Fraser Island Self Drive 4x4 Tour, Australia, February 2014

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In the morning we were up early to pack all of our stuff, nip to the supermarket for some last minute supplies and we were then put into 4 separate groups as there were 4 cars. Me and Freeman were in group 1, which was the lead driver and guide Geoff's car which unfortunately meant we couldn't drive. However, Geoff assured us that we would get our turn to drive one of the other cars. I sat in the front to be DJ and I had a good chat with Geoff, he was a really cool guy, seemed very laid back with not too many rules and everybody at the hostel had told us he was the best guide, winning! After a quick safety briefing where Geoff told us to ignore everything from the safety video the day before and gave us much better advice. It was then onto onto the soft sand and he floored it. He told all of the other cars on the radio to just hammer it or they would get stuck. We got to the boat at the end of the sand but had a short wait because one of the cars got stuck but after listening to the advice they soon got out and joined us. We all made it onto the boat safely and we could see loads of light blue jelly fish in the water. We bumped into the Irish girls we met in Nimbin who were doing the same tour but with a different group. They were cracking us up telling us the story of how badly they crashed after taking the weed cookies and that they massively got the munchies. It was just a short 15 minute trip across to Fraser Island so we all jumped back in the cars and rallied down the beach. All of the beaches are classed as highways over there so they have speed limits and small planes even use the beach as a runway! I went on the walky talkies to tell everyone that each car needed a nickname, which came back with some interesting results. The confirmed nickname for our lead car was the 'Naughty Benders', car two was 'Pimps & Hoes', car three the 'Naked Ladies' (which had 4 guys in it...) and finally the last car the 'Hairy Lairies'. I could already tell we were going to have a lot of fun just from the team names. We parked up at our first stop which was a 45 minute trek through the woods, along some sand dunes and finally the steep dunes led down to a big lake. We were told to be careful not to break our backs as we jumped in but it was all clear so everyone dived in. Me, Freeman, Millie and Lucy swam right across to the other side and I was using a waterproof camera to take 'shark selfies'. We then sat in the shallows with the rest of the group and the lake had those little fish that come and eat the dead skin off your feet so I let them do that for ages. Some would bite a bit harder which would make you jump a bit but it didn't actually hurt. After about an hour and a half we took the shorter route back through the forest where I found a bikini top, put it on and strutted my stuff in that until we got back to the cars, it put a big smile on Geoff's face! We then drove past the shipwreck of the Ship Maheno but didn't stop as we were going back there the next day. Instead we headed for camp and I took a load of cutlery down to the sea to pre wash before dinner whilst others set up our party gazebo and the tents to sleep in. Most of us all chipped in to make dinner that evening and after dinner we all got on the goon! The two German guy's in my group, Justin and Mike, introduced us to the German way of drinking wine which is with a dash of coke to take the edge of it, a bit gay but it did taste better. We played a few drinking games as a group such as 'Never have I ever' and everyone got pretty wasted. We had pulled one of the 4x4's up to the gazebo to act as our boom box so we had a bit of a dance and Team Sweden were all sat in the car raving and throwing their arms out of the windows to their two favourite tracks 'SAS - f*cking albatraoz' and 'Danzel - Put your hands up in the air', songs that we all now class as our Fraser Island tour tunes. One of the girls, Bec, had gone to her tent already, came back out to ask her boyfriend Andrew to go to bed with her because she could hear dingos outside their tent. However, he responded with 'I'm not a dingo hunter!!! I'm staying out drinking with the lads...' It was absolutely priceless for us and we couldn't stop laughing but obviously Bec didn't find the humour in it, gave him some abuse and stormed back to the tent. The night started emptying out as people went back to their tents and apparently I was one of the last up but fell to sleep on the beach but luckily the two Finnish girls from my group saw me and carried me back to their tent so I didn't get eaten by dingos, thanks girls!

I woke up extremely hot the next morning in the girls tent and we all rolled out for breakfast, I was still hammered! For breakfast i cooked scrambled eggs with onions for my group (i don't know how i managed it being so drunk but they turned out to be really nice). After breakfast we drove for a while to the Champagne Pools. There was a board walk leading to it and we didn't wear shoes, a massively bad choice as it was like walking on hot coals so we ended up just running the entire way and it felt like my feet were on fire. The pools were made from rock formations that blocked the big waves but the water still slightly ran over filling the pool and creating nice calm water to relax and cool down in. We all sat in a big group chatting away in the water which was really nice. I looked over to the beach and English Kristina had taken her bikini top off which was a nice bonus for all of us lads, this then became a regular occurrence at every opportunity she had when the sun was out and on behalf of me and all the lads Kristina, thank you. After half an hour there we ran back along the boardwalk again until i realised i had left my new sunglasses and suncream down at the beach. A German guy, Phillip, gave me his flip flops to run back and get them without burning my feet but i got half way back, decided i couldn't be bothered to run all the way down and just left them. Back in the car it was a short 5 minute drive along the beach where we parked up and climbed up a big rock and walked to the cliff edge. From here we had a great vantage point of the ocean and the beaches, we managed to see a few turtles and even a shark swimming around, hence the reason you're not actually allowed to swim in the see at Fraser Island. We climbed back down, jumped in the cars and drove to one of the numerous lagoons that are on the island. As we walked along the path to the lagoon Ben spotted a brown snake just yards away in the bushes. Brown snakes are one of the most deadly in the world which reminded us all how dangerous the island could be. At the lagoon all 33 of us got in and swam right out to some weeds in the middle before heading back as quite a few people got tired. There were some sort of weeds or moss on the floor where we stood in the shallows but a few sandy spots so i found the sandy spots and got the girls to come and stand with me on them because they didn't like the weeds (great tactics)... I spent a lot of time annoying Scottish Anna by jumping on her back and drowning her but to be fair she got me back on more than one occasion. Once we had all got out we sat on some benches and Geoff told us the story of how Fraser Island got it's name, it was a fascinating story but i don't have enough space to write about it here. As the sun was beginning to set we drove back to the wreck of the Ship Maheno which you aren't supposed to go closer than 3m to but everyone went closer for better pictures anyway. It was crazy to the steel frame of the ship rusting away but still being able to recognise key features of it. You could tell it had been there years as half of it had sunk into the sand over time. The sky was an incredible colour at sunset but we had to drive back to camp before it was completely dark. It was steak night but we only had 4 pans to cook them so me and Freeman took the reins, had two pans each and cooked steaks for the whole group. We were even taking orders as to how everyone liked their steaks and most of them turned out to be really nice, boys did good! After dinner we all got on the goon again, played music and played even more drinking games, the highlight being passing the card from mouth to mouth by 'sucking' and 'blowing'. I then got in the car and played my Lil Terror track to the whole group that i made when i was just 16 and i even performed it to them out of the drivers window, it was all a good laugh. After that we all just continued drinking until one of the Finnish girls, Neea, was completely wasted and it took 4 of us to carry her back to her tent. At one point we slipped, fell over and she landed on top of Freeman in a sexual position which was hysterical. I had a good chat with Anna after but i was so drunk i couldn't remember what was said, sorry Anna, i'm sure it was a really good chat haha. I even managed to take myself back to my tent that night and it had been another great one.

Still drunk the next morning we had breakfast, washed up and swapped 4x4's so that me and Freeman could finally have a go at driving. Freeman went first as he wanted to drive on the beach so I sat in the front to be his co-driver/DJ. He drove us down the beach and far out to sea in the distance we just caught a glimpse of a whale! I spoke to Freeman a lot watching the waves coming in for him and letting him know if he sometimes needed to change gear. We went to the shops and then drove through some tight sandy paths which was a lot more fun than the beach. It was then back to the shops to switch drivers and it was finally my turn. It was actually really easy to drive such a big car, I was expecting the steering, clutch and gearbox would be a lot heavier. I was driving the most difficult track to Lake McKenzie. I had to be very light handed on the steering wheel as on the sandy tracks the wheels near enough find their own way but i'd have to put them straight again because if the wheels turned too far they could get stuck in the sand and roll the car. I started of well, was nice and relaxed but I was being a bit gentle on the car on the big bumps and soon paid the price, I took a big divot too slow and got stuck, gutted! It took a couple of minutes to get out but after putting it into low range and reversing a little bit I managed to get it out, thanks to some good advice from Ben in our car. I also got stuck a second time which was again embarrassing but the other cars got stuck here too so I didn't feel quite as bad. (I did still feel drunk, it was my first time driving a 4x4 and first time on sand after all!) After this I decided to be a bit more aggressive with the car and not worry about breaking it as much which worked a treat and everything went smoothly after that (well, apart from the bumpy track bouncing us all out of our seats). We had the music blasting and were all singing along and dancing in the car, it was definitely a highlight for me. When we reached the lake it was a little cloudy but still beautiful. The sand was so fine that it is a well known place for people to visit to exfoliate their skin and clean their jewellery. I even used it to clean my teeth with which wasn't the best thing I've ever done... We had a swim and then played various ball games with a soft ping pong sized ball that one of the girls brought with her. First we all got in a big circle and just randomly threw it around to each other until I suggested we make it more interesting and you just have to stand there and let it hit you, even if it's directly in the face, which secretly was the intention of the game anyway. There were a few direct hits and it was so funny seeing everyone waiting for the ball to smash them. We then got in a smaller group as some went to sunbathe and about 10 of us played head tennis. Some of the girls were rubbish at first but we persisted and taught them and after a while we got some decent rallies in. We then started doing the Yaya & Kolo Toure song every time we got above 5 and even added a double fist pump pose at the end after Chloe had done it because she was proud of herself for doing her first header. Finally, we would then do all of this celebration, turn to the huge group of Chinese people further down the beach and hold the pose until one of them did something back to us, when they did react we all went mental, cheered and splashed around. They must have thought we were crazy and to be fair, we were. It was the funniest time and most I laughed on the whole of the Fraser Island Tour. German Phillip then came out with a classic one liner, he casually held the ball up, pointed at it and said 'see, Made in China', which may not sound that funny but the timing of it and randomness had me in stitches! Everyone then went to chill on the beach but me, Mike and Justin played keepy ups with the little ball and managed 9, I then booted it up as high as I could when it came to me and it came down with ice and snow on it and nearly took someone out on the beach... Back in the cars I had to get out and let Irish Colm (nicknamed Rocky not because of his fighting ability but because he used to throw rocks, yes, it confused me too) drive. We drove back down the track and he did really well then I even got another turn to drive. This time I was much better and although the track was difficult I didn't get stuck this time. On the beach we all jumped out and chilled whilst Geoff taught Canadian Kristina how to drive a manual because in Canada they all just drive automatics. After another driver swap we cruised down the beach back to the boat, our time on Fraser Island was over. I had fallen in love with this island, our amazing group of people, the best tour guide Geoff and all of the laughs that we'd had along the way.

Off the boat we drove back to the hostel and quickly emptied the cars, gave them a quick clean and went back to the hostel for a long overdue shower after having sand in every horroffice of our bodies for the last 3 days. We nipped back down to the bar to hear the final part of the Fraser Island story which was good and Geoff told us we managed to see more than some of the other groups he had taken so we had done well. After this we went and got some goon and drank in our room whilst we got ready, then had a few drinks on our balcony. We then headed down to the bar and it was really nice to see everyone dolled up after being covered in sand and not showering for the past 3 days. There was a guy singing and playing guitar and he was really good and Geoff even joined him on a couple of songs and played a little bongo to go with the beat, skills. I had a couple of jugs of beer and then out of nowhere the singer got on the microphone and called me up to do some rapping because Geoff had told him about my Fraser Island performance. Everyone started cheering so I had no choice but to go up in front of not only my group but everyone else at the hostel too. He started playing a random tune on his guitar and Geoff joined in the beat with his bongo so I listened for 10 seconds to try and work out the beat and then just went for it and did a little rap for a couple of minutes, luckily I didn't choke. The whole bar gave me a cheer after which was a little embarrassing but I did love it. Jen, a girl from our group, then went up, played the guitar and sang for us, she was incredible and I really enjoyed both of the songs she performed, as did our whole group. After this we all just danced to the live performances and got smashed, before heading down to the beach with more goon and vodka. We were all messing about on the beach for a while and then we headed back to the hostel in the early hours. When we got back to the room i got a massage from Canadian Kristina but i was so drunk she said half way through it i started snoring and was fast asleep, it was obviously a relaxing massage!

Fraser Island had definitely been the highlight of Australia for me. I joined a group of randoms on the tour who became family. A huge thanks must be given to all of the people that joined me on the tour and in particular our tour guide Geoff who more than lived up to the expectations i had after speaking to the guys at the hostel. You were absolutely quality, your speeches about remembering how lucky we were to be there were inspiring and you definitely helped make the tour a much more enjoyable experience!

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