Camping it up in Queensland

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Fraser Island

Next stop on the magical mystery tour of the coast was Hervey Bay a rather unspectacular place with nothing much of a beach just a strip of hostels, hotels and shops, but its used a jumping ground to get to Frasrer Island and so the crowds come flocking in. After a bit of a late start due to my refusal to get a bus at some ridiculous hour in the morning after drinking and diving into the early hours of the night before, I arrived too late to book myself onto the Island trip for the next day and so got myself a much needed early night. The next day I booked my trip and we had a breifing meeting in the afternoon to put us into our groups and to let us know what we were letting ourselves in for for the next 3 days. Fraser Island is the biggest sand Island in the world and a popular tourist destination due its beautiful clear water lakes and sand dunes. You can go for day trips, guided tours with proper accomodation, or self guided camping trips. We were all of on the cheapy backpacker self guided camping trip of course.

The basic premise is to get a group of about 9 or 10 young (average age about 21) travelers together, give them a huge 4x4 vehicle that none of them have had any experience driving before, a load of camping gear that no one knows how to put up, put them on an island filled with wild dingos, spiders, giant sandflies, sharks and jellyfish, finish it all off with as much alcohol as they can carry and let them lose for 3 days.....

So at the beginning of the briefing I was feeling a bit nervous as I was waiting to hear who would be in my group and having to spend 3 days camping and cooking as a group you want to make sure you can all get on. I was also a bit nervous about the Dingo's with stories of people being bitten and mauled in the past, and a little nervous of all the bugs we would encounter camping out by the bush. But all of these fears were then completley overshadowed by the horror stories we were told and pictures we were shown of the 4x4 vehichles overturning due to massive ditches and bumps in the sand and by people trying to turn too quickly. The safety video warned about the dangers of top heavy vehicles; we were then led to our vehicles that were indeed, extremely top heavy with all of our camping gear, food, ice boxes and bags stored in the roof....... But the good news was that I had a good group, Group A, we all got talking and sorted out what food and drink to order and then set off for extras at the supermarket. There was just nine of us, all from the UK except 2 girls from Germany who weren't very happy as they thought they'd booked onto a guided tour and weren't really into the whole camping thing. We spent the night at the bar chatting and drinking and getting to know each other and soon all fears were forgotten.

I had a really bad nights sleep due to the noise of the bar next door, a few remaining nerves and someones phone beeping all night in my dormitory, but I managed to drag myself out of bed and into the shower and was ready for 5.45am with everyone else. We had to check all our gear was there and sort out the food with the ice - and most importantly the alcohol, a brief chat about driving 4x4's and then we were off. There were another 2 groups from our hostel setting off at the same time as us, we led the way to the ferry port and took a wrong turn almost immediately...not a good start. Finally on the ferry with the scorching sun and blue skies over our heads we headed towards the dark grey rain clouds hovering over Fraser Island. Rain is not unusual as the island acts as something of a barrier to the mainland when the bad weather comes in, camping in soggy sand was not much of a prospect....

lazing in the lakes

A guy called Dave was the first to take the wheel and he said it was pretty tricky as the surface is so uneven and everyone is bouncing around in the back, the speed limits inland are 35kph as the roads are so windy and are all one lane so you have to watch out for somthing coming along the other way and be prepared to back up and find a little clearing to pull in at. Basically you're driving through the thick bush and a sandy bumpy dirt track with a van full of people laughing or screaming at you, it made me very glad I can't drive. It started to pour down after about 10 minutes of being on the Island but we made our way to Lake Mackenzie anyway and just after we arrived the rain stopped and the clouds began to drift away. Lake Mcakenzie is the most popular of the clear water lakes on the Island and it's easy to see why, the beautiful turquoise water that suddenly turns to a rich dark blue as the sand beneath drops away looks stunning next to the clean white sands and we just lay in the shallow waters chatting and keeping cool from the sun. We headed down to another lake, Lake Billabeen, which was much the same although a lot quieter and would have been incredibly peaceful with just our group and a couple of other people, were it not for Avril Lavigne blaring from somebodys car stereo parked by the sands.

We had to keep moving in order to get our camp set up before dark so we set off again and headed out to the beach. Emerging from the bush you come out onto a great expanse of sand and just drive your way up the beach with nothing but the ocean to our right and the bush to our left and not another vehicle in sight for most of the time. The sand was flat most of the time with a few bumps here and there, driving through some of the creeks was a bit hairy at times as you can't tell how deep they are until you're in them and any little lean to the side does make you feel like it's going to topple over, but most of the time it was OK. We stopped off at the Maheno wreck, an old war ship that was being transported and was blown off course. It's been there since 1935 and was used as a bombing site for a while, it looks like it's rearing up out of the sand, covered in barnacles and rusting away. Group C from our hostel caught up with us here and they followed us to find a place for us all to camp for the night. We had to make sure we were far enough up the island in order to get to India Head the next morning before 6.30am when the tide comes in. There are actual camping grounds inland that you can use, but they have strict 'no noise after 9pm' policies, so they have areas that are signposted where you can camp, just back off the beach, behind the mini sand dunes just before the bush starts.

mum's the word

So both groups set up camp, got the tents up and got cooking. Having already been labelled 'Mum' by my group when they found out how old I was, I had also started to take on a bit of an organisational role (I know, shocking isn't it!), keeping an eye on times and making sure we all go to see what we wanted to, and so I got on with the cooking as well with another girl, Helen. We cooked up some steaks and burgers and salad, not bad for our first attempt at camp cooking. We all tucked into the beer and cheap wine and both groups sat round after dinner and played some obligatory drinking games. The German girls went to bed early as I don't think this was there cup of tea at all and in the other group there was a couple of girls from Korea who went off on their own, but other than that everyone got on really well, we had people from Israel, Canada, Wales, England and some othere from Korea and we had a really good night. After many stupid games we chatted, watching the stars, where I managed to miss every single shooting star that was poined out, listened to some music and relaxed. One by one everyone went off to bed and finaly the tiredness got to me and I gave in with only a couple of others still left up. Thankfully we did remeber to lock all of our rubbish and food away before we all went to bed so that the Dingos wouldn't have anything to be attracted by, even so I heard one sniffing around my head outside the tent during the night and woke Andy and Rhiannan up who were sharing with me, we made a bit of noise and we didn't hear anything after that. I didn't sleep very well though, probably due to thinking about Dingo's getting into my tent and trying to eat my feet and because the ground was so hard, but also you could hear the sea and the waves really clearly and it was a bit unerving at first but a good experience to go through.

watching the world go by from up high

We had to be up by 5am in order to pack up and get moving before the tide comes in, it wasn't a problem anyway even after the late night drinking, as soon as the sun hits the tents they turn into saunas and you just have to get out. We just about made it up to India Head by a little after 6.30pm and parked up. Both groups all silently climbed up the hill with bleary sleep filled eyes, taking in the view of the beach stretching out to the left and to the right as we stood up high on India Head, jutting out into the sea. At the top you look down into the blue waters and wait. Slowly we all started to wake up and people began to point out figures in the water, Tiger Sharks and Dolphin silhouetted against the blue waves and my favourite were the Manta Rays slowly making their way through the water looking like they were flying. I could have sat up their for ages but hunger got the better of us all and after an hour or so we all went down for something to eat out of our increasingly grotty ice boxes sloshing around with water from all the melted ice.

As we couldn't get back on the beach until 2.30pm due to the tides we went for the 2k walk along the beach to the Champange Pools, so called because of the froth created as the water hits the rocks in the shallow areas of the sea and thankfully its the one place on the island where you are allowed to go into the sea (due to sharks and jellyfish you can't anywhere else). We were all incredibly grateful to get into the cool waters by the time we reached them, it was only a 30 minute walk but the sun was so hot and most of us had set off without thinking to take any water and the soft sand was impossible to walk on. Apart from a quick dip in the water and the chance to sit in the shade of some rocks for a while it wasn't such an impressive place and so we headed back to the van after a while. We just had to wait it out until we could get back on the beach and everyone got a bit sun burnt as there was just no where to hide fom the sun. All we could think about was getting down to Eli Creek, a fresh water creek that flows down to the sea, you can go for a short walk up along the creek and then just let the current take you and float you back down to the beach, its not very deep and so you have to help yourself along with your arms at times, but we were all just so desperate to sit in some cold clean water, everyone was so hot wuth sand everywhere, in and on everything, you just can't get rid of it. On the way we stopped off at a campground for fresh ice and to do some washing up and there were a few spiders camping out in the area, there was one black and emerald green one in this massive web and I found myself calling it beautiful, my therapy obviously did work!

cooking up a storm

The creek was every bit as fantastic as anticipated and we finally felt clean again. Just before we left we saw another of our tour buses and thinking it was the 3rd of our group (Group B) that had set off at the same time as us, we decided to all run out and pull a moonie as it drove past. Unfortunatley it didn't drive past but pulled up and parked and they all got out, it wasn't the 3rd group at all, it was a completely seperate group of people, we desperately tried to hide before they decided to find out who the bunch of freaks were that had just mooned them. So we quickly set off and found ourselves somewhere to camp again, Helen and I cooked up some pasta and bolognaise for our group and then the drinking games commenced once again, this time with the German girls joining in too which was great. But at about 9.30pm it started to rain, we sat up in the van for a while, determined to make the night last longer and thankfully the rain wasn't too heavy so we some of us braved the outdoors for a while longer. Eventually people started giving in and heading to bed, Andy, Rich and Kirk from the other group had been drinking all day and so fell into their tent with a lot of noise and demands for more beer and the continuation of one game or another which were ignored. I managed to stay up a while longer but the tiredness of 2 early morning hit me and I clambered off to sleep with the noise of the rain over my head.

Dingo's in the mist

In the morning I discovered my tent had leaked, the good news was that my bag and myself had acted as a damn keeping the other two in the tent completely dry. I was the first person to stick my head of the tents and there was a Dingo a few metres away sniffing around the van, a few of us got out of the tents and he seemed fine, just keeping his distance and padding around, we stood and watched as he made his way over the dunes in the misty morning light as the sun was coming up, he trotted off after a while as there was too much noise and activity in the camp. Everyone was starting to feel the effects of too little sleep and too much booze and the general feeling of grottiness. We set off for Lake Wabby, in land, and there was a bit of bickering going on in regards to driving speeds and keeping an eye on how fast we were going and remebering to be careful, mostly the girls to the boys. Typical.

Lake Wabby is another clear water lake, this one is a rich dark green and it lies below enormous yellow sand dunes that are slowly inching their way into the water and swalloing the lake up. The dunes are great to run down into the cold water, shared by some big black ugly catfish. The march flies (big brown horrid biting things) we had been experiencing in the evenings were out in force in this area too and so we didn't stop for too long. Helen and I cooked up some bacon and sausage sandwiches and then we did a quick final stop at Lake Mackenzie to relax before catching the ferry back to the mainland.

Back at the hostel everyone was just desperate to get into the shower and unpack their bags of damp, sand filled clothes. We all met up at the bar and somehow managed to keep drinking into the early hours of the morning, Helen, Rich, Andy, Rhiannan, Dave, another Andy and myself found our way to another bar open late, a rareity in Hervey bay it seems. We stayed until it was evident that Rhinannan's mate Andy was going to have to be carried home, which Rich and Andy kindly did for him.

back to buses

I didn't even get a lie in the next day as I had to check out, I was getting the 8.30pm bus up to Airlie Beach but had to be out of my room by 10am. The three lads who were traveling together from the other group, Rich, Andy and Kirk were also getting the same bus so we just huing around the hostel all day. We attempted to play water polo against 4 other blokes and yet again my sporting skills came into play and I was nothing but a hinderance to my team. We had a few beers and some food and them went off to catch the bus, ready for 13 hours of struggling to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in just as the bus pulls up to a roadside cafe and you're forced to get off to stretch your legs and you end up buying a plastic tasting pasty at 2am in the morning for no reason.... Luckily the bus was pretty empty and we got to sit at the back with double seats each, but it was still impossible to get much proper sleep and we turned up in Airlie Beach at 9.30am in the morning looking very much the worse for wear. But the Island trip had been well worth feeling a bit grotty and tired for a couple of days. It was just a great experience all round, the stunning scenery, the camping, the people. The highlight for me was India Head I think, not all the groups manage to make it up there because of the tight time restrictions with the tide but I'm so glad we did, it was so peaceful and beautiful and managed to cure any hangovers instantly.

I wasn't sure whether I was going to do any of these group trips at first, because of money and because they seem like such a staple to any east Coast trip that they lose all originality. But the reason so many people do them is because they are amazing experiences you won't get anywhere else and I'm so glad I decided to do it in the end. Next is the Whitsundays boat trip once I get myself sorted out, the three lads have become something of a bad influence and I'm finding it increasingly hard to sort myself out and book things when its so much easier to lay by the pool all day and drink beer and dance all night......

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Photos

riding the roads
Frasrer Island

my Fraser group
all nice and clean and sand free on arrival....

me and Rich
please remember I haven't been near a shower to wash my hair or put any make up on for a while by this point.....

a Dingo
this one was tame, owned by a campsite owner