DINGO!

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Fraser island is the worlds largest sand island and it is a 30 minuite ferry ride from the main land. There are many tours going to fraser island from packs of 40 people all cramed into a coach or small groups of people left to fend for themselves in a 4x4. We went for the latter. We were so lucky to have a great bunch of people in our group there was 6 english people (including us), 2 dutch and 1 german (who were all friends and had gone to uni together.) It was 3 days and 2 nights in total on fraser and me and Dan both agree that it is the best 3 days we have had in our whole journey.

Our day started at 6.45am at our hostel with the most annoying guy briefing us of what to do and what not to do. Our group soon switched of listening (think it was just after he told us how to fight of a dingo with a spade), because the guy was so irritating. However this backfired for us later on in our trip. After more lecturing and scaring us into thinking we wont get our deposit back and can pay thousands of dollars if anything goes wrong we were left alone and we headed to the ferry. Whilst on the ferry we say our first dolphins swimming around the ferry which was great!

Rob (one of the guys in our group) had drove a 4X4 before so he was the first designated driver. We were so lucky to have him because he was great and did most of the driving. The girls were to scared to drive and the other lads just drove on the beach. The roads were just dirt tracks (similar to the roads in Asia) and got pretty scary at some points. At one point we all thought we were gonna tip over. After about 5 mins of driving one of the first cars which got of the ferry broke down, something to do with a battery. We all sat there for abit then decided to push it to the side and carry on as we couldnt help, felt really tight but it was pointless just sitting there. We later met the group and they said they were there for 6 hours waiting for a mechanic.

Our first stop was lake Birrabeen. Sounds realy cheesey but this place was breathtaking. It was absolutely huge and we were the only ones there at one point. The water was cristal clear and it was such an amazing view. We all jumped in and were swimming around in the fresh water for ages. Sadly we had to leave because it took a while to get to our camp and you could ony drive at certain times because of the tide. Our next stop was another lake, lake boomanjin. This lake was like a big cup of tea. It was really warm and it was a browny/red colour. No where near as nice as lake birrabean, but still pretty cool to see. Our next stop on the itinerary was Dill village! Dont know why this was on the itinerary, it was like a ghost town. There was noone there and nothing to do/see. So we headed to our camp on the beach. Most of the driving had been though the forrest which was a bumpy ride. When we got on to the beach it was amazng! We had abit of a drive to get to our camp site but it was so cool just driving along next to the sea. Our camp site was nothing like the brocure said! There were no toilets, no showers, no cooking facilities, nothing. We soon got over that and set up camp. Mine and dans tent was broken! However with abit of string and initiative it was soon up and we were cooking our BBQ. The girls set up tea whilst the boys had a big game of football with the other group. Even though there were quite a few people getting of the ferry, we hardly ever saw anyone else. It soon got pretty dark and we soon found out that none of our torches provided worked, so we were cooking with any sort of light we could find. After tea we dumped everything in the van, otherwise dingos would come. We then moved next to the sea and drank bear and goon. The sky was amazing! It was full of stars, constellations, milky way and shooting stars! We also saw our first dingo mooching around our tents. Whilst in the tent we think a dingo sat on dans foot when he was sleeping and when he moved the dingo ran of.

The next day was another early start. Up at 5.30 and had to be away at 6. We headed up to the top of the island to a place called indian head. The views were amazing! We saw sharks and sting rays. We had quite abit of time to spare because we had to wait for the tide to go back out to drive so we went down the hill to the other side to a deserted beach. We later found out that we were menna go see another lake in the morning, however because we werent listening we didnt go. You werent aloud to go into the sea because it is a breeding ground for Tiger sharks, but it was so hot we all went for a little paddle. After about 5 mins me and dan saw the biggest stingray and he was just in frount of us. We soon got out. Once the tide had gone back out we went to see the Maheno Shipwreck. A passenger boat that was washed ashore in 1935, it was really interesting to see, but obviously there wasn't much to do so headed off again for Eli Creek. On the way we had to dodge a plane taking off from the beach, it was like something from Indiana Jones. Eli Creek is a fresh water creek that flows through Fraser Island to the sea, and its freezing. We walked up the creek and then Dan floated back down on the current. We splashed about a bit, had the obligatory group photo then headed off along the beach for camp. Back in the camp we cooked up a delicious spaghetti bolognaise and again sat on the beach to finish off the Goon, Beer and Robs Jim Beam. We drank, sang, laid back and watched the stars and played lots of drinking games, including The Moon in the Spoon, which i'm sure I'll show you all soon. Ste went for a wee and when he got back a ranger drove past and shone his light on us and then to the spot where Ste had wee'd, thought we were in trouble, but then noticed there was a huge dingo stood exactly where Ste had been.

Another early start and feeling a little worse for ware. We headed off for Lake McKenzie, in order to get there before all the scrubby 1 day tours got there (its the main attraction). Luckily we made it whilst there was hardly anyone there, and it was gorgeous. The water was crystal clear and the sand was pure white. Later lots of tours turned up, but it was still amazing and we spent a good few hours there, relaxing, swimming etc. Unfortunately this was our last stop on Fraser Island and it was soon time to pack the van up and head back to the ferry. We were all gutted to be leaving.

In the end we only lost 2 spoons and the guys didnt notice the broken tent or the mishap with the car door (basically when we swung it open on the 2nd day a bolt snapped and flew out) and so we got our full deposit back.

We absolutely loved Fraser Island and made some great friends. We'd do it all again if we could.

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