Fraser Island

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When we got to our next hostel in Rainbow Beach we went straight to a prep for our following adventure. The next day we were going to be getting on a ferry to Fraser Island. It is the world's largest sand island at 1630 km² and is a World Heritage site.
We were put into groups of eleven and these were to be our family for the next three days. Our group consisted our group of five girls, three guys from Manchester, two girls from Essex and a guy from New Zealand who has done a lot of off-road driving (perfect for us as we were about to spent three days in an extended jeep, driving up and down beaches!). They all knew each other and we were all roughly the same age so we got on really well from the beginning. Aaron, the kiwi, did most of the driving as he was most able to do it without jolting the rest of the passengers on a regular basis!
When we arrived the weather was pretty grey but we went to a beautiful lake where we had our lunch and some beers. We then went to set up at an Aboriginal campsite and spent the evening drinking. Unfortunately it was torential downpour and our makeshift shelter was not particularly strong, and had several small holes. I was lucky enough to have my stylish mac which I purchased for three pounds on the internet. If you consult the photo of me modelling it I am sure you will agree that I am the height of fashion.
We didn't sleep well at all that night, on account of there not being any groudsheets. Even the small amount of alcohol we consumed that night didn't work to our advantage!
On the second day we drove around the beaches and visited a shoreside shipwreck. It is the wreck of the S. S. Maheno. It was caught in a cyclone in 1935 while being dragged to be scrapped and washed ashore at Fraser island. It was originally built in Scotland and had served as a hospital ship in the war. During the Second World War the Maheno served as target bombing practice for the RAAF. The ship has since become severely rusted, with almost three and a half storeys buried under the sand.
We could see the weather was turning sour again and so we opted to camp along the beach along with the other groups that had set off from our hostel. It was incredibly windy and we were so close to the shore that there was nothing to shield us from it so we parked our jeep in front of our tents and set it up with music. Aaron cooked us a delicious meal of stir-fried sand, which couldn't be helped. It had got to the point where there was no part of us or our belongings weren't saturated in sand! We had a little party that night and then managed to sleep pretty well on the sand until 10am the next morning.
We travelled to Lake McKensie on our way back to picking up the ferry which was again absolutely beautiful. And felt a bit annoyed at how bright the weather had suddenly become, just as we left!
Nevermind though, we realyl enjoyed ourselves and were happy to have a new extended family.
When we got back we washed everything we owned in an attempt to rid ourself of all the sand as well as taking our first, very enjoyable showers for days!
The next day we had a surfing lesson on Rainbow Beach which I was weary about due to my natural aversion to all sport but actually really enjoyed. Surprisingly, I was pretty good at it too. Once I'd stopped worrying about sharks and managed to take my eye of the lifeguard (I didn't want to miss any signals) I actually managed to surf, standing up and everything. (I know, I'm just as shocked!).

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