Friday June 13th-Sunday June 15th: Fraser Island

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Today we had to get up at 6:30 to go to Fraser Island. We had our complementary pancakes which shockingly did not include maple syrup even though 20% of Australian backpackers are Canadian I have heard. After breakfast we had to get with our groups and start packing up the 4X4's. The 4X4 was set up with three siting in the back and 8 in the back. The 8 in the back sat with their backs to the side walls and all their feet cramed down the centre isle. After taking a short ferry to the island we were off. Fraser Island is the record holder for the worlds largest sand island and is also considered a world heritage site because it contains the majority of the worlds perched lakes. Because of the world heritage listing I suppose it is kept as natural as possible. This means no roads. To accomodate tourists the beach is used as the road and the tides are the equivalent of red and green lights. After driving down the beach we noced an airplane on the beach. It turns out the beach can also be used as an airport. The first site we stopped at was Lake Mckenzie. It was the first perched lake that we saw and I was told it is considered one of the top ten beaches in the world. After seeing famous beaches in California, Hawaii and Bondi Beach in Sydney I can definatly say this was above and beyond any other I have been to. It is secluded in the middle of the island requiring a 45 minute drive inland through difficult tracks. Once you arrive the beach might have 100 people on a busy day. There is no trash, perfect white sand and the clearest water that I believed you could only see in postcards. We stopped there for a while enjoying the beach and water befor hiking back to the 4X4 to have lunch. We headed back to the coast and continued north up the coast At 4 PM the tides were so high that the beaches were dangerous to drive on any more so our 4X4 and the other 3 in our group got off the beach and stopped at a campsite for the night. It gets dark quite early so everything happens very early. For example Dinner is served at 5, the goon comes out at 6 and we passed out in our tents at about 11 O'Clock.

The next morning I was up as soon as it was light. There were no ground mats provided and I had decided to save tehe 10 dollars you could spend on a propper sleeping bag. Needless to say I didn't sleep much, but neither did anyone else. I sat on the shore and watched the sunset with about 4 or 5 others from the group. After sunrise the whole group was up, we made breakfast and were back off heading north along the beach. The first stop was at the wreck of the S.S. Maheno an early early 20th century "luxary liner" which had run aground during a cyclone. After exploring it and taking pictures we continued north to our farthest north destination called Indian Head. At this point we climbed the cliffs and could see down 75 mile beach and also over the water where you are supposed to be able to observe rays, sharks and whales. As it turns out the only thing we saw was a mantaray. After having lunch we started south back down 75 mile beach. Our final destination of the day was called Eli Creek. It is a small river which flows into the sea. The stories you hear are that you walk up a boardwalk and then swim down the crystal clear waters with eels and fish swimming along. As it turns out it was almost too shallow to swim in and there was only one fish spotted by the whole group. After this we got back in the 4X4. We knew we could not make it to our next site fast enough to see it today but we tried to get to the closest campsite we could. As it turns out we nearly did make it intime to see it but decided to wait until tomorrow. At night it was a girl in our groups birthday so we partied a little more then last night but the events were basically the same. The weather changed that night however with winds kicking up and the temperature dropping. We had however made the sleeping arrangements a little more comfortable after our experiences the past night.

I woke up today just after 9 and most members were up cleaning pots and or swimming in the ocean. We grabbed breakfast and were off about a km down the beach. The next site was Lake Wabby, the second and final perched lake we would see. The trail to Lake Wabby was all on foot and was about 2.5 km long. The first km was through a forest and then after this it was a massive trek across a desert to the lake. Walking through that much sand was quite cool. I had never seen so much sand in a square km. When we got to the lake it wasn't as picturesque as Lake Mckenzie but it was great to go for a swim after no showering for 2 days. After our swim it was time to leave the island. We ate all the food that was left and then made the trek back to the southern tip where we would meet the ferry. We had left extra travel time just incase anything occured. Luckly nothing did. Because of this everyone who was not 21 (age to drive the 4X4) was given a chance. I was very happy to get the chance because this was my first time driving a manual vehicle. I was actually surprised how well I did. I got it into first and accelerated quite smoothly. I got the car up to 60km/h and into 4th gear without a problem. There was however a washout incident. I was driving getting comfortable and over confident crusing at 60 km/h when this unvisible washout came up fast infront. I had done some research on how to up shift but was not comfortable downshifting. I had been told that if I just put my foot down on the break the car would halt quite fast and could damage the motor. Because of this we went through the washout quite fast and everyone in the back of the 4X4 had a good laugh. Luckly the springs were not damaged and there was no repairs required. Needless to say I was quite happy to have had the experience and was happy with how I did. I do not have to worry about washouts when I get the campervan so I am quite comfortable. Upon arriving back at the hostel everyone enjoyed showers and relaxed slowly unpacking. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and reliving our experiences on the island

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Island

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