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Published: November 3rd 2007
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We got up super early (yet again...am resigned to the fact that I'm just not going to get lie-ins anymore!) and made our way to the Kookaburra Hostel where we were booked to head off on our grand adventure! The hostel was pretty mad when we arrived, we had to check in and drop off our bags with loads of other people trying to do the same before we could go and wait for our lift down to where we were meeting to 4x4, on top of this 2 of the girls in our group had their bags stolen from their rooms as they were getting ready fto leave! Luckily the thief was apprehended by guys and the bags received with nothing missing. When we arrived at the garage, we had to go through loads of checks to made sure there wasn't anything wrong with the vehicle and that we had all our equipment.Eventually we got on the road with our new family for the next 3 days, with just a brief stop at the spar for brunch. We got onto the ferry and set sail for Fraser Island. The weather was amazing! Pretty much as soon as we got onto
Fraser Island we were on sand off roading. Fraser Island is pretty amazing, it's pure sand...with a rainforest on it and amazing fresh water lakes. Our first port of call for the day was lake Mackenzie which was stunning, whiite sandy beach with tourquoise water that went black in the middle it was so deep. We spent most of the morning there, it was so lovely, swimming in fresh water, playing frizbee and soaking up the sun! While we were on the beach a dingo came down to the water, then started to make the rounds of peoples bags - apparently running off with a wallet from one guys bag!! We then had our lunch of chicken drumsticks and coleslaw (rather random, but not too bad!) then we got back on the road!It was quite scary going over all the sand and we all got a bit worried when the driver (Julie) said the light for the 4 wheel drive wasn't coming on and she was worried it had stopped working!
It didn't take long for us to get stuck in the sand so we all piled out and it wasn't long before all the guys we were holding
up behind us piled out and helped push us out! At this point we decided it sensible to try and call the garage to see if it was a serious problem as none of us knew enough about it to be able to tell whether the 4 wheel drive was working properly. It was only a short drive to the nearest stop which was at a place called central station. Here we bumped into a couple (as it turned out it had been their wallet that was stolen by the Dingo! How rare!!), and after telling them our story the guy announced that he was a mechanic and would take a look for us - what are the chances!! He had a look over it and a bit of drive around and announced that all was fine, we just had a faulty warning light!! Oh well, back on the road and on our way to the campsite via a ship wreck and Eli Creek. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the road befoer we moved onto driving on the beach. We were all starting to get worried as the sun was gradually going down and we hadn't yet
got to the shipwreck was supposed to be halfway along the beach to the campsite we were staying at, we were also very aware that the tide was comingin and there was less and less beach to drive on.
We arrived at the shipwreck as the sun was slowly setting, stopping briefly for photo's and continued on....and on....and on.....turning around a few times on the way!! We eventually found our campsite, but by this time it was pitch black, only to find it wasn't all that far past the shipwreck and we had driven past it about 3 times, it was just incredibly pourly signposted. Everyone else I had spoken to had camped right on the beach but we were on a proper campsite set back from the beach. We arrived and spoke to the guys in charge, who didn't really seem all that with it, only to find out that they had effectively over booked and as we were so late there weren't any tents left for us!! They instead put us in a big hut on stilts with a big canvas tent over it - all 11 of us together!!! We pieced together enough matts for the floor so that we all had something to lie on - just about, then we went to make our dinner at a big communal kitchen. We waited for ages for the facilities to become free and ended up getting out our gas stove and cooking it properly. Once we'd eaten and had ourselves some 'goon' (wine in a box) we all headed to bed ready for our 5:30 start the next morning.
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emily
non-member comment
sounds like you had a preety packed and exciting day. the area you are staying sounds very picturesque. the pictures seem to sum it off for the look very nice. you lucky thing