We have just got back from our 3 day Fraser Island trip and had the BEST time!! It was quite a large group of people - about 60 altogether, so there were about 7 people to each car. We had a really nice group, with 3 Dutch girls we met in Byron, then one English girl travelling on her own and one poor guy - an Israeli called Matan who was quite quiet, or possibly slightly overwhelmed being the only male of the group! Each group had their own 4x4 truck to carry all passengers and some camping equipment, food and large cool boxes for food and alcohol. In Australia most travellers tend to drink this vile "wine" called goon, because it's seriously cheap so we had 4 boxes of that for the next 3 days. There were 6 trucks driven by the groups, then 2 tag cars which we follow. They are very strict now about speed limits and so on, so we all felt very safe. I was the first to drive, and gained everybody's approval straight away by managing to reverse out of the hostel without crashing the monster truck. It was a 20 minute drive to the ferry, and on the way we had to go into 4 wheel drive once we got onto the sand. There was an Israeli girl driving extremely badly in front of me, so our tag driver got out to speak to her, then came and said to me he had a feeling she would get stuck in the sand so to keep a good distance! The next challenge was driving onto the ferry through some water, then after the 10 minute journey, a long bumpy track through the bush. Our tag driver said we had to go fast in order to not get stuck, so that was good fun. Not so much for the poor girls sat right at the back who got thrown in the air at every bump, along with the cool boxes!! Then it was the first time driving on the beach, which was really cool. We stopped to have lunch on the beach where we would be camping for the first night, then the guy in our group drove for a bit. He stalled the truck a good 5 times before setting off (he says he hasn't driven manual for a while..) then later managed to get stuck in the sand. I had to take over the driving to get us out, which I think he might have been slightly embarrassed about! Anyway, next stop was Champagne Falls - a collection of large rock pools where you can swim. You are strictly not supposed to swim in the sea because there are sharks everywhere and the rip is so strong it can take you out to sea within 3 minutes, and the water comes up so high so quickly you wouldn't stand a chance. So swimming in the rock pools is safe. The reason it is called Champagne Falls, is because as the waves come in they fill up the pools and foam like champagne. I managed to experience at first hand a very large wave which washed me down into the lower pool, and scraped my leg all the way down a huge rock. It was very funny for everybody watching, but I stepped out the water and my leg was dripping with blood from big gashes on my knee and shin! That gained me the reputation of being accident prone....Ah well nothing a bit of savlon and some plasters can't fix!
First night it took about 3 hours for our group to get a canvas set up and make dinner, and set up our tents. I was not looking forward to camping. Especially with all the deadly snakes and spiders on the island which they don't tell you about until you get back! We were also advised to go to the toilet (there wasn't actually a toilet - most people went in the shallow sea!) in pairs because this is the home of dingos, the wild dogs who look like normal dogs which can be quite disconcerting. They are very curious creatures, and might just follow you to see what you're up to! After dinner everyone sat around drinking and chatting, then went to bed for a sleepless night. At least I did anyway, and kept being woken up by one of the trucks having it's horn beeped throughout the night. It was weird, I don't think anyone would actually beep the horn all night and no one found out who it was so we could only assume it was a dingo that had got into one of the trucks and kept walking on the horn. Very annoying. Thought it was about 9am when we woke up the next morning in the bright sunshine, but it was only 7. Made breakfast and headed to Eli Creek for a morning swim since we don't have showers here. In the afternoon we went to the most incredible place on Fraser Island - Lake Mackenzie. It was just so incredibly beautiful, with the clearest water and whitest sand I have ever seen. That evening we camped further down the beach, in more comfortable deep sand. We made ourselves a cosy set up to cook in, and put all our tents together. Dinner was really nice - Asian chicken stir fry. In the group next to us a guy said he was standing right next to the rubbish bag, when a dingo came and stole it. He did say, however, how impressed he was by the speed at which the dingo demolished the entire bag. Said dingo then came and checked out our group, curious to see whether we had left anything lying around. It looked me right in the face, so I stared back until it gave up and skulked off. I am known for my death stare, so there you go - while everyone else ran away screaming I used it to good effect! During the night a whole pack of them were howling, but their pathetic wooing didn't sound too threatening! Still, wouldn't want to find myself surrounded by the curious creatures in the middle of the night.
On the last day we went to Lake Wabby, where there are huge sand dunes to cross on the way. We were later told that funnel web spiders live in holes across the sand dunes, so I definitely wouldn't have gone had I known that before! It was a beautiful lake to swim in, with lots of fish that come and exfoliate your skin if you sit still enough. I drove the last bit on the way back, because nobody wanted to drive onto the ferry! The tide had come in so we had to drive slowly through the shallow sea most of the way. Fraser Island was definitely the best thing we have done so far in Australia! Although I was quite looking forward to getting back and having a shower - there was sand quite literally everywhere.
Here are some photos:
Here's our group with our truck
Being washed down Champagne Falls...
Me and Sam with a cup of goon over dinner
Me in Lake Mackenzie
Us girls in Lake Mackenzie - it really does look that good!
Driving the monster truck =)
SO much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xxxxxxxxx
First night it took about 3 hours for our group to get a canvas set up and make dinner, and set up our tents. I was not looking forward to camping. Especially with all the deadly snakes and spiders on the island which they don't tell you about until you get back! We were also advised to go to the toilet (there wasn't actually a toilet - most people went in the shallow sea!) in pairs because this is the home of dingos, the wild dogs who look like normal dogs which can be quite disconcerting. They are very curious creatures, and might just follow you to see what you're up to! After dinner everyone sat around drinking and chatting, then went to bed for a sleepless night. At least I did anyway, and kept being woken up by one of the trucks having it's horn beeped throughout the night. It was weird, I don't think anyone would actually beep the horn all night and no one found out who it was so we could only assume it was a dingo that had got into one of the trucks and kept walking on the horn. Very annoying. Thought it was about 9am when we woke up the next morning in the bright sunshine, but it was only 7. Made breakfast and headed to Eli Creek for a morning swim since we don't have showers here. In the afternoon we went to the most incredible place on Fraser Island - Lake Mackenzie. It was just so incredibly beautiful, with the clearest water and whitest sand I have ever seen. That evening we camped further down the beach, in more comfortable deep sand. We made ourselves a cosy set up to cook in, and put all our tents together. Dinner was really nice - Asian chicken stir fry. In the group next to us a guy said he was standing right next to the rubbish bag, when a dingo came and stole it. He did say, however, how impressed he was by the speed at which the dingo demolished the entire bag. Said dingo then came and checked out our group, curious to see whether we had left anything lying around. It looked me right in the face, so I stared back until it gave up and skulked off. I am known for my death stare, so there you go - while everyone else ran away screaming I used it to good effect! During the night a whole pack of them were howling, but their pathetic wooing didn't sound too threatening! Still, wouldn't want to find myself surrounded by the curious creatures in the middle of the night.
On the last day we went to Lake Wabby, where there are huge sand dunes to cross on the way. We were later told that funnel web spiders live in holes across the sand dunes, so I definitely wouldn't have gone had I known that before! It was a beautiful lake to swim in, with lots of fish that come and exfoliate your skin if you sit still enough. I drove the last bit on the way back, because nobody wanted to drive onto the ferry! The tide had come in so we had to drive slowly through the shallow sea most of the way. Fraser Island was definitely the best thing we have done so far in Australia! Although I was quite looking forward to getting back and having a shower - there was sand quite literally everywhere.
Here are some photos:
SO much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xxxxxxxxx
No comments:
Post a Comment