Day 136 Australia, Frasier Island

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Hi Everyone,



So we started the day at 6am, we didn’t have to get up till 7am but everyone in our dorm were stirring and were going on the tour as well!! We were given free pancakes in the hostel, these were ok but they only offered peanut butter and jam with them (very American).



As we were heading to Frasier for 3 days we had to leave our luggage locked up in the hostel and just take a rucksack of stuff you need. Everyone was sorted into groups, Vick and I were put into group 8, our group seemed good there were 2 English girls called Becky and Rebecca, an Israeli guy called Aylon, 2 German girls called Laura and Maria and an Irish guy called Mark.



First thing was to sort out our food, drink and to do a spot check on the car before we left. Mark and I sorted out the car, and everyone else sorted out the food and drink. Once packed up and everything was double-checked we headed out!!! Everyone was nervous to drive so Vick like normal stood up to the plate, but it was mainly because she had the most experience than the others because she was older and because she has had experience driving the mini bus at her last school she worked at.



We headed to the ferry, which was a roll on roll off type, this landed on the beachhead and loaded up then crossed over to Frasier, this only took around 15-20 minutes.



After Vick drove along the beach with 4 other cars, we stopped off at a picnic area for lunch, we had wraps to make ourselves, however Vick and I had to police the food as the others were a bit younger and just wanted to eat it all, not thinking about the next few days!!!



Our next stop was Lake McKenzie the drive there was inland and really hard driving, there was a lot of up hill soft sand, which takes the control out from under the wheels and the steering feels pointless, just like driving through a deep puddle. We had to take a lot of the drive slow in first gear otherwise we would run the risk of getting stuck in sand. It wasn’t too bad as all I had to do was follow the instructor in the first car, so if he went quickly through a section I copied. We had to maintain 30m between each vehicle on the beach, and 15 meters behind each car inland. Luckily there were no mishaps.



Lake McKenzie was breathtaking, we all had a swim in an amazing white beach chatted with our group and others. We got some awesome photos of our group and us. We also made a short ‘good luck’ video for Becky and Dave’s wedding, which we are missing L



We headed off to our next stop, we had a driver change and the Israeli guy then had a turn to drive, this turned out to be a disaster!!! He had not driven stick for 5 years and just couldn’t get it right; also it didn’t help with our instructor being the world’s biggest cock-shouting at anybody who struggled to drive. So Aylon got stuck in the sand very quickly so we had to get out of the car and push us all out of the sand. He was replaced with Becky, and she did really well although she nearly blew the clutch out as forgot to lift up the clutch fully when reversing back, it started to smoke bad; so we all had to jump out for air. We got stuck again too and had to push, Vick was prepared with the camera this time to get some photos.



We then headed to the campsite where we were staying; it was called Cathedral Campsite, there was a shop and bar on site but very expensive!! We were shown the showers and toilet areas before being shown our tents and cooking area. The tents were 2 man ones so Vick and I were very happy not sharing. The cooking facilities were not good, dirty and not enough cooking space for everyone.



I took on the cooking duties, as I was the most keen to keep to the order and use the right food in order not to go hungry over the next 3 days. I cooked what the menu had planned, an Asian style chicken stir-fry. Ours turned out good miles better than everyone else’s, people were jealous of the way ours was cooked J. Our main problem however was getting enough cutlery to eat with as they did not supply us with enough.



We then cleaned up and everyone sat around getting drunk chatting and having a really good night, we brought goon with us. (Goon is £6 for 4L of wine in a bag cheap and cheerful)



After a good night, and not being able to find the beach, Vick and I we headed back to the tent for some sleep.



Love N&V X

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