Fraser Island

Checking out at 6am meant that we were up at half 5 along with half of the hostel. We sleepily ate some toast and peanut butter before having to watch a really boring video on driving and camping on Fraser Island. It lasted about half an hour and afterwards our guide for the next three days told us to forget everything we saw on the video and just do as he says. So we'd all wasted half an hour of our lives. Nevertheless, all 29 of us filed outside to the four 4 wheel drives that were sat just outside the hostel. We lost out at this point because other groups had already chosen cars so we got stuck in the guides car. I wasn't too happy about this because I worried I wouldn't get to drive but the guide, Tony, assured me I would. Basically, if you're over 21 and have a licence you are allowed to drive one of the cars on Fraser Island which is the largest sand island in the world. This means driving on sand. I was very excited. 

We set off in a convoy at around half 7 so we would get to the ferry on time. They called it a barge rather than a ferry for some reason but we happily sat and looked out into the sea for the half an hour journey to the island. After a quick toilet stop we drove into the centre of the island along bumpy tracks (of course they were sand tracks) that weren't too bad to drive along. I think they'd recently been tidied up. The tracks ran through a forest that covered the island (apart from the beaches and lakes). About half an hour later we arrived at lake Birrabeen, our first attraction. It was rather lovely. White sand and pretty clear water, surrounded by trees. It wasn't very hot but the majority of us went straight in the water, braving the coldness. There were a few pathetic girls that stood in their bikinis ankle deep and didn't move in any further but they missed out as the water felt really fresh. We had quite a bit of time to kill at this lake so dried off on our towels when we'd had enough of the water. Matt and I also kicked a ball around with a lovely German guy called Thomas who had the coolest job ever. He works for a anti-virus computer company but gets sent over to different countries for conferences so still gets to see the world. 

Our next stop was Eulong resort around a ten minute drive along more tracks. This was just a hotel like place with a few little shops. Not the nicest destination to have lunch but I think we stopped here because our guide wanted to buy a pie or something. Matt and I had our left over pasta for lunch which filled me up nicely ready for a short drive to the next lake. To get to this one we had to drive onto the beach and along it which was way cooler than driving through trees. The beach was huge and there wasn't many people on it. No one was swimming in the sea because stingers and sharks roam around the shallows but there were quite a few fishermen stood ankle deep with their lines out in the deeper water. Not a bad place to do some fishing. 

We parked on the beach and set off on a walking track to lake Wabby. This track was 2.4 kilometres so it took us over half an hour to walk uphill until we reached these sand dunes that fell down into a lovely little hidden lake. Matt chose to walk an extra kilometre with a couple of other people up to a view point but I was lazy and instead chatted to some Essex girls whilst sat beside the lake. Hardly anyone swam here but of course I had to see what it was like. It was very cold but again felt quite fresh. There were also fish that would come and nibble at your feet so no need to pay for one of those fish spas! We stayed at lake Wabby until nearly 4pm before walking back along the same track through the trees to the beach. Some Germans decided to come back later than they were meant to so while we waited we played with a football. Actually, I stopped playing as soon as Matt was joined by other boys as they were all far better than me. 

When the whole group were reunited we drove another ten minutes or so along the beach to our campsite which sat just off the beach behind a few trees. All the tents were already set up so all we had to do was shotgun one. We shared with the German girl called Daniella. The tents were pretty good. They kind of looked like mini tepees and the material was good quality thick durable stuff. They were also a khaki green which I liked; nothing too garish. There was a large trailer next to these tents that had covers attached and underneath was a large table, a hob and a barbecue plus all the essential cooking tools. We'd bought some burgers last night so we chucked them on the barbie and had them with cheese and barbecued red onions in a bun topped with ketchup. Delicious! Our mini group that went shopping yesterday had also bought garlic bread (we had to wrap it in foil and put it on the barbecue to cook it) and potatoes. Matt and I were in charge of potatoes but unfortunately the water took forever to boil so they weren't ready until everyone had finished their food. People were too full to eat any of them so we put them in a bowl, wrapped them in cling film and saved them for tomorrow. We'd had two burgers each so I was very full but the burgers had been amazing. We've decided we should start barbecuing everything from now on. It's far more exciting. 

After we'd eaten everyone got on the alcohol so for us that meant opening our $10 box of goon. The whole group of 29 joined in with some drinking games that involved learning names. It was quite fun and went on for around an hour until the group dispersed and the very drunk ones went to play more games on the beach. We also went onto the beach with our German crew but we were a tad more civilised and spent our time looking at shooting stars and learning German words (starn schnopper is German for shooting star but I've probably spelt it wrong). I had enough to drink so I was chatty but I wanted to drive tomorrow so stopped after a while. As it got dark very early everyone ended up going to bed early. We had started drinking at 6pm and I was ready for a good nights sleep.