Fraser Island (Day 1)

So, with Fraser looming, it was at this point that the group we were travelling with became good friends of mine. I hadn't got much to bring with me and so I was kind of thinking of pulling out. The Japanese guy had already gotten his money back and cancelled his trip out of frustration of bein robbed.

The group rallied round me and offered me all of their own stuff to replace mine and to help make sure I still went to Fraser. I borrowed some shorts off J and then brought two t-shirts that I had remaining (the ones i was originally leaving behind because I didnt want them to get ruined). The guys on the trip were really nice to me and encouraged me to go and im glad they did.

We still had all of the food and beers for the trip of course so all was not lost. So we all climbed aboard our 4X4 and headed for the docks.

There were only 4 people on the trip that had opted to be drivers. I was unable to drive that morning, and so the other guy, Matt, offered to do it and of course everybody accepted because nobody wants to be the first to make a mess of it. When we got to the boat he realised that he would have to reverse the jeep down a big hill and onto the boat. It certainly didnt look easy but he managed it fairly well.

While we were on the ferry, I was really feeling bad, both hungover, and now realising the extent of what had been stolen on me. Nearly everything I had was gone, and there was no way of getting it back.

The ferry arrived at Fraser, and it was back into the jeep and onward to the big adventure. Fraser Island was formed completely by sand, covered by trees, and great fun to drive on. Once we came off the ferry, the road was literally sand. There were some tracks there from cars that had gone before but that didnt stop the jeep from sliding around on it, and it was still seriously bumpy.

There were a few other cars that had gotten off the ferry ahead of us so we were mainly following them down the track until we got out on the open beach. At this point Mel was driving and had her friend Carly as the co-pilot. She done really well driving on the beach. There were areas that were completely covered with water and took a bit of skill to navigate through. Then there was the deep sand where we saw quite a few jeeps dig in and get stuck.

We did manage to get stuck at one point along the beach but we all jumped out and began to push and we were out of there in no time.

The seats in the back of the jeep were lengthways, meaning we were all sat facing each other, and the drive was so bumpy that we were literally thrown into each other and the roof, many many times.

Our first stop on the trip was Lake McKenzie. This was amazing. There was sand leading up to the water like a beach but then the water was fresh water so it was strange to see. The water was so pure here that it was drinkable and it was very easy to see to the bottom. This was a nice change from what I was used to.

Of course, I was seriously hungover so I thought the best way to handle that would be to run straight in and jump in the water, so thats exactly what I did. To my surprise, the water was unbelievably cold, so it wasn't long before I was seen running straight back out of there. I was also the first to test the tour guide's theory that the water was drinkable. It really was. Not quite a bottle of Ballygowan but better than most kitchen taps.

The weather was not so great that day so Lake McKenzie and the surrounding area did not look as impressive as we had hoped. We swam again for a little while, and noticed the cliff edge that loomed under the water there. i got a lend of some goggles and had a look. It was amazing. About 25 feet out from the start of the water, the sand formed a cliff face, leaving nothing but a drop down to about 25ft under.

It was time for lunch...There was picnic areas around Lake McKenzie so we headed up there and unloaded the truck for lunch. We had bought food for sandwhiches for our lunches so we prepared some salad, ham and turkey, and we made some sandwiches using the cheap rolls we had gotten in the shop the day before.

2 Minutes after I ate, I was sick. The beer had gotten the better of me and I couldnt hold on anymore. But the good news is that I felt great afterwards and was ready to take on the next part of the trip.

The next stop was a shipwreck called the Maheno. This was built before the Titanic in Belfast to be the fastest ship in the world but it ran aground on Fraser Island. It was pretty cool to see but most of it was lying underneath the sand and not visible to us. One of the guys on the trip, Fez, had a brilliant camera with him with a professional lens and he got some great snaps here. We then hit the road one last time to head for our overnight camp.

This was an aboriginal camp. There was lots of facilities there for us too. We had a cabin for sleeping in which was protected by mosquito nets and we had a kitchen where we could prepare our food and eat. There was even showers and toilets there for us too.

When we got there, I took the opportunity to get my head down and catch up on some overdue sleep. I was down for about an hour and when i woke up, everyone was just chatting in the kitchen so I jumped up and joined them. We sprung open some of the beers, and then made a start on dinner.

We were all gettign to know a bit about each other at this point and this is what the group consisted of:

Myslef and Jason....who you know by now
Carly and Mel, two English girls who eventually trusted us all enough to tell us that they were a couple :o)
Fez, this was a friend of Carly and Mel.
Kevin and Michelle, another couple, from Ireland.
Emer, a friend of Kevin and Michelle's.
Matt and his girlfriend (sorry, name forgotten) who were also from England but his girlfriend was living in Australia and he was just on holiday visiting her.

Everybody chipped in making dinner. We were having potatoes roasted in the open campfire, a large salad, corn on the cob (BBQ'd) and of course.....Steaks.

It was quite a feast we prepared for ourselves and there was even food left over but it was time for drinking by then..

Dessert was marshmallows toasted over the fire, and whatever alcahol you brought with you. We all gathered around the campfire with our beers, telling stories of what we had all done on our travels so far. The Aboriginals came down to talk to us for a little while and they taught us one of their songs and told us that they would be performing for us the next night when there would be another two groups of people there and that we would have to sing the song for them.

We were all pretty tired that night so by midnight everyone had filtered off to bed.