Fraser Island Freak out

Well hello all again, as I am typing this it is obvious that I have made it back safe and sound from Fraser Island. Another fantastic trip with another fab group of people, with the added bonus that I didn't have to drive afterall! Phew!

So here is the round up of the Fraser trip. On Thursday afternoon we had a briefing before heading off on our trip Good Friday morning. There were over 50 people in the briefing and we found out that we would be in 5 groups of 10-11. We were told all about the safety elements (don't play with Dingos, how not to wreck the car, rules of the national park that is Fraser, why swimming in the sea round there will kill us due to currents, jelly fish and sharks, why you should never go anywhere on your own... etc..)

After that we were called in to our Groups and Sophie & I were in Group B. To be honest, when I saw Group D where a lot of the older people had been put and than turned to see a group of very young and excited people in Group B, my heart did dip a bit. However, within 5 minutes, Sophie and I were in love with our group and knew that we were a) probably going to be the loudest on the Island and b) going to have a great time.

So to the group. There were 4 Israelis that were travelling together: Shai, Amit, Assaf and Yaniv. We could see straight away that they were going to keep us entertained. Plus 5 Canadians: Shell, Shannon, Lisa, John and Tyler who all seemed adorable. Fortunately a couple of the boys (Shai and Tyler) were cool about driving the great big 4x4 trucks, so I was off the hook and could relax knowing I wasn't going to have to get behind the wheel.

After a few drinks in the bar getting to know our travel companions, Sophie & I went for an early night so that we would be fresh for our early start in the morning. As our room was right next to the bar, it would be fair to say that that didn't quite pan out as I just couldn't sleep but c'est la vie.

The next morning we all met by the trucks to load them up with food, camping gear, stoves, tables, our bags, lights, water etc.. The boys got a quick introduction in to how to drive the monsters that were our trucks. After that we all piled in (8 in the back, 3 up front) and were on our way to the ferry to take us over to Fraser Island. The adventure had begun and everyone was in high spirits. The music was on full blast, we were singing and generally being boisterous in the back, so that no one could be in any doubt about the fact that we were planning to have a really good time.

The ferry journey was short but sweet, so before we knew it we were bombing along the sand with Shai (whose moto was to do everything we were told not to - naughty boy) driving and the rest of us hanging on as we bounced along the beach, screaming at him not to try and go through the water. In the end I adopted my most teacher like voice (what can i say you pick it up if you are related to a lot of them) and basically threatened to murder him once we were out of the truck if he carried on. Seemed to work, which surprised me as much as everyone else and we were peacefully bombing along the sand without any threats of kamakaze driving action.

Our first destination was McKenzie lake and we made it there uneventfully (well our bums were numb and bruised but those trucks aren't designed with comfort in mind). We had a lovely picnic (eggs for Shai as he can not eat bread at the moment as he it is not Kosher at the moment, the other Israeli boys weren't strictly observing that rule so they had sandwiches with us) before going down to the beach and the most beautiful lake on the Island. I had a wonderful lounge and read, plus laughed at the others who seemed to be trying to kill each other in the water. It was so much fun.

After McKenzie with headed to get more ice and water at Eurong, so that we could make sure that our food didn't get hot and rot, before finding our campsite off the beach not far from Eurong. How we laughed that evening, cooking steaks in the dark (well we admittedly should have set up camp a little earlier), drinking copious amounts of red wine (by the metallic mug full) and dancing to music. Plus I never anticipated that I would go to Fraser and be learning Hebrew, although many of those terms can not be used in polite sociey! I have some great photos of us all messing about that night, it was great fun. Plus have discovered that if I only get 4 hours sleep (as we were up at 5.30am the next morning in order to avoid high tide on our trip to Lake Wally) I am not actually grumpy in the morning! Could be that I was still a little merry though... ummm.

Unfortunately as we had the car lights on and music playing for ages the night before, despite the fact that we had regularly turned the car over (although admittedly not for long enough each time) we had a very flat battery. So next step was to flag people down on the beach to find someone that could jump start us. I love Australians, loads of them stopped to help and after problems finding someone with working jump leads we were finally on our way. So we headed Northward up the beach and found a nice spot to picnic before actually looking at the map to find out where the lake was and realising that actually we needed to go back to Eurong and in-land to get to the lake (oops, what can I say, we are full of enthusiasm but not hot on the planning). So we took our time over our picnic breakfast to allow the tide to start going out again before finally heading to lake Wally. For this lake you actually need to hike for about 30 minutes to get to it, across large patches of desert like sand. It reminded me of the Sand patch in Noosa.

As we get going over sand dune after sand dune, we started to worry that maybe this was a wind up by the tour operators. Although people going past us in the opposite direction wearing swim suits, did put our minds are ease. Finally we went over a sand dune and a gorgeous lake was lying at the bottom of the dune. The water was a beautiful dark emerald green, as while it was hot, there were clouds that were protecting us from the more aggressive sun rays. We ran down that last dune, threw off our clothes (well except for the swim suits obviously, wasn't that kind of a trip! what were you thinking) and jumped in the water. It was gorgeous. Lovely and fresh and clean. Swimming around I saw a turtle slowly glide past, before diving under the water when it realised that a great big, human creature was watching it. It was heaven, an opportunity for more silly photos and some lounging around to dry off post swim.

After an hour or so there we hiked back to the car, as we wanted to drive up North of the Island to go to Indian head, some cliffs were you get a fantastic view of Fraser Island. It really was stunning out there. We couldn't see any sharks or dolphins in the ocean though, as the clouds made the water too dark, but apparently on a clear day you get a good view of the wildlife. I wasn't sorry though, as it was already very hot for a cloudy day and with a clear sky I would have completely melted. We also had a lunch at Indian head before heading back down the Island so that we could find a camping spot near the ship wreck that is on the beach there (have great photos of that too, with clouds looks very ominous and dramatic).

We had agreed with the other trucks that we would all try to meet up and camp together near the wreck and we spotted where they were so you soon had an area set up with tents and 5 trucks all spread out. John, Amit and I set to work on dinner and prepared a veritable feast of stir fried chicken, vegetables, rice, sweet chilli and red wine sauce, finished off with wraps for those of us not observing Hebrew holidays. It was gorgeous! There were a fair few other Israelis and Canadians in the other groups so we chatted to them. I got to practice the nicer Hebrew terms that I had learnt (Sababa baby) and drink more wine. Around 11.30 Sophie headed to bed, but I was still mid drink so carried on chatting away. Around midnight, when I was running away to hit my tent, I had to do a quick toilet (ie find private bit of bush) break. Being quite desparate to pee and not wanting to disturb the others I broke the rule and went off to find a spot on my own... Oopsie! As I was emerging from behind my bush, I could hear Shai over in the camp going "Hello Dingos". Sure enough, as I headed in the direction of ther camp, two dingos were heading straight towards me and I was alone. Fortunately, I think these dingos had been to London, I ignored them and they ignored me. I am a lucky girl. Those animals can be very vicious when they want to be. Obviously they had already had their dinner.

So I made it back to my tent unscathed and slept like a baby, until the Canadians woke us all up at 7am so that we could make a start on our final morning on Fraser (we had to be at the Ferry for 2pm). We headed off and ended up having breakfast in Happy Valley, where we could stock up on more clean drinking water before heading back to our favourite spot of Lake McKenzie. It was wonderful, more swimming, laughing and group photos (sadly not for me as my camera battery had died by this point) as we realised that the end was in sight. We stayed at the Lake as long as we could risk it (11.30am) before heading back to catch the ferry. Almost lost one of our bags en route, plus a particularly bad bump sent Shell flying across the truck, and caused Yasiv to bash his head on the ceiling but we literally made it by the skin of our teeth, as we drove on to the ferry it started to move out in direction of the mainland.

Too sad to face the fact that our trip was over, once we had dropped off the truck, cleaned & unloaded everything, we all went for a spot of lunch together. That evening at 7pm we saw the Canadians off at the bus station as they were doing the nasty night trip that Sophie & I are doing tomorrow night, up to Airlie beach. It looks like we should be able to meet up with them there on Saturday night. This morning (after failing to party last night, as we were all too tired, it finally caught up with us, so we missed the great Easter Sunday Toga party) we said goodbye to our Israeli boys as they were driving up north too. We are hoping to see Assaf in Sydney when we are there, plus both Assaf & Amit should be in London in October, so we know that we will see them again then.

It is amazing how attached you can get to people in such a short space of time. I think this is because you are going through some extreme experiences in quite basic conditions, so you all have to pull together. Sophie & I loved our group and are looking forward to seeing them again (Shannon & Lisa will also be in Sydney when we are and fly home the same day that I head to Rarotonga).

So it is now Monday lunchtime. Sophie and I will be popping out to get a bite to eat shortly. Our Dolphin Kayaking trip this afternoon has been cancelled as the weather is pretty bad today (windy, cloudy and rainy, we were obviously lucky when we were in Fraser as it was lovely most of the time). We are booked in to go tomorrow before we get the evening night coach to Airlie. I hope that the weather clears so that we can go, as it would be great to do something like that to wear ourselves out so that we actually get some sleep on the coach. From Airlie we get on the boat for 3 nights out in the Whitsundays and the greater barrier reef. Both Sophie & I are hoping that our luck with travel companions continues, as there will be 12 passengers plus crew on our boat. I am sure that it will! I will update you all with my on-going adventure once we make it back to Airlie beach on Saturday (heading to Mission beach Sunday and our white water rafting adventure on Monday.... it is all go go go!)

Right now, I need food before we curl up in our room (have lucked out and we are the only people in our room) to watch the Island on Sophie's laptop, as she brought some DVDs. Margot, nice Swedish girl from one of the other Fraser groups, is going to join us, as she is here on her own and there really isn't much to do in Rainbow beach when it is raining. It is all about the beach action!

Anyway.. love to all and Happy Easter