On Wednesday we had to be up early (6am) to start our 2 night camping trip on Fraser Island. There was quite a lot of prep work to be done. To start with we were put into groups (9 in our group), and had to decide what food/drink we would need for the 3 days, 2 nights. 2 people then went shopping for that while the rest of us went to collect our camping stuff and pack the cars. After all this was done we drove over to the boat to take us over to Fraser Island. We had an itinary for Fraser Island, and could only drive during certain times of the day because when the tide was in it was impossible to drive on the beach. On the first day we went to Lake Wabby. After parking up on the beach it was a 45 minute walk to the lake (not an easy walk either). After getting there, and taking a few pictures it was then another 45 minutes back!! We made sandwiches then for lunch and then headed on to Eli Creek. We walked in the creek for a while, which is nice as it's fresh water that feeds into the sea. It's the biggest creek on the island that does this. Just down the beach from Eli Creek then was the Maheno Shipwreck. This was quite amazing to see. By this time it was getting on for 5 o'clock - the time we had to head to camp for the night.
We arrived at camp, and after a talk (don't feed the dingoes and other do's and don'ts) we put up the tents. This wasn't all that easy, but we managed it in the end. Apparently it was a 6 man tent but I have no idea where these 6 people were going to go. There were 3 of us in ours, and we could have got 1 more in. For food on the first night we had a barbie, washed down with plenty of goon to help us sleep!! That first night in the tent wasn't very comfortable, and no-one slept much.
We couldn't leave Base camp until 10:30 on day 2 because of the tide and we then headed towards Indian head. On the way there we saw a seal on the beach. Didn't think much of it until someone told us later on that it was very rare for seals to be on the beach there, and it had been reported. It was a baby one, and had probably got lost. Indian head was a stunning place. The sea was so pretty - loads of different colours of blue. You could see the animals swimming in it, and I was luck enough when I was there to see whales in the background jumping, and then sharks, turtles and fish swimming in the sea from the cliff where I was sitting. After seeing this we had lunch (sarnies again) and then walked for about 45 minutes along the beach towards Champagne Pools. The walk was a lot nicer than the Lake Wabby one, especially as you could walk with your feet in the water the whole way. It was really nice to sit on rocks here with feet dangling in the water. Until one point where I thought I'd knocked Maggie's foot with mine, looked down and saw a huge crab. It had knocked into me and Maggie at the same time. Thankfully it didn't pinch us, but we still moved quite quickly!!
We got back to Base Camp by 5 again that night. For food that night we had pasta with sauce and loads of veg in it. After food we all walked down to the beach, and lay down in the sand looking up at the stars. It was a very clear night and there were loads of stars. We also saw several shooting stars too. We were all shattered though and were in bed before 9!!
Day 3 started really early. We had to be leaving base camp by 6am to miss full tide. That meant getting up and ready, pulling the tents down and packing up the car by 6. 4:45am is probably my earliest morning here yet (though I have had a 5 I think!!). After packing up the car we headed to Lake Birrabeen. It took 2 hours to get there because it's very tough driving off the beach on Fraser Island. (There had been 2 accidents there with the company we were going with in the past 10 days). It was a very bumpy ride and there were times when you were almost flying off the seat (thankfully we had seatbelts - though not a proper one!). We didn't stay long at Lake Birrabeen because we knew we were heading to Lake McKenzie later on, which is in the top 10 of places to visit in the world (apparently Whitehaven beach in the Whitsundays where I was last weekend is in the top 5!). After Lake Birrabeen we headed onto Central Station. This was more a history thing, and had information about Fraser Island. After here we went to Lake McKenzie. It was a really pretty place. It is really nice to swim in freshwater lakes. We stayed there for a while before having lunch and heading back to the boat.
After arriving back in Hervey Bay and sorting the car and stuff out, we decided rather than fight with tons of other people for the showers to go to the pub. We went to an Irish bar and had a pint, only then to go to the hostel for food and a jug of beer for $8. It was Halloween so loads of people had dressed up. After finishing there I phoned Mam, had a shower, and went to bed. It wasn't even 9 so thought I'd read for a while and never thought I'd read coz the pub is right next to my dorm room, but after 2 pages of the book I fell asleep and didn't hear a single thing!! I did wake up this morning with a bad back though (prob a result of bouncing in that car for most of yesterday and sleeping on the floor pretty much for the last 2 nights!).
Fraser Island was a really pretty place, and I saw lots of wildlife (sharks, dolphins, whales, turtles, a seal, dingoes and a baby snake), but there is nothing like a proper bed and a pillow!!!
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