Fraser Island

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We caught the Oz bus from Kroombit after our activities and headed for Hervey Bay which is the main gateway for Fraser Island.

The bus arrived in Hervey Bay just in time for our hostel transfer and 4x4 self drive briefing. We got to the hostel named 'Fraser Roving', which was our chosen company, (the only one with pink cars), grabbed a beer and sat in the TV room where we met 7 other random people with whom we would embark on a 3 day adventure with.

We watched a short presentation on the island and had the rules and regulations explained to us by the guy in charge. Firstly is was about losing our bond (deposit)."If you drive past certain points you will lose your bond, if you get saltwater under your car you will lose your bond, if you drive after dark you will lose your bond, if you damage the vehicle you will lose your bond" etc etc etc. Then he moved onto fines "Feed a dingo, you will be fined, sit on the car you will be fined, too much noise at camp sight late at night - you will be fined, litter you will be fined, return the vehicle late, you will be fined".

All this turned out to be a standing joke for our entire trip between the group.

We were given an itinery of what to do as driving there is affected by tidal times (lots of beach driving involved). The guy in charge went through it with us saying "get up, have a beer, go here, have a beer, drive here but be careful not to spill any beer" etc.

Afterwards, the group which consisted of myself, Lee, Geoff (Canadian) Lena (German) 2x Julien, Axel, Vanessa and some other weird girl (all french), made a shopping list which needed to last for 3 days. Some of the French thought that we would need about 30 big onions but luckily one of them talked the others out of it.

THE TRIP:

We left the hostel at about 7.45am and our first stop was Woolworths to buy the food and of course, alcohol. I was volunteered to drive first as i was the most experienced at driving on the left hand side of the road, so there i was driving this big, pink 4x4 down real roads with 9 people, luggage, food, drink and camping gear in. I was suprised at how easy i found it.

Next stop was the barge that we would catch and cross over to the World's largest sand island. The crossing took about 30 minutes after an extremely tight piece of reverse parking which was packed tight with 4x4s.

I enagaged the vehicle in 4WD mode and we started our adventure driving on sand. We made a stop 10 minutes in to fill up our huge water bottle, for drinking, cooking and washing up. While we were there i saw a huge lizard walking along the ground.

I drove through the forest, on sand tracks which was very different to normal roads and then out onto the beach which was basically a six lane highway although not crammed with cars. Avoiding washouts (ditches filled with water running into the sea) we arrived at camp which was situated about 50 metres from the sea behind a protective sand dune. We had some lunch and the walked to our first sight, 'Lake Wabby', a fresh water lake surrounded by rainforest and huge pristine sandunes. We spend the afternoon admiring the scenery and swimming in the refreshing lake with only a handful of others and my first wild dingo.

That evening we set up camp and cooked on the stove. It worked well as a team with the girls cooking and the guys setting up the tents etc. We played games and chilled on the beach in the dark and also scared off the dingos from time to time as they searched for left over food.

DAY 2:

A very long day! Up early, about 6.30am, packed up and in the car ready for a day of beach driving. Geoff, the Canadian volunteered to drive and so he did. Our first stop was the Mahano Shipwreck situated at the edge of the water. It was a touch and daring ride there as there was a huge washout by Eli Creek at which we stopped to decide how to cross. One part the water was waist high as i checked the depth. The shallow water had an impassable mound of sand the other side. Fearinf for our bond we waited to see if the water depth changed. It didn't. We waited and waited and then we discovered it was freshwater, not saltwater!! So we all jumped out of the car and Geoff drove through the shallowest part possible close to the sea. We had made it and onto the wreck.

The wreck itself was impressive, im not sure how and when it got there but it was very rusty and the cloud cover in the sky seemed to fit well. After some photos we moved up the beach to 'The Pinnacles' which were just a few yellowish rock faces.

Our next destination was Indian Head. I never thought we would make it, the sand was extremely soft and we kept getting stuck, jumping out, digging our way out with hands and shovel, then pushing. It was painfully slow progress. Then came the killer, we got properly stuck. We dug and we pushed but still could not move. The tide was coming in and we still hadn't made Indian Head. To our relief, two privately owned 4x4's stopped to help and after about 15 minutes letting down our tyre pressure and attaching rope, we were hauled out.

I forget what time we reached Indian Head but we did at some point. We parked and climbed up to a lookout point where we could see the coastline, miles of sand dunes and turtles swimming near the rocks below.

After deciding we would never make our final northbound destination 'Champagne Pools', a dramatic pool of water that the sea brakes over and the spray showers you. We had to drive back - Great! It was between me and Geoff to drive through the toughest terrain we had ever driven. Neither of us wanted to do it, so in the end i reluctantly took the wheel.

Driving back the car was sliding side to side almost uncontrollably and every minute or so i had to negotiate another washout. Time and sand passed and all of a sudden a washout appeared. It was too late to turn otherwise i was sure we would tip so i upped the speed and we jumped, mid-air for a second or so and crashed down on the other side with no harm done. Relieved i carried on back down to Eli Creek where we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and paddling around after a picnic lunch. There was a lazy river type thing from one end of the creek to the sea which was nice to float down, very refreshing in the heat.

We found camp and everyone applauded my driving even though we nearly died. Same routine at camp, girls cooked, guys set up tents and other equipment. While the girls cooked sausages, burgers and rice, Geoff took a few of the others for a practise drive ready for the morning as i kept lookout for getting stuck as i didnt really want to be in the car at bond losing hour but i didnt let on. I was just relieved to be back at camp.

The evening was chilled, eating, talking, messing around, chasing dingos etc. It was windy that evening and we went to bed resonably early after i had attempted to eat a big bowl of leftover rice. I thought i was back in Thailand. Minutes after we settled down the heavens opened, the rain pummelled the tents and then started to leak. I WAS back in Thailand!

It was 3 to a tent, 3 tents in total. We squeezed tighter as the water moved in from the edges and i attempted to sleep scrunched in a ball with my bag on top of me. Geoff managed to stop the leaking luckily but the rain kept falling. There was cries from the tent on my right as Lee shouted "what the hell, i think theres a snake in here" and Julien the French guy in with him just said "F**k" in a french accent. I creased with laughter. There was no snake. The tent on our left emptied and the car doors slammed shut. The frenchies had bottled it. No way was i sleeping in a car, by the time full of sand, absolutely everywhere and with stinking rubbish bags inside too. I must have got a good hours sleep that night.

DAY 3:

It was the day we headed back. Up early and packed once again. It was time to let the others drive. Lee had a go, not too bad, the Juliens had a go, very impressed with one of them, like he had done it before. Apparantly he had done a dessert rally before. The girls had a go, all ok. Then it was time for the last one, the weird french one who had even struggled to get in the car, not because she was hurt or anything, just never seemed to have enough strength to get up and inside. She had a lazy eye so when she was talking to me but hadnt said my name i found myself looking in two directions all the time to check she was actually talking to me. Anyway Geoff ran through instructions deliberately and i just sat in the back barely daring to look. She drove for a minute or so and then maybe sensing the anxiety she said "its ok, i drive in Paris" There was an immediate collective sigh of relief.

We arrived at Lake McKenzie, enough time for an hour or so before reurning to the Barge. It was another beautiful freshwater lake, quite big, surrounded by forrest and a sandy shore.

While we were waiting for the barge crossing we ate the rest of our food. I had a lettuce and salad cream sandwich. It brought a new meaning to the word sandwich as i crunched through it. Everything we owned was either covered in or full of sand. We crossed back to mainland Australia and i drove back to Hervey Bay stopping en route to pump our tyres back up and fill up with diesel.

Back at the hostel the guy checked over the car. WE HADN'T LOST OUR BOND!! All in all the trip changed my opinion of french people, they do suprisingly have a sense of humour - and the trip, what did i think of it? Tent flooded, covered in sand, nearly dieing, nearly crashing, looking cool for a few days in a pink car...Amazing times!!

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