Hervey Bay & Fraser Island

---

After Airlee we did a nights stop off at Rockhampton & then made it to Hervey Bay. Happy for a bit of civilisation we booked our trip to Fraser Island for a few days later after, once again, the storm had passed! We chilled out for a few days & then went for our briefing for our trip... We were put in groups of 11 & went shopping for supplies of food & lots of goon!! Next morning we had to be there at 6:45am to pack our 4x4’s with all the necessities & we were off down to the ferry! We were really lucky as we had a fab group of people, Lou Lou & James AKA ‘The Bondi’s’, Adam AKA Bob The Builder (I named him this due to the amount of crack constantly on show!!)Julian AKA The German, Garry & Lucy, James AKA Dreads & Alex the other German.
When we hit Fraser we didn’t really know what to expect.. it was sooo cool, literally an island with nothing but sand tracks & VERY rough terrain! Our first stop was Lake McKensie which we’d seen a picture of & knew would be nice but no picture can ever do it justice...it is so so beautiful! Clear blue water that you can drink & white sand... We rocked it up down there doing stupid races to the water & human pyramids! After a good few hours there we went to another lake which was much smaller & quieter but seriously gorgeous too. After a few hours lounging on the beach we headed to our campsite screaming every time the German drove over bumps & drops too quick! Clemmie was shouting ‘we’re gonna’s ‘ at the top of her voice when we nearly smashed all the windows down one side of the van as we tilted over due to the rocky road! Very funny now but at the time shit scary!!
That night we had the King of all parties! We had a BBBQ & the campsite was packed with 2 other Koala groups that came with us & loads of people on other trips & tours...By the time everyone else had started cooking we were already well into the goon, playing drinking games including the ‘dance mat’ we’d made out of a piece of ground sheet! Lots of fun but we were certainly very rowdy! BRILLIANT night but we managed to drink ALL of the alcohol we took for the both nights which included 8Litres of goon & 2 crates of beer! Whoops!
Day 2 on Fraser The German was too ill to drive so I called Pilot & James the Bondi called shotgun on being the Co-Pilot! Still HEAVILY under the influence we razzed off! I can honestly say that was one of the most fun days of my life! We endured some seriously rocky roads that we were sure must be wrong turns as there is no way we should be allowed to drive down parts of the roads as they were so bad!! Every time the van tipped over & the 9 people in the back went flying hitting their heads on the roof me 7 james got really bad giggles! We just cracked up the whole time was so funny!! We made it - just about anyway! To the beach & on one of the side roads stumbled across Team C of Koala’s who had hit a low brach & smashed their windscreen so had to take it out! They had to drive for the rest of the day with sunglasses on & King Canada & Lady Canada being the hard core ones of their group had to take over front seats!!
We went for a climb up Indian Head which is high rocks over looking the sea right down near the end of the island... Apparently you can usually see swarms of bull sharks but we saw not a sausage...gutted : ( After a few photo shoots we climbed back down puffing & panting - so hot!! Next we went to the ship wreck..can’t remember what it’s called but it’s a big tourist hot spot! After another photoshoot we cooled off at Elli Creak before finding a shop & topping up on the alcohol! 8 Litres of goon later ½ the group had passed out but the campsite was dead - we were the only ones camping there so we had a few rowdy drinking games before passing out ourselves!
Next morning, all dying a death, we packed up & hit Lake McKensie for the best of the day before we had to go back... Had yet another day of gorgeous weather so we lounged all day all significantly quieter than we had been the previous few days!! On the way back Clemmie decide to do some driving! Well she was gunning for me! Every time we were heading towards a bump, obviously being in the back you can’t see well in front but Clemmie would give me a sly smile in the rear view mirror & razz it over the bumps making me scream like a girl!! To slow her down I started sharing some of her secrets!! HAHAH! We arrived back at Hervey Bay at 5pm ish conveniently on a Saturday! Rude not to right??! Yep we got back on the goon wagon & gathered at Koala’s backpackers where we were all staying the night & got seriously messy! Learnt a brill new drinking game which I kid you not could be heard by anyone within a 3 mile radius including one of the guys that worked there who was at home down the road from the backpackers & could hear us there!! At about midnight we hit the local night spot & cut some rug until...you guessed it - the very early hours!!
Next day we were so hungover we went for breakfast but must have been still drunk as me, Clemmie, James & Lou Lou thought it would be a great idea to hire out a 4-seater bike! The rules were no speeding & no crossing or driving on the roads.... must stay on the footpath at ALL times..well, it would have been rude not to ride our bike across the road, up the road, round the corner into the back entrance of the hostel & round the pool ringing the bell where all the other lot were wouldn’t it?!!! We couldn ‘t breath for laughing & everyone round the pool cracked up when they saw us!! We had a few driving issues....3 point turns were a slight problem as was stopping as we had crack brakes so when we pulled up there I hit the brakes which screached so loud we got everyone’s attention!! Lol! When we left the backpackers we went for a razz up the road & tried to race 2 old ladies in electric granny carts!! They we’re too much of a match for us with hangovers so after getting grounded in sand & having to push it out we raced back to the rental place & did one of the best emergency stops outside the front door! They looked might amused when the heard the breaks screech & us skid up!! That day we were so hungover we all stayed another night & were in bed by 9pm although talk about ‘Goon Lovers Backpackers’ went on til late!

---