Fraser 4x4ing

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Fraser Island is one of the must do things on the East Coast so I had to do it. We went for the regular backpacker thing where they put you in a group of ten or less and out you in a big 4x4 with all your food, booze and equipment and send you off round the island.

We all met up in the morning and had a couple of videos about safety on the island and other important stuff like that most people slept through. Then we went down to the shed and packed up the 4x4s with tents cooking stuff and all sorts of related equipment. There was lots of stress put on packing the wagons correctly for weight distribution and the fact that they are very top heavy; and as one of the groups in Tom's adventure had tipped their's over I was a little worried about the stability of the vehicles. Indeed, my least favourite part of the trip was the drive to the ferry at full speed going round corners.

We then went shopping and bought far too much food but probably the correct amount of booze. Then we were down to the ferry to get over to the island. Once over there we deflated the tyres to drive on sand and then engaged 4 wheel drive and we were off. We followed the suggested itinery and this took in the Champagne pools and Indian Head on the first day. The next day was Lake Wabby, Eli Creek and the Maheno shipwreck. Eli creek is beautiful with crystal clear freahwater flowing from springs inland out to sea. The evenings on the island were fun with lots of food and booze. I have realised that not everyone in the world are leaders (I call them bossy people) so I was happy to take a back seat and help with meanial tasks such as erecting the tents, important duties wuch as cooking I left to those that shouted louder than me; this afforded me more time to enjoy my Toohey's and suited me fine. The second eveing was livened up with the appearence of Dingos which were encouraged to venture closer by the ample rubbish we had left lying around. We would of course clear the rubbish up but after dinner all you wanna do is have a drink. Ellie had to "strongly express her opinion" to get people to clear up which we all dutifully did.

Anyway no-one was ravaged by the dingos and the final day we visited Lake Birrabeem and Lake Mackenzie. We had made sure that none of the battieries had gone flat as I think we were very lucky to push start one of the wagons the previous night. The two lake were beautiful and there were no problems making back to the ferry and then to HQ.

I had a great time on the island and I now want to go back with my own 4x4 and go where I want, when I want to. I find it very hard to hold my tongue (especially with regard to driving) but when everyone thinks they know best, I have decided it is best just to keep quiet. To be fair the group could have been a lot worse and it was a great trip.

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