13th -15th January - Fraser Island!

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Hi all!!

You'll be glad to hear we arrived back safely from Fraser Island i.e. not being bitten by a Death Adder or mauled by a Dingo! although we did encounter them both!!
Met in the hostel bar for briefing at 7am and were split into groups of 9 or 10 - our group consisted of 2 french girls, a french guy, a swizz-italian couple and 2 english lads - definitely had the best of the bunch on offer! We had to prepare a shopping list and ALCOHOL list (believe me we were going to need it if we were camping for 2 nights and obviously we were in charge of this list!) and then once we had all the items packed in our 4 x 4 we drove to the rental place for more safety briefings etc. We were then given maps and itinery for the trip and directed to the ferry. We soon broke the ice with our group particulary the english lads as they were best mates who had come travelling together so thought a game of 'who were the better friends' i.e. which pair knew the most about each other! we both say we won!! These then became our companions for the whole trip and they wouldn't believe we were 25 and 26 (as they were only 18 and 19 bless them!) - Growl i must take after you for youthful looks sorry dad : ) !
After leaving the ferry we had a severly bumpy drive to Lake Wabby (after one other group got us lost!) and had lunch before seeing the Maheno ship wreck and then drove on to the Pinnacles. After some very scary driving (and no we weren't behind the wheel yet!!) we arrived at Base Camp where we set up our tents, showered a had a BBQ. We were also given a briefing by the camp site rep who informed us to steer clear of the Goanna lizards (as they have very septic mouths and their bite is very painful), Dingo's and a variety of snakes one of which is the Death Adder who can kill you within 15 minutes!! As you can imagine we couldn't relax for a while so had a pack of stongbow between us to calm the nerves! Lights out at 9pm as another early 6am start! The next day consisted of sights such as the Indian Head which had spectacular views of Fraser Island and the Champagne Pools. After this we both had a go at driving along the Beach what a feeling! Would recommend to all of you - apart from Neil who got there before us 😊
Drove back to Base Camp for spag bol and a night of competitive card playing!! The girls were kicking butt and the lads did not like it!
The last day was by far the best for sights as we visited 2 amazing lakes, Lake McKenzie was the best so we all had a swim and relaxed on the sand. Unfortunately we couldn't swim in the sea as it is stinger season, oh and the fact that Fraser Island has alot of Tiger Sharks! Only downside to our Fraser Island experience was when we were heading back to the ferry and the french bird driving our 4 x 4 pulled over to let the idiot behind us past as he was tailgating and then he went in to the side of us! Flippin Israeli drivers!!! Caught the ferry back to the main land in a sombre mood and headed to the rental place to see what the damage was. Turned out to be nearly 1000 pounds! We had all the guys details including his driving licence number so we're hoping to get our money back as he has admitted liability.
Said our goodbyes to most of the group back at the Beaches hostel and then agreed to meet with the others who were also staying at Beaches for dinner - we took them to the Irish Bar ; ) meal was great got commended on choice of venue! Great nights sleep and caught the bus to Noosa... xx

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