really lucky that night as a Ranger allowed us to stay in an actual campsite and it had toilets!!! We set up the tents and we were even able to light a fire. We had a great night here (apart from freezing our arses off trying to sleep, or not sleep!).

The next morning we headed straight for lake Wabby. It's basically a fresh water lake which is being taken over by a massive sand dune. It felt like we were in the Sahara desert when we were up there (it was a hell of a trek up!). We couldn't stay too long because we had to make it back to the ferry for 3pm. I was driving from here and nearly got us stuck on a huge hill. The car ran out of acceleration about 2 metres from the top and the handbrake wasn't working so it was nearly impossible to do a hill start, plus there were about 5 cars behind me, I nearly died!! Everyone had to get out of the back (except Anne who was my co-driver)so that I could move it. Funny! We got the ferry and then it was back to reality again, reality being a 12 hour bus journey to Airlie Beach!!

Those 3 days were simply amazing, there are actually no words to describe how much we loved it.

Btw, if you see me writing gEorgeous as opposed to gorgeous from now on it is because the German guy (Fritz) said that all Irish said Georgeous (he couldn't pronounce gorgeous) and it has kinda stuck!!