Fraser Island

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I arrived at Rainbow Beach from Brisbane tired as I had tried to sleep on the bus but the girl next to me was from Essex also and would not shut up, so I was forces to pretend I was watching 'Bend it like Beckham' so she would be quite. Unfortunatley I had got in to the film by the time she stopped talking and ended up watching it rather than sleeping (yes I still think it's and awful film), then 'Cheaper By The Dosen' came on which I did want to see then I was there.

I checked into Dingos quickly then went straight to the bar for the $4 dinner they offer, after I had paid I realiesed I hadn't asked what it was, luckily it was something edable, pasta and sauce. The Essex girl wandered round from her hostel and had dinner with me then I went to bed. I still couldn't sleep though as everyone in my eight bed dorm wanted to talk, eventually we turned the lights out at 12pm I crashed out but was woken at 6am as the other seven people in my room were going on the Dingos self drive tour from my hostel and had to be up for breakfast at 7am. I was so wide awake I just got up, went to the super market checked my e-mail then headed up to my pick up point near the beach and waited for my tour to come.

I went on a guided camping tour and there were only six in our group, unfortunately for me I had a newly wed couple on a year long honeymoon and a German couple that hadn't seen eachother for five months and were not going to see each other again until Christmas to say I felt like a goosberry would be an understatement, there was another girl from Hong Kong but she was not camping and was also very odd!! Her questions to the tour guide were things like "Are Australian men aged between 25 and 27 emotionally settles?" He looked at her and said "kind of". The German couple were lovely they always invited me 'the goosberry' along on walks or included me so it was still as really good three days.

The first day we drove to the ferry on to the Island then along 75KM beach a beautiful white sand beach that just goes on and on and on, well for 75km obviously! We dumped our bags I had a tent all to myself this was the first time I had had my own room in months!! First stop was Wabby Lake, we had to walk through a rain forest and over a desert to get there, then the small green, deep, freezing cold lake just apeared as we headed over the desert. I did get in eventually but I only smiled for a picture then swam back out before I caught hyperthermia. After we walked back our tour guide drove us back along the beach stopping to collect pippies for the bbq and telling us about Pied Oyster Collecter monogamas birds that are always in pairs because when there partner dies they die of loneliness, arrr. The dinner was really nice and pippies taste great a bit like oysters. The two guys built a campfire and we sat around with our goone (cheap boxed Australian wine) getting to know each other. Later we walked to the beach to look at the stars, they are really clear on fraser as there is no light coming from the land.

Day two we swam in the Champagne Pools which are pools the the waves crash over giving you a massage. We went to Indian head our guide told us we would see sharks, stingrays and whales unfortunatley I only saw one stingray and whales really really far out he hadn't had a trip that bad for two years, lucky me!! Next was lake Allen to see the turtles, on to the shipreck a 1930's un sea worthy ship that was bought by the Japanese as they towed it to Pearl Harbor the ropes broke and it floated with the capatain on to Fraser Island, it has been there ever since and is grasdualoly being covered in sand and erroded by the sea. Finishing at Elye Creak which you can walk up and float down, sadly I'm not to good at floating so I sunk alot but it was still alot of fun. At night we had another bbq and bonfire then a fairly early night. I had a spider in my tent and was convinced it was going to kill me so the German guy come to get rid of it for me. He couldn't find but after descirbing it I was assured it was just a black spider that we would have in England (although the tour guide didn't seem so sure the next day so maybe I was just lucky). I drifted off to sleep until 12 midnight, I don't know what woke me but I was petrified, I laid there for an hour thinking of 'Woolf Creak' and the 'Hill's Have Eyes' eventually I worked up the courage to go to our makshift kitchen and get a big knife to protect myself. This did make me feel a bit safer but I still couldn't sleep. I heard our tour guide come back from the resort and I was about to march out to demand he take me to the resort to sleep, but he had gone back up to the main house to get in there spa by the time I was out of the tent. After giving my self a good talking to I managed to get to sleep with my knife with in easy reach sould some monster come and get me, having my own room didn't seem so good that night.

The last day we packed up and headed for the rainforest, our guide showed us a funnel web spiders nest 'oh joy' then sent us off in the rainforest for a walk promising to be at the other end if we just followed the path. I placed my self firmly in the middle of our group on the assumption a spider or snake would attack someone at the front or the back of a group of people. The walk was actually really nice it was the most dence rainforest I have been in so far and I made it out alive so that made it even better. After the walk we headed for Lake McKenzie this we were informed was the highlight of Fraser Island and on arrive I could see why, a crystal clear lake with a white sand beach, magnificent!!

After being dropped back at the bus stop I sat with my four bags around me (I really don't know how I have so much stuff now, I came here minimalist) reading and chatting with a german guy waiting for my bus to Hervey Bay, then I looked up and saw Marc one of the guys I had met in Banana Bender backpackers in Brisbane, when I had previously siad goodbye to him he told me you alway meet twice and hey presto we did. He told me to leave my bags in his hostel while I went to get some dinner then come back and have a beer with him so I did.

I got on the bus, started to read my lonely planet and realised that if I went to Hervey Bay there would be nothing to do except go to Fraser Island which I have done, so I asked the bus driver if I could stay on to Airle Beach he agreed so I settled in for my first over night bus trip, I thought I was in luck and had two seats to myself but later an American guy got on, but I managed to sleep sitting up, it's a really odd feeling but I actually slept quite well.

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