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Published: April 30th 2007
FEEL THE LUV
End of day 3 waiting to board the ferry Ok what's going on, sat through numerous videos before departing to Fraser Island warning us about the dangers of Dingoes and what to do if confronted by one but i can officially state they are extinct as from now. We searched high and low and even left a Spam trap for them near our camp but nothing. I was fortunate with the big 5 in Africa but no such luck here!!!
That didn't ruin it though, El u were spot on; Fraser goes straight into the top ten things of stuff i've experienced travelling.
There was a pre-departure meeting at the hostel the day before setting off to Fraser and i knew i'd be in for a good time as i was hearing irish accents throughout the group and also was sharing a dorm with two Dutch lasses that were booked on the same trip as myself. The irish are nutters and you can always guarantee they'll be up till the wee hours with ya and the Dutch are just great eye candy!!!!
After getting explained the do's and don'ts of the island and explaining about the vehicle insurance etc we were told to
all stand up and get into two groups, eleven in each. My dorm buds grabbed me over to one side of the room as i'd explained the previous night that i used to drive 4x4's at work so have some experience, although some of the pickles me and Macca used to get ourselves in during our apprentiship years of rally racing down the quarry wouldn't of settled my 'dutchees' nerves. Wheel spinning head first towards the edge of a drop and not being able to reverse rings a bell and then walking a couple of miles back to the workshop to get help. Ring any bells Macca????
So it was us three as the foundation for group 1 but eight others soon joined us and as i looked along the line i knew it was guna be a great three days, three lads, eight lasses, "get in" i thought as i got a few winks from the irish lads opposite.
After the boring bits we headed to the bar to purchase our booze for the trip; i'd had enough of Goon after the recent Everglades experince so splashed out on a crate of 30 Tooheys. The theory behind
it was that i'd have too much rather than too little but by the end of night two i was on somebody elses Goon cos all the Beer was a goner. I'm sure some must have fell off the roof rack!!
It was handy having the meeting before we left as it gave the group a chance to do the getting to know ya malarky. We sat down and had dinner and the vibes were good between us all, i keep rattling on about how important it is to have a good group because from experience if your visiting one of the most beautiful places in the world and there's a couple of dick heads it really does ya nut. Luckily there are more good guys than bad guys on my route so far so happy days.
We all retired to bed quite early as we were getting up at 6am to pick up the 4x4. I was the designated driver to get us from Hervey Bay and onto the Ferry which was a result because being lanky there's not alot of room in the back of the truck when there's eleven backpackers squeezed in
there.
After checking all our camping equipment and food etc we boarded the ferry and it took 35 mins to reach the island. First impressions was, biggest sand island in the world?? "err, where's the Sand"?. It is predominately forest area when you first arrive and not how i imagined at all but our after a few minutes drive we reached Basin Lakes and my view soon changed. The hostel gave us a rough itinery of how to get the most out of our three days and the lakes were first on the list. Impressive but just a taster of what was to come. By 6pm over here it's pitch black and the itinery doesn't state times and traveling distances between places so we though it best to set up camp and then complete the days activities by visiting Lake Wabby. The sun was more than on it's way down by the time we reached the Lake so an hours swim and a few photos we were heading back to camp to crack open the stubbies. The walk was a bit of a mission also cos the trucks couldn't reach the lake but it was worth
Lake Wabby
Leg it down the hill and jump as far as you can because believe me, it's decievingly shallow!!! it.
We didn't actually stay at the set campsites with shops and toilets etc because we'd get kicked off the site after 9pm if we were making a noise. 9pm, mate, we're only just getting started then so just camped along the beach in designated areas. People would pay millions to have the views first thing that we were cooking breakfast too so much preferred it this way anyhow. Although saying that, the mad dash to the toilets after breakfast was like a drag race between both our trucks!!
It was all flowing smoothly regarding the nights entertainment but was interrupted by an outburst from Ray, the yank when he realised group 2 had unintentionally cooked his steak in washing up liquid and not cooking oil. Of course the whole group found it hilarious but Ray was not impressed as he'd just finished his plate!!
There was a Korean couple in group 2 also (we drove seperately but camped and visited the sights together) and with English not being the strong points we were all confused when the lad started freaking out in the bushes surrounding our tents. A few of us got up to
Eli Creek
Forgot to mention in blog but it's like a mini rapid where unlike people in photo u lie on ur belly and sort of doggy paddle down it. Sounds twisted but frigging freezing!! see what all the commotion was about and within three footsteps we were staring straight into the eyes of a jet black snake. I really needed Discovery Daz at this point as i'm not to clued up at identifying what's guna kill ya and what will just make you crap urself!! He wasn't really interested in us though and slithered through the camp as though he owned the place. We all went to the toilets in two's after that.
A few drinking games and slowly the group of 22 was thinning to just 5 or 6 of us at 2am so we thought with a 6am start it was time to get some kip. We hadn't decided who was sleeping where before we got drunk so was highly amusing unzipping tents to a tidal wave of abuse as trying not to fall over guide ropes in the pitch black was like a late night edition of the Krypton Factor!!
I heard alarm bells sounding at 6am but the first sound of a zip being opened was nearer 7 than 6. A few sore heads but a laugh nevertheless chatting about the night before.
Frasers Main Highway
Better driven at low tide.. We made our way along the beach to the 'Moheno' shipwreck. This is the geeky bit so any dead-head mates just skip to Paragraph 15.
The ship was used as a freight service between NZ and OZ and was built in Scotland in 1905. In 1935 it was declared unseaworthy so was sold to a Japan company for scrap metal. The Maheno was being towed to Japan and due to crazy weather conditions the tow rope being used snapped. The ship was lost into the night and ended up imbedding itself on Fraser. It was guna cost too much to free it from the sand so just left it where it is.
Paragraph 15: Next was the colored sands (bit crap) and then the big treck up to Indian Heads.
This was a lookout point where you can spot Tiger Sharks, Stingrays, Sea Turtles and Dolphins from about 70meters high. There were a few Sharks buzzing around but only tiny ones so was not quite mimicking the Great White experience. No turtles or Dolphins but was a great place to chill out for a bit.
It was about 3pm and the group were trying
My Fraser Dutchees
"We luv Martin Jol, Martin Jol luvs me......." to decide wether or not we had enough time to walk to the Champagne pools that were on the agenda. You had to be careful because high tide was just after 5pm and this makes driving on the beach impossible. A few couldn't be bothered with the 3k trek to the pools so we let them take one truck and told them we'd meet them at our camp for the night. I went along with the theory that i'm probably never guna be here again so thought i'd make the trek but to be honest i really couldn't b arsed cos walking on sand all day is hard work.
It was creeping just passed the 4pm mark when we were at the pools and we decided that we'd better start walking back to the truck as it was guna be half hour walk and half hour drive to camp. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; i don't think any of us really understood the complications of High tide. High tide is when the sea is at the highest point on the beach which of course means less sand to drive on, but we forgot about the gradual increase
up the beach to get to the highest point.
When we reached the truck the water was just tickling the back tyres. We were not allowed to drive through salt water as this would result in losing $1000 worth of bond and the only sand left for us to drive on was the really deep stuff at the top of the beach where nobody drove. We had no choice, I was nominated to drive because of my 'experience' and loaded everyone in. There were 16 of us in the truck that was supposed to only seat 11. There were 4 of us crammed in the front and thank god there was; reason being that Manon (dutchee) was sitting higher than everyone else as she was on peoples laps in the front, I wasn't taking any prisoners with the sand either, we had a race against the tide so was doing about 60kph through sand that was flinging us one way and then the next, it was all going to plan when Manon shouts "STOP..........STOP.................................STOP", what the hell's going on, my reaction time was shite because i was staring straight ahead of us and there was no hazard, Manon also had
a reputation for needing a pee every 5mins so thought this was just guna be a another one of them, I looked at the direction Manon was pointing and saw what she was screaming about; there was a fresh water stream that was running into the sea from the right and u could see the erosion taken place to the right of us but not straight ahead. To summarise it up we were heading towards a mini cliff at a crazy speed. I nearly snapped my tibia and fibia applying the brake but we skidded to a stop literally a foot from the edge. "PHEW, SHIT, SORRY GUYS". ok, calm down, reverse and go down the lowest point at crawling speed. This was obviously a foundation to be the butt of all jokes all night but at least we're all in one piece.
It wasn't until we reread the itnery that is stated in the smallest font available 'U MUST BE BACK AT CAMP BY 4PM"...DOH!!
Another night similar to the first but by this time the group had bonded really well so had such a crack. The nights only distraction was a huge rain
Champagne Pools
Nearly worth the 6k round trek!!! storm, but all piling in the truck to continue our drunkeness was an experience. Bed about 3am (ish) ((i think)) and i was awoken by realising i was soaking wet, hmm nice, the tents had rips everywhere in them and it continued to rain all morning so everything and everyone was soaked. All was forgiven though when the sun broke through and we arrived at Lake Mackenzie............................WOW, that's all i'm guna say................WOW!!!!
It was great to shower when we returned to the hostel once we were back on the mainland but was gutted i only had about 4hours with everyone before my bus was leaving to Airlie Beach. I'll be seeing a few of the crew though when i return from my sailing trip Thursday so happy about that. It was as though i was leaving home again when i left those buggers :-(
So after a blinding 3 days and a not so blinding 13 hour bus trip i'm in Airlie Beach. I'm boarding my yacht tommorow where i'll spend 3 days exploring the Whitsunday Islands. Fingers x'd i've got a wkd group on the boat, i'll be
Lake Mackenzie
See it to believe it listening out for those irish accents and those dutch asses (did i just type that).
One week to go Daz, i'll be saving a bit of 'liver-life' for our reunion...........................Ta-Da
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Sharon
non-member comment
Bloomin heck, tis lovely there!
I think i even remember the Cliff of Doom, you didnt mention if you got bogged round Indian Head or not?I was also 'experienced driver' yes AND female too! on my trip and had to get us over the dunes into our camp one night when a guy had attempted it but failed!!! Naught you, for feeding dingo's I could rant on for ages about feeding them...but they're isnt enough space. Let me tell you, a 3am experience with a dingo sniffing at your washing up water is something not to repeated! Hello Daz, hope to speak to you both in Alice xx