Fraser Island

First a bit I forgot to say about the Australia Zoo
They have a large sea turtle there called Harriet which they think is 145 years old. She was brought to England by Charles Darwin, yes, really. And she has been around a few zoos in her time and now she has a home at the Australia Zoo. She is totally domesticated now and loves being rubbed by people.

There is a film here called Wolf Creek I haven't seen it as it was out here a few months ago and I missed it. Its about backpackers and its a thriller, the backpackers die but they say that the start of the film is just how it is in the hostels. I must try and get it out when I get back.

I got sunburn on my feet and ankles about a week ago because my feet were sandy and I was lazy about putting the sunscreen on my feet. Now I look like I have brown socks and its starting to peel. Also I have 17 mozzie bites on my legs (yes, I counted them) from camping in Noosa and Fraser Island. So all in all my legs are not a pretty sight right now. I've bought a biniki and started to expose my white midriff to the sun, that is not pretty either but I am hoping that eventually all this effort will be worth it and like one of those programs on tv, I will be transformed into a beautiful tanned, fit goddess.

Basically the routine here is cover yourself from head to foot with sunscreen in the morning and inspect repellent at night. Carry around two litres of water to prevent dehydration and drink it constantly throughout the day. (I was on a walk and I passed one old guy and I was carry my water in my hand and he said to me "keep getting that water down you"). Also, I now have Stingose to take the itch out of my bites and stop me scratching them and them swelling up and looking like a deformity and aleo vera gel to take the heat out of sunburn.

My trip to Fraser Island started when I checked in at Dingos Backpackers at 7pm on Monday night. I didn't like at first, everyone seemd to know eacg other and it was so organised. Buy your meal ticket at the bar and attend the 4pm briefing the next day, there is not much to do in Rainbow Beach except go to Fraser Island. Things got worse after I had a shower and went to the bar to get a meal ticket, the lasagne was sold out and the German barmaid was really rude. This was a real contrast to the Australian staff who are always really friendly and chatty, as soon as you walk into a shop here, the people say "hello, how are you?" Anyway I had a big lunch and wasn't really hungry so I had a drink and sat down and a nice German girl started talking to me and then some nice Glasgow lads started playing guitar and singing, so things got better and I decided to give it a chance. The next day we had the briefing at 4pm and we got put into groups. My group was Nicole and Craig (18 yr old Canadian couple from Calgary) Jack (21) and his brother Hugh (18) from England and then 5 German people who came together in a group and spoke German to each other for most of the trip.

Day 1 starts with pancakes at 7am, checkut at 7:30, loading the 4WD at 8am and then you set off for the ferry to Fraser Island at 10ish. The 4WD is a converted Toyota Land Cruiser with seats in the back and all the camping gear, food, cooking equipment, dishes and our stuff on top. It has lead in the bottom to stop it tipping over and a massive 5.2 litre deisel engine to get you out of soft sand. Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island and a world heritage listed site. There is no commercial traffic, only mad tourists bombing up and down the beach in 4WDs. You drive along the beach at low tide on the hard sand because inland are single track sandy and bumpy "roads" that take forever to get anywhere on even if you don't get stuck. The whole island is sand, there is no dirt or earth but massive trees and sub tropical bushes etc grow all over the island and it is dotted with crystal clear freshwater lakes.

The Germans wanted to drive to the opposite end of the island butthe non-Gs wanted to go swim in Lake MacKenzie which is the biggest, most beautiful and most popular lake so we did that. LM is 80 metres above sea level and surrounded by lush greenery with a soft white sandy beach and water so clear that nothing grows in it or lives in it, no fish, no seaweed, nothing. Later we went to an organised camp site which had showers and places to wash dishes but the ranger came and told us off because we weren't booked in there but he let us stay because it was dark. I am so pleased that we have the same type of tents we had on the outback trip because I can do it really easily now. The crickets are really really loud, they seem to have waves of synchronised noise a bit like the crowds at football matches. There are fences around the organised campsites to keep the dingos out and signs everywhere reminding you of the fines if you leave food out for the dingos (in case they becomes nuisance). The dingos on the mainland have been interbreeding with domestic dogs and the dingos on FI are protected because they are closest to pure dingos. The ground is hard, the roll mats are thin, the raincover is on becuase there has been rain recently and the tent is too hot.

Day 2 We drive to the other end of the island to see Indian Head which is really just a rock formation and not too interesting. Lof 4WDs get stuck as they try to drive off the beach through the soft sand and the boys become experts in rescuing them. We see one of the other 4WDs from our hostel and decide to camp with them near Eli Creek that night. By this time its 2pm and so we have a quick lunch and then head to another lake for a swim. Jack shares his ipod with me and we sign along to "hear comes the sun". We are bombing along the beach as usual when a little kid decides to run from his car to his parents across the "road", we almost hit him and its only that the German guy manages to slam on the brakes and control the car that he is alive today. There are 4 WDs from our hostel all camping together, we put a tarpaulin up and have music under it like a very hot disco, we sit around and dance and chat, its really great, there is a full moon and we are camping on the beach - bliss. We (a mixture of Irish, Fench, Canadians and me) play football on the beach until it gets dark and we can't see the ball anymore. A really nice Assie man bcomes over to our camp with a plate of cooked shellfish he has collected from the beach, he is really freindly and chats to us.

Day 3 We can't drive on the beach till 10:30 due to the tide and we should aim to be on the 1pm ferry so there is not much time. We decide to go to Lake Wabby for a swim, there is no way we can do this and make the 1pm ferry but the tour organiser told us that we can get on any ferry if we miss that one, so off we go. Lake Wabby has trees on 3 sides and a massive yellow sand dune on one side. The boys (and Nicole) climb up the sand dune, run down it at high speed and dive into the lake. I don't go it purely because I don't want to get out of the water. There are bigh fish in the lake and tiny fish that nibble at you. On the way back we see a dingo standing in the middle of the road (track) just looking at us, everyone gets out the camer and snaps away like mad, it is a David Attenbourgh moment.

Back at the hostel everyone piles into the showers to get clean, there were no showers last night camping on the beach and we are covered in sunscreen, inspect repellent, sweat and sand. Everyone is shattered, we sit around chatting for a while with people from the other vans, telling stories about the trip but mostly we just want to sleep. Nicole and I do laundry and Craig is asleep by 8pm. There is a guy in our room who snores really really loudly, not just a little bit but full throttle. I am so tired I sleep through it.