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Greetings from Rainbow Beach! Myself, Lindsay and Brenda arrived in this quaint wee town on Wednesday (the 9th of May) at our hostel called "Rainbows on Fraser" just in time for our group meeting for our expedition to Fraser Island. As part of our package we would be joining 7 others on a 3 day/2 night self-guided adventure on the island. As part of our orientation at Rainbow Beach we watched dvds about what to do when attacked by dingos (strike the dingo pose, and "if" attacked "to fight back aggressively"), getting the 4wd vehicle out of sand dunnes, and the general rules of camping....really exciting edge of the seat stuff people! Next we were introduced to our 7 travel buddies Joerg, Alex, Makus, Stefani (all from Germany) Isabelle, Josie and Allison who we were going to be spending the next three days with. We all sat around the pool and organised our shopping list (food and alchohol (roughly 12 litres of wine for the girls and beers for the boys)) to ration out for the next few days. Later that nite we learned the joys of sharing a dorm room with a self obsessed scandenavian boy---lets just say he
enjoyed his body building musle magazines a bit tooo much--and I will say no more!
Suppose at this point I should give ye a bit of history about the island: Fraser is situated just off the south Queensland coast and is about 120 kilometers long and between 5 and 25 kilometers wide. There are dozens of lakes, rainforest and huge sandblows cover vast parts of the island. But also animal life, Australia's purest dingo's and many other species contribute to the unique island environment.
Early the next morning we were all up at the crack of dawn to load up our 4x4 jeep and join the crowd from Dingo's hostel, this was an arduous process because we had to get all the camping gear (i.e. tents), eskies with food and alchohol, gas , sleeping bags, mats, all our day bags on top of the vehicle and cover it as we were warned it was due to rain while we were there. Which was rather ironic given the level 5 water restrictions across the coast, it would be typical that it would rain on us while visiting an island --and a sand one nonetheless! Then we drove to the
The Fraser Island gang
L-R: Marcus, Lindsay, Josie, Myself, Alex, Isabelle, Brenda, Steffi, and Alison.barge for the 8 minute water crossing from Rainbow Beach to Fraser Island. We had to be careful because the days we were on the island, the high tides were coming in quite early in the afternoon, which meant we HAD to be off the beach in time. Isabelle took the reigns first driving the 4wd and did a mighty job tackling the sand despite the random mix of ipod tunes and banter in the back of the jeep.
Our first stop on the island was at the majestic Lake McKenzie. This perched lake has white sand and sparkling blue waters which attracts many visitors. The water here was crystal clear, with three shades of blue...it was really amazing, so of course we got loads of picturse here. We then attempted to walk around the perimeter of the lake and found a Fraser Island sign made out of rocks, so we got more pics there and practiced the famous "dingo pose". As it was approaching dusk, we decided it was best to head to a camp site for shelter from the impending rain and set up camp. Literally, the second we unloaded everything from the jeep the heavens opened.
We quickly set up camp after the rain stopped and managed to find a BBQ site nearby to cook our aussie sausages and burgers. As the place was pitch black we had to rely on the few torches the "smart people" brought with them for the trip. After sitting around drinking our $10 4 litre tank of wine, we headed back to the campsite (which mind you, we didn't have the proper booking for, but hush! what the rangers don't know won't hurt them!) and listened to some music from our ipods. I didn't sleep that well in my sleeping bag as I hate confined spaces, but poor Brenda had to battle it out with a playful dingo..ha. She put a Glad plastic bag over a hole in her tent and during the nite a dingo started tugging on the other end...but she was prepared, knew exactly what to do, and adopted the dingo pose from within the tent and all was okay.
The next day, after breakfast we set out to see the famous shipwreck called "The Maheno." The Maheno was driven ashore just north of Happy Valley during a cyclone in 1935. It was once a well
known trans-Tasman liner and was bound for a Japanese wrecking yard when she met her stormy end. Today the hull lies slowly deteriorating in the harsh salt environment of Fraser Islands waters. We got some really spectacular photos near the ship and through its portholes. It was actually quite eerie being at the wreckage site, sort of "Titanicesque" to be honest. As high tide was approaching and we had to be off the beach by 1:30pm so we decided to legg it up the rest of the island to Indian Head. Now, "technically" your not supposed to let your 4x4 go into the salt water as it may damage the vehicle....this was the point where we got the distinct smell of burning coming from our engine as we had no choice but to drive in the water trapped by dunnes, coming in quite quickly from the sea. Fear not, we ploughed on, what harm can a little burning smell do anyway? Once we reached Indian Head we found several other jeeps trapped just off the beach with their rear tires and loads stuck deep in the sand. We took heed of this and made our visit quite brief in order
to hit the beach again to drive all the way back down the island to find refuge at Happy Valley for a lunchbreak. As the tide was in we decided to make use of the time we had to stay off the beach by driving further inland to another lake. By the time we made it back to Happy Valley we were informed that if we wanted to find a campsite just off the beach (which is what our permit allowed us and given that we were too far away from any other inland campsites) we needed to move ASAP. So with that piece of advice we took back to the beach, even though the tide was still quite high. Unfortunatly, our jeep just couldn't get into any of the beach camp sites, the wind had blown soo much sand inland that the tires kept getting stuck. Before we knew it darkness fell upon us, and panic struck. We just couldn't get in somewhere safe off the beach. So we decided to make the short trip back to Happy Valley (which is where the people with money to afford private accomodation were all staying) and ask the store owner for
help. Luckily, he took pity on us, and drove out in his jeep and led us to a great spot just off the beach. We couldn't have picked a better site. I have never seen a more beautiful sky filled with starts. The view instantly calmed all of us and we went about setting up our tents and getting dinner under way. Once we finished eatting the girls all went down to the beach to continue stargazing ( I even saw the Southern Cross) and look for some shooting stars. After this we headed back to our tent quads and blasted the ipod tunes to let the karaoke session from earlier continue. This is where I must give a big shoutout to Josie for being the "most entertaining" person in the back of the jeep. She didn't hold back, was full of fun and spirit giving it hell for each song!
The following day, we were given strict orders from Marcus, Joerg, and Alex (aka "The Ledge) that we had to be up by 6am at the latest to make good use of our last day on the island. So like clockwork we were awoken with a symphony of
voices and the melodic sound of the jeeps horn (not cute!), but on a positive note I did see a stunning sunrise. Once we finished breakfast we headed back out onto the beach and made our first stop at Eli Creek. To be honest, not a whole lot here to see. You see one creek, you've seen em all. After this we drove on and parked the jeep on the beach and hiked inland to see Rainbow Gorge. This was an amazing walk, and the gorge itself was breathtaking. It puts into perspective just how tiny we all are. I felt like I was on the set of "Lost" or "Survivor." But its safe to say I think I burned off some calories walking around the place. After this we drove to Lake Wabby, which is the deepest lake on Fraser Island. I seriously thought i was gonna die en route to this lake.....it was about a 45 minute hike each way, but it was difficult walking in the sand, up and down the massive dunnes and in the heat / rain which randomly decided to fall out of the heavens. Thanks to Lindsay I wasn't left for the vultures
to ravish..ha. Once we got to the lake, we all just jumped right in for a cooldown. The worst part though was knowing that we had to make it back to the jeep on the beach, but somehow the trek back wasn't nearly as bad.
We then drove back to the barge to catch the boat back to Rainbow Beach. It was a bittersweet moment, we were glad to get back to the hostel to shower, put on clean clothes, etc. but saddened at leaving behind all the fun memories we created on our short stay at Fraser Island with the rest of the gang. Fortunately for us though Saturday nite was the pirate and wenches party at the hostel. So the girls and I managed to find the best swords, eye patches and hooks that $4 could buy in the town and enjoyed the happy hour specials with our fellow "Fraser Island buddies." We stayed until we were kicked out and then invited the group back to our room (yes our very own room, due to errors of the hostel...I even got my own double bed!!!) for more banter until the early hours of the morning.
Sunday
Shipwrecked on Fraser
L-R: Susan, Joerg, Steffi, Lindsay, Josie, Isabelle, Allison, Marcus, Alex and Brenda we just stayed in bed for ages as we hadn't slept much on Fraser, did laundry, ate sausage rolls and crunchies and slept more to replenish our energy for the next leg of our trip up the coast.
Next stop: Agnes Waters/1770! Brace yourself, cuz here we come!
PS- THERE ARE ABOUT 31 PICTURES, SO WHEN YOU GET TO THE BOTTOM HIT THE BUTTON THAT ALLOWS YOU TO SEE PAGE 2 OF THE PICTURES
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Aine Donohoe
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Fab Figure
Susan, Must say you look hot in that bikini...man if I was a guy...you definitely haven't put on the "Sydney Stone" whilst traveling! Keep blogs coming, Áine x