Advertisement
Published: January 29th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Desperate to get these blogs up to date, and this is one hell of a story to tell! As i mentioned, we met rob in hervey bay looking a skeletal white next to us, happy as larry and chuffed to bits to be there! But as it turns out the backpacking life may not be for bobby............ read on and see why!
We were staying in the Fraser Rovers hostel, sounded great and looked great, nice dorms, big fans, swimming pool, bar and we could book our 4x4 adventure on the sand island known as Fraser through them! So we settled down to a few bears, listening to the talk on how to be 'Dingo Safe' and how not to drive a 4x4, finding out what our self guided itinery was and meeting the other guys in our group! All looked good, we had a good group, 2 jeeps going with 7 people a piece driving in convoy - or so the plan went............... Up early the next day to go shopping for food and the all important beer/goon combo then off to meet the ferry-in our bright pink jeep! That's right, of all the places we could've picked to
Fraser Convoy!
Once we all found each other........ rent a car from, ours turns out to be pink! which the girls loved and the boys............ well we put up with it! Then despite taking a wrong turn we still got to the ferry in plenty of time. Unlike the other van in our convoy who drove 25km down the coast before realising they'd gone the wrong way! So just as we were pulling away from the dock a bright pink jeep comes tearing in to the car park just 5 mins too late! So our convoy was down to one!
Being a natural i immediately volunteered to drive first, setting off on what went from track, to rough track, to very rough track, to giant pot holes that sent everyone's head against the roof! Which apparently was all my fault! Not that i took any offence - was having far too much fun! However this is where the hassling of Bobby moved up a level on the 'Hassle Scale' (now an official scale for our travels), not only did he have very little sleep in a 'minging oven of a dorm full of other sweaty people' but all the luggage and food was now raining down on
3 men and a little pink jeep!
Nothing's wrong with it. It's tip top. I'm just not sure about the colour........ his head in the back of the jeep! Took about 2.5 hours to get across the island and shooting up the beach(yes, the beach is the main highway on Fraser!) to indian head which is the only rock(cliff) on the island and apparently this is where the island was formed by sand washing up against it! From here you got fantastic views of the forest/desert in the centre of the island and tiger sharks swimming in the marine park along the coast (Marine park = sharks and many many bad box jelly fish = absolutely no swimming!). Was also great fun to sit and watch bloke after bloke (never a girl surprisingly!) trying to break through a patch of very soft sand to get further north and failing everytime! Which always resulted in having to enlist people to push them out again! After helping once we decided it was much more fun to drink beers and observe the comedy! Me and dave were convinced we could make it, obviously because we're both naturals and done 4x4 courses, but then girls were having none of it so beer drinking it was! Just as we were leaving our long lost other half
Shark spotting!
Rob looking happy! of the group turned up and we arranged to meet them at the camp site - which true to form they never found!
So we spent a while looking for a site away from anyone else so we wouldn't disturb them and set up camp. Then another group joined us. Then another. Then a convoy of 5 jeeps! Before we knew it there were a good 9 jeeps with up to 10 people in each camped together! Which means only one thing - drinking games! So after a feast of burgers and sand, a good few mugs of goon, we joined the crowd and entered the international spinny head game competition! Which for the uneducated few is for 2 people (or more!) to hold a stick against their foreheads, spin round 10 times then race to another stick in the ground 20 meters away! Impossible to do when pissed! Although our resident 'team pink' German - Vivian was the champ! Bobby however never made it to the other stick..................
The night ended with a good few hours of a 40 person strong singsong which resulted in me tearing all the skin off my fingers playing the guitar! Not
to mention moving bobby another point up the hassled scale when he refused to stand up and go to bed on the principle that each time he tried he just fell over on someone's head.......................
Needless to say we woke up with terrible hangovers, dave and rob's were especially bad, and the need to set off before the tide came in! So bacon and sand butties it was and off to Lake Wabi! Which was a measley 1.8km walk from the beach! This 1.8 km walk shot bobby several points up the hassled scale as it turned out to be up hill through a rough forest track from which we emerged into a desert and a sign saying we were less than halfway! So we set off across the dunes, with no water, no food and unbelievable hangovers in an unrelenting 35 degree heat! Eventually reached then lake, which was amazing, not sure if it was worth crossing the sahara for though.......... It was basically 50m of very steep sand into a deep lake - which was cold! Very needed! Running down the sand into the water was amazing! And watching dave trying to nick a boogie board of
a little girl............well that was just plain comedy really! Didn't want to leave there - Purely because it meant another desert trek through what was by now scorching hot sand! Made back with rob now topping out on the Hassle Scale after realising that he was very VERY sunburnt and had no way of getting cool again!
Rob and dave both hit the hay by 8 that night, covered in sand with no way of washing (sea full of jellyfish) and i soldiered on through the night! To be awoken at 7 so we could beat the tide again! My turn to be very grumpy! So we gave up on all the food we had left because by now we'd discovered the downside of an island made of sand. You guessed it. Sand gets in everything! So we headed off the find the shop on the island for a much needed sand free sausage roll!
Ended our time there at lake mckensie, which is basically one of the clearest and freshest lakes in the world - absolutely stunning! But at this point bobby had bubbled over the Hassled scale to create the new heights of the Bobby Scale!
Lake McKensie
Dave was so proud of his swim........ Hopefully never to be seen again! The combo of sun, sand, and camping had cracked him! Combined with bouncing about in the back of a 4x4 with everything raining down on his sunburn! Very very grumpy Bobby! So he sat in the shade for 3 hours on his own while we played in the lake! He finally cheered up a little bit as we left in the knowledge that very soon he'd be on hard land, with a shower and a cold beer!
Despite all this, once showered and clean and after sunned up, he insisted he had a great time and loved every second! He just didn't look like it every now and again....... So the advice to everyone around the world is if ever you're bored and feeling low - Get a new hobby - Hassle Bobby! It's great fun, kept me and dave smiling for 3 days!
We finished our time together by checking out australia zoo which was the best zoo ever! Crocs rule! and one last piss up in Brisbane before having our tearful goodbyes! And we were off to Singapore at the exact halfway point of our travels! 3 months down -
3 to go!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.152s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 14; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0969s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb