Fraser Island (Day 2)

The next morning when I woke up, I heard that Matt and his girlfriend had to go sleep in the truck because I had been snoring so bad...oops.

Then I realised why.......more bad luck had struck me.

My throat was all swollen and I was having trouble breathing. I remembered having this before and that I had to go to the doctor for antibiotics. I began to panic then. I was on this island, pretty much the middle of nowhere, and I needed a doctor.

The guys were loading the truck about to head off on the second days driving so I went to ask the Aboriginals would they drive me down to the dock to get the boat back to the island and they hesitantly agreed.

I told the other guys to go ahead and that I was going to be heading back to the mainland and I would see them when they got back. However, after they had left, the aboriginal guy cae to me and told me that I would have to pay $300 for him to bring me to the boat as the truck he had belonged to his wife and she would not let it go there for less than that due to the price of petrol and the wear and tear on the truck from driving across the island.

I could not believe it. Not only were they not going to bring me to the boat but now the other guys were gone and I was stuck at the aboriginal camp with nowhere to go.

There was another family staying further up the camp so I went to see if they could help me. They seemed a little bit strange but I hadn't exactly got a lot of options so I went up and asked the father if he could give me a lift to the dock. He asked me would the aboriginals not bring me and I told him they had agreed to bring me originally but had since changed their minds. He said he would have to talk to his wife about it and walked away.

I realised he was not walking in the same direction as his wife, but rather up to the hut where the Aboriginal (Joe) was living. When he came back he said that Joe would look after me. Joe came out to me a few minutes later and again told me that he could not bring me to the dock and that all he could do was drive me down to the beach and ask one of the passing tour buses if they were headed that direction and if they would take me with them.

I was getting seriously annoyed and upset by this point so I made my own way down to the beach. There were lots of trucks on the beach with guys fishing there but none of them wanted to take me for less than $300 either. I stopped 3 tour buses as they passed but two of them were full and the other just wouldn't take me aboard.

I was getting desperate, I could not eat with my throat all blocked and every now and then it even stopped me breathing. Panicking wasn't helping my case either im sure. I had been told before hand that planes landed on the beach too so I went looking for one of them. I eventually saw one landing and I ran over to see if the pilot would take me with him on his way back. He said that he would, but then asked for $300. I couldn't believe the money they were looking for from me, I wasn't looking for a thrill ride, I just wanted to get back to the mainland to get my throat looked after.

Completely disheartened, I went back to the camp. Joe came to me and said there was nothing else he could do but he would make me up some drink to help my throat and that I should just go and lie down. I went back to the bedroom and a few minutes later, Joe came in with the drink for me. It tasted like a lemon drink but really strong. I drank it down and fell asleep. I woke up a few hours later to the sound of a plane landing nearby and so I jumped up to go see if I could get a lift.

I never found the plane but while looking for it, I realised that my throat had gotten almost completely better. I was so much happier and I put it down to the drink Joe had given me of course. With that, I stayed down on the beach just chilling out, listening to the noise of the waves crashing and looking at the people fishing.

By this time it was after 2pm and I knew the guys would be coming back to camp fairly soon. I stayed on the beach to wait for them as I knew I would be able to see the cars turning off the beach and up towards the camp. About 30 mins later I saw them go by and so I went back up to the camp to see them.

They couldnt beleive it when i walked in on them because they all though I was long since gone. Again, they were all really nice to me and so I was then more than happy to stick out the duration of the trip. We were scheduled to go back on the 4pm boat the next day so I was determined not to waste any more of the trip.

Again, we cracked open the beers and sat around chatting. I hadn't missed much on that days driving, or so they told me but that was comforting none the less.

Another two groups of people arrived in the camp around the same time as that and they attempted to camp in the hut where we had stayed the night before. There was mattresses and everything in there. We told them that we were in there and they would have to sleep in their tents. They didnt believe us at first but then Joe made it clear that they could have the hut the following night when we were gone.

A lot of the other group were Canadians, there were some English who I had already met in Hervey Bay, but no Irish in that group. All that they had brought with them was hot dog sausages and bread. They did not buy anything else for food. That night while we were preparing our dinner, they sat around the fire cooking their hot dogs and having them on bread. We were preparing a pasta dish with chicken. We made absolutley loads of food again and had a smashing big meal. There was some left over again and we offered that to them as we knew they would still be hungry and they jumped at the offer.

After dinner, Joe and his mates came around to do their Aboriginal show. They were all dressed up and painted and everything so it was really cool. They showed us some of their native dances and the songs to go with them and then they asked us all to join in. They were singing the song that they had taught us the night before so we had an advantage over the other groups. It was hilariously funny and I still find myself singing the songs to this day.

After they left, we were all sitting around the campfire drinking. The Canadians spent the whole time telling us how much they loved drinking and were really good at it and how they were not like Americans at all. The fact that he did so much talking and shouting and was so very cocky, led me to believe they were exactly like Americans, well this group were anyway.

After all of their bragging about drinking, it was them who fell first, leaving us at around 12 midnight to reach for their beds. Carly and Mel had not joined us that night and Kevin and Michelle went to bed about 2 as well as Matt's Girlfriend, so it was just J, myself, Matt, Emer and Fez left holding the candle. We started some drinking games and had sing songs. Before we knew it, it was almost 5 in the morning and we had to leave camp by 9 the next day. I hadnt drank that much because I wasn't 100% and didnt wanna risk any more problems. Emer almost fell into the campfire that night during one of our drunken songs but thankfully she managed to fall beside it rather than into it.

Matt wanted to stay up until the others got up because he thought it would be really funny but his girlfriend came out and asked him to walk her to the toilet (which was down a long dark path) and so when he was gone, the rest of us snuck off to bed.