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Published: February 20th 2007
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Team C
The 11 members of our team with the jeep that we took around Fraser Island. The wine that I'm holding is an example of what would be a 'Bag of Goon' The best part of the whole trip to completely make up for the past few weeks of rain and being ill was Fraser Island. This is the biggest sand island in the world with more sand than the Sahara Desert and just across the bay from Hervey Bay.
We arrived in Hervey Bay on the Friday night in a youth hostel called Koalas. The Hostel was the biggest we've stayed in, with a pool, bar, club and loads of people there. We booked our trip to Fraser Island through the hostel because everyone had been recommending it to us. It cost about 100 squid with everything included, for 3 days self driving and 2 nights camping.
We were organised into groups the day before where we had to meet in the bar for a talk on the island and on 'dingo safety'. There are a load of wild dingos on the island and ten years ago they killed a young boy. We were told that if they approached us we should cross our arms across our chest, eyeball them and walk back slowly and if they attack, you should defend yourself aggressively- sounds like good advice... until you see one. They
Lake Mackensie
The biggest and best of the lakes... the sand is mainly silicon which makes it feel amazingly soft and look white. It was so fine that you were told to use it to clean your jewellry in it are wild dogs that are about the size of a cat! I reckon given a shovel I could've taken about 10 of them on.
Anyway the video provided some entertainment and our group of 11 went off together to buy the suggested items from the food shopping list (including 10 toilet rolls- one each for 2 nights- I though it was a little excessive!).
Our group was made up of 5 people we already new, which was nice, and then another 6 that all turned out really sound.
The worst decision of the trip so far was probably made the same night (the night before we were due to leave at half 6). We decided to have a few quiet drinks in the club with some of the group, which then turned into a session that lead to Tim going night swimming then being locked out of the room all night and then us sleeping in for 45 minutes after we should have been meeting for the trip. However it worked a treat because while we were having an unplanned lie in, the rest of the group had to sort out all the gear and pack the van- we also
Goana
The lizards are quite abundant and not too scared of people. We found out that if you chase them, they run up trees missed the video on how to drive the 4WD monster that we would be driving for the next 3 days but we just thought it'd be right!
Anyway we set off for the ferry at 8 and the first drive that I got to do was to reverse the truck onto the boat... it was just the same as driving a car except it was diesel so it was quite easy to drive. The ferry took 30 minutes and when we got to the other side I drove to the first lake- Lake Mackensie, it was only 10km but because of the ridiculous (but fun) dirt tracks, it took half an hour to drive there. The lake was amazing and as soon as we parked up we saw a Goana- a pretty big monitor lizard. Next we drove to Lake Wabbi, a spectacular desert in the rainforest with a lake at the bottom of a huge sand dune. We spent a while throwing ourselves off the edge and getting sand in every possible crevice (and I mean every one!). It was getting late now so we drove to to the beach and then along it for about half an hour
Stay Dingo Safe
Warning signs about the dingos were everywhere... just like the sign says, they did nick some food from our camp... they buggers made it off with 4 steaks and a bag of 'goon' to the camp where we had been told to set up. All four teams from the hostel set up camp in the same place and so after cooking up a barbie with the meat from the butcher. It wasn't long before a party atmosphere started. We had to change a tyre on the jeep which was interesting in the sand and anyone who 'needed to go', had to take the shovel and go and drop one in a hole.
We started a few drinking games which soon involved all 44 people from the hostel. The drink of choice was cheap 4 litre boxes of wine, which everyone calls a 'bag of goon'- thats because the boxes fall apart in the cool box and so you just have the bag. Before you drink it each time, everyone has to 'slap the goon' because 'anything that bad deserves to be slapped!'... I will never call it a box of wine again. Anyway after a while we all got invited to a party down the beach that 20 fishermen hold every year. They had really pushed the boat out with the camp and it had lights, music and a barbeque to share with
The team in the lake
The group lying in the warm water at Lake Mackensie (Tim, Sarah, Emily, Angie, Derek, Jamie, Fabien, Christian, Gemma and Emma) all the fish and sharks they had caught that day.
It was a top notch night and the next morning I was pretty fresh considering so we started to pack the camp up. We drove to the nearest camp site and had showers and breakfast.
The weather wasn't so good today and so the sights were enjoyed quickly whilst getting wet. It was still good and after visting some creeks and lakes we were all shattered by the afternoon so we slept on the beach of a lake for an hour. It looks strange to see fresh water lakes surrounded by sand. When it came to set up the camp again in a different spot on the beach, it was windy and raining. So as the dominant team we sorted out some top notch shelter. We arranged three jeeps into a C shape and used 4 tarpaulins to pull over the top, tied together with some tough grass we found and supported by big sticks that 'fell' from a nearby tree (surprisingly right into Tims' hands!)
The party was massive again and after all cooking in the shelter. We spent the night playing games and singing songs (German idea). The
Lake Wabbi
This lake was at the bottom of a massive sand dune and surrounded by desert. The lake is going to be consumed by the desert in the next few years last day and everyone was a little worse for wear... especially after 2 hours sleep. We did two more lakes on the last day and then headed back to the ferry. I drove back to the hostel where we had to clean all the equipment (obviously not that well) and they checked to see if we'd destroyed the jeep or not. Luckily we hadn't although it received some decent punishment.
After a sleep and recovering shower we all met up in the bar and went to the club for a last night out before everyone left. Again it was amazing and ended up at half 4 in the morning taming a possum with a Subway... a well good three days trip and probably the best thing we've done so far!
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