Cool Bananas followed by Fraser Island

---

11th-17th May- a Week to remember.

After leaving Airlee Beach we headed to the towns of Agnes Water and 1770. 1770 is apparently the only town in the world where its name is a number, it was the year in which Captain Cook arrived there. We stayed at the best hostel so far on our travels in my opinion, Cool Bananas- Was really clean and so chilled out, exactly what was needed after the lack of sleep on the Whitsundays and Airlie Beach.

On our second day in Agnes Water we woke up and decided to go surfing, surfs up dudes! We were told the basics by this old guy and then caught some waves- They didn't look that huge on the beach but when we got out to sea they were more than big enough for our first times. To start with the tutor was giving us a push start as the waves came which made it a lot easier to stand up, felt like I was getting the hang of it. When we had to do it all off our own bat though it was much more difficult trying to judge when you start paddling like mad- it is so knackering! Was dead on my arse by the time we'd finished, reckon it went ok though.

After leaving Cool Bananas we went to Hervey Bay, which is one of the fastest growing places in Australia, we had a place at a Caravan Park booked. The next day we would begin our 3 day 4 wheel drive safari on nearby Fraser Island but before that there was the small matter of the FA cup Final to contend with. The "English" Pub in Hervey wasn't even staying open to show the game, which started at midnight- whats more English than the FA Cup?!?! Fortunately the bar at the Carvan Park was staying open, and God was it worth it! Steven Gerrard, what a hit son, what a hit-Cmon!!

Due to the FA Cup Final going to penalties we had sweet FA sleep (boom boom!) due to the fact we had to be up at 8am to meet the people we would be going on a 4wd Safari with. There was a group of 17 of us alltogether of various nationalities, 6 of us would be in one Landcruiser with 11 in the other. We had stocked up on supplies the night before but before we set off to the Harbour to board the ferry to Fraser Island we had to have a safety talk. It was given by this old man called Jake who took the talk as an opportunity to slag off "bakpackers" who drive irresponsibly on Fraser Island and end up in the Australian taxpayers hospitals. He kept making every turn on the island seem like a deathtrap and said Fraser Island was the "Most dangerous place on earth". He also kept insisting that at certain parts of the driving the girls would be "Pissing theire panties" and "Browning their knicks", he was sooo sexist aswell!

I decided to take the first bit of driving, the task was simple: drive us to the harbour. Was looking forward to having a bit of a drive, first time since i've left home. Aswell as having Chris, Will and Jonny in my car we had an English couple: Sam and Liz. Inevitably i stalled the thing twice trying to start the car, which was a good icebreaker, eventually the guy who was supposed to lead us to the harbour came over to see what the problem was- i'd only been putting my right foot on the brake rather than the accelerator! B'jesus i was so embarrased, of all the retarded things i've ever done i reckon that about tops it- at least things couldn't get any worse after that. I managed to safely reverse the Landcruiser on to the ferry and once we arrived on Fraser i drove us to Lake Mckenzie.

Fraser Island is the largest Sand Island in the World and driving on it is quite an experience. They have very few roads and you just have to drive on the dirt tracks through the forest or on the sandy beaches. The journey to Lake Mckenzie was so bumpy, we were bouncing all over the place- we had our music pumping though which made it more bearable, Rebel Rebel by David Bowie was an early crowd favourite on Liz's I-Pod.

Lake McKenzie was beautiful! It has no big fish in it and it has a beautiful White Beach. I didn't think i'd see anything that would top Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays but this came close, the fact it was freshwater (As lakes tend to be!) made it so good for swimming in. You were actually told to drink the water in the Lake, it was so pure, reminded me of an excursion back in the Lake District to the Tarn near Mungrisdale where Will and Hudson dedcided to take a sip cos they were so thirsty! We had a few penalty shootouts on the sand, Jonny thinks he's Robbo you see, we'd had a couple back on Hervey Bay actually where Italy won the World Cup- God, we are like flaming children! The water was really shallow until about 5 metres out where it suddenly got extremely deep- Jonny had mastered the art of walking on water, basically (that word again!) taking a long run up and sprinting into the water until it got deep and he just sank, it did look like he was walking on water!

After McKenzie we drove along the beach to a shipwreck from 1916, we soon realised that the 14 foot deep traps in the sand that Exaggerating Jake had mentioned were actually only about 1 foot deep-he was such a bullshitter, he did get his point through though as we were driving really carefully. We set up camp for the night at an Aboriginal Camp (Only had a couple of Abo's there though (ASBO'S as we soon named them!) Apparently our tour operator was the only company that had access to the site, which at least had toilet, shower and kitchen facilities- other people had to rough it on the Beach and shit in the sand- not very nice!

We all mucked in on the barbecue for the night and then started drinking around the campfire, closely weatched by the two resident Dingos at the Camp, after dinner it felt like it was after midnight but it was only about 7ish! When the only light you have is a fire, the moon and a few torches it really messes with your body clock. Everyone was pretty much passed out in their tents by11-12pm!

Early rise the next day, though i was the last up at about 730pm, if its a choice between sleep and a load of breakfast sleep is gonna win everytime! After a quick bacon sandwich we set off driving again towards Eli Creek , a small lazy river that leads to the sea, the water was so shallow and cold though so we moved onto Indian Head soon afterwards. Indian Head is a giant Cliff by the Beach with Killer views (Vinny this American guy must have took this a bit literally deciding he'd go right to the end of this overhang- mad ba5tard!, apparently he's a rock climber though so he said it was OK) To get to Indian Head Jonny had to put our vehicle in to some crazy-arsed gear which enabled him to drive over really soft sand, really got the revs up! It was so good driving along the beach with the waves crashing nearby wand the sun beaming down- the fact we were blasting out the Beahc Boys the whole time only added to the experience. Jonny particularly enjoyed opening his window wide open, driving into shallow water as the waves crashed towards us, thus absolutely drenching Will in the backseat- looked so funny!

After Indian Head we headed to the Champagne Pools, they were these rock pools just a bit above the sea below, when the waves crashed into the rocks lots of the waves washed into the pools, frothing them up- hence they looked like glasses of Champagne! Was bloody freezing though. Jonny decided to leave his mark on the beach by drawing a massive "fallice" on the beach which everyone would see from the cliffs above- honestly ,how does the saying go? "Leave nothing but footprints take nothnig but memories"- No mention of giant cocks at the last checking!?

That night at camp took a similar pattern to the previous and we were all absolutely knackered quite early. On our final day on Fraser Island we checked out Lake Wabby, a smaller lake than McKenzie, which took a 2km walk through sand Dunes to get there. Before we left the Island we had another look at McKenzie cos it was so nice, walked on water a bit more and then caught the Ferry back to Hervey Bay. Overall Fraser Island was another great experience, with yet another cool bunch of new friends. Doing the Whitsundays and Fraser Island trips in just over a week has maybe been hte hilight of the trip so far, definitely the best time in Australia. Next we head to Noosa.

Mike

---

Photos

Superman
Stevie G, take a bow son

Lake Mckenzie
Beautiful eh.

Team Yellow + me
Shipwrecked

View from Indian Headlands
Up the cliff you could get some awesome views of Fraser Beach.

Say cheese!
Team Fraser (Don't bother looking for me cos i'm taking the photo!)