Hervey Bay Day 4

I just returned this afternoon from Fraser Island. What an experience the past 3 days have been! The island is just BOOMING with things to do.

My group ended up being myself and 8 brits - Toni, Barry, Jamie, Katie, Layla, Karen, Louise and Maria (note: 6 of them are girls, haha). They were a great group. We all got along, no complaints.

Barry was the main driver and since he used to be in the military he was also the most experienced. The island basically had tiny dirt roads literraly between trees when driving through the island and the east coast beach was basically like the highway. Barry knew what he was doing so well he got us from A to B in no time and due to that we got to see a LOT of things.

Here's what I've been up to:

Day 1 - We all got up early and packed our gear onto the roof of the 4x4 vehicle. We were then brought to the car hire place for a brifing on the dos and don'ts. Then we were off to the ferry. After a long ferry ride across the water we reached the island! Our first stop was at Lake Wabby. It was just like the sand patch in Noosa except there was a lake next to it. Great view too. After a quick dip in the lake, t started to drizzle so we moved onto stop number two: Eli Creek. Well we almost fell IN the creek. Maria was driving and we were shooting down the beach and al of a sudden there is this 1 foot drop with water. The creek runs perpendicular to the beach and we were told to drive closer to the water when we reach it to cross it but it came out of nowhere and we dove straight over it! Freaky but must have been damn cool! Once we got our bearing back we parked the car and walked along the creek and waded through it back to the car. We next reached The Mahona Shipwreck. The Mahona was a war ship that was to be scrapped in Japan back in 1935. however, on the way to Japan, the ship got pushed onto the beach from a bad storm and since then has been rotting on Fraser Island. Most of it is destroyed but the shell was still there to get an idea of the size of the thing and it aint small!After the shipwreck our last destination for the day was The Pinnacles/coloured sands. They looked like jagged peaks sticking out of the ground with different colours of white/brown/tan sands. We then made it to our base camp and set up tent. Dinner for the evening was sausages and hamburgers cooked by yours truley. The girls made a wicked salad and dinner was done. Was also had wine and played Ring of Fire (a drinking game). I called it a night at 10:30pm.

Day 2 - Got up around 8am and had left over sausages, cereal and eggs for breaky. Once in the car we made our way to Indian Head. It was a small climb to this cliff where I had an amazing view of the surroundings. I just sat on a rock and took it in for about 20 minutes, listenign to the ocean. So GREAT! After Indian Head was The Champagne Pools. They were this little rock pool just inside the beach and gets its name due to the foam that happens when the water from the ocean wades inside it. It was a nice little spot to get wet. On our way to our next destination we all took turns driving along the flat beach. Barry helped me with the stick shift and i got a chance at driving a manual car on the left side of the road (for about 5 minutes but nonetheless!). Our last stop was a long way through a really bumpy track but well worth it. We ended up at Lake Allom which is the home of Krefft's Turtles. I got to swim with turtles! We were told when you clap your hands lightly in the water the come to you and one got up to a foot away from me! After a quick swim it was off to camp for dinner which was pasta. After dinner we were all nackered and I went to bed early.

Day 3 - On our last day we took apart our tents, packed everything up and went to two lakes - Lake Birrabeen and Lake Mackenzie. Lake Birrabeen was lake with a white beach and clear water. Lake Mackenzie was like Birrabeen but 100% better. The water was SO clear and the sand was SO white. It was like swimming in a chlorinated swimming pool. We only had 1 hour to spend there but it was the BEST thing on the island!

I'm now back at Beaches and about to have dinner. Tomorrow I"m back on the bus and headed for Arlie beach with a stop in Bagara and also Dingo.