Day 39- 41- FRASER!!

One of the things we love about traveling is meeting people whose life you would never normally cross paths with. From all warps of life. So, this upcoming trip we expected to meet quite a few.. and we definitely did. The night before leaving for Fraser Island was spent ‘mingling’ with our future camp mates, the free alcohol definitely helped ease this process! We joined a bunch of Germans playing an interesting version of drinking snap. We drank a lot and talked a lot, while fully aware of our 5.30am alarm we made sure we got tucked up in bed early enough.

10 January 2020- Day 1
The next morning was rough, unbelievably hot, dizzy from skipping dinner and headache from too much alcohol, I could barely stand up. Scoffing breakfast bars and as much water as I could to cool down, to no avail. We got packed up and on the bus and started to feel a little better in the air conditioned bus with chance of an extra snooze.

We were all put in to cars; although the group we wanted to be with all got split up we ended up in a pretty good car. Unfortunately, they have quite strict rules for who can drive- you have to be over 21 and been driving for 2 years. That left 7 people out of 3 that could get behind the wheel and unfortunately ruled us out! We didn’t realise we were getting old until about 90% of the trip was under 21! We were in the car with a group of three English girls and a boy who are all working in schools in NZ for a year before uni, the guide and a very quiet German girl.

It was a well organized trip with four 4x4s all driving in convoy. Our first stop was for essential supplies; booze, ice and a lot of super cold water! Then lunch! The way it was divided was Car 1 (our car) did breakfast both mornings, Car 4 did lunch both days and Car 2 & 3 had a rock, paper, scissor contest to decide who did dinner first night and the loser did dinner the second night. Full up on cheese, ham and salad sandwiches we made our way to the crossing for the island.

An hour of beach driving and we made it to our first destination, Lake Wobby. Unfortunately, it was a 30 minute hike up hill to get there, through sand and mangled tree roots. Due to the heat, everyone had been advised to wear trainers as the sand would burn your feet- annoyingly Andy and I trying to be savvy bought trainers that work as water shoes too. These are great but one downside is they are full of holes, meant to let water out but actually meant they also let sand in, which meant an uncomfortable 30 minute walk with shoes full of sand. An opening came in to view and drenched in sweat I got excited we were there... nope, we’re were just at some sand dunes which was even harder to walk on, and the guide was right, burning hot. Eventually, the lake came into view, an incredible pool of water in a valley surrounded by tremendously high sand dunes one side and green rainforest on the other.

As we were walking/ falling down the sand dunes and I was exclaiming how excited I was to get in the water and cool off, a girl around me mumbled ‘yeah, but you have to climb back up this at the end’. In that moment I didn’t care, stripping as fast as I could I ran into the water and submerged myself, finally feeling the cool corse through me. Andy faffed around for ages before finally joining the rest of the group. The water was so refreshing! The freshwater green lake is slowly disappearing due to the sand blow and will eventually seize to exist. Most people sat there for about 40 minutes letting tiny fish nibble at them. This idea didn't appeal to me.

Walking back up the sand dune was hell; all the cooling off you’d done in the water forgotten within minutes of starting off up the hill. We made our way to camp and all got settled in. Car 3 having won Rock Paper Scissors had opted to cook the first night, which turned out to be sausage and vegetables with the added bonus of corn on the cob! #win. We ended up playing a game called Irish Snaps while we waited, a drinking game imparted on us by the teenagers, urgh, why are we the oldest people on this trip!

After dinner the drinking games continued until the guide started a game of ‘bite the box’, where everyone stood around in a circle and took it in turn to bend down and pick up a box with only your teeth and no hands or other body parts on the floor. Once every round is complete they cut the box in half again. Andy and I were both out before round 3 had ended... Our old age clearly impairing our flexibility. However the game somehow continued for another hour until the box was dug into a hole about a foot and a half in the sand and two girls remained just bending down as if it was nothing to pick it yup- evidentially the world's most flexible pair. In the end the tie break was decided, resulting in a card being placed on the floor and seeing who could pick it up quickest.

11 January 2020- Day 2 on the island
Being on breakfast duty meant a nice early 5.30am wake up for us while the rest got a slight lie in. Having gone to bed late and a night of storms waking us up we were all pretty tired. We did our duties and made pancakes and toast which were much appreciated by the rest of the group emerging from their tents.

Our first stop of the day was to Eli Creek. However this is where we encountered first hand how changeable the island could be as a high tide had created a lake of deep water tight where we had to drive through. The water was so high it was coming up past the doors. In case one we got through without too much issue, although our guide was anxious about it, it was fun for us to be in. To avoid damage to the cars the guide drove all of them through one by one. The second car, however, got stuck in the water and the water was pouring in from the doors all the way up to the seats causing a few wet bottoms. After about 10 minutes he finally got it going again and we were on our way again.

Eli Creek is a fresh water stream, the water (apparently) purer than any bottle water- minus all the leaves. We can both certify that the water was pretty good and clean. We started at the top of the stream with a group photo in the refreshing water before floating down the river lazily. It was so refreshing. Our natural shower for the day! Being on an island with no electricity or running water meant it genuinely was our shower for the day.

A game of volley ball between two tour groups commenced and after insisting Andy stopped to put sun cream on twenty times I gave in and joined the game. Having been up since half 5 it felt like it was about 2pm when in reality it was only 11am! Everyone agreed it was time for an early lunch. Getting out of the sun Andys back was bright pink! No sympathy was deserved.

The guide mixed up the car loads so we were i a different group which was a nice change, the radio blasting some banging hits and jokes flowing.
We spent the rest of the day with the other tour group which wasn’t as fun- none of the guests really interacted with any of our group and their tour guide was a 60 year old man who thought he was still in his 20’s, needed to be the center of attention, with a thick smokers laugh and some terrible jokes (although I do love some terrible jokes and will definitely repeat them).

Champagne pools was next stop, some amazing natural small pools next to the ocean which the waves spill over the top off, creating bubbles in the pools; hence the name. Weather wise, it was a strange day- intense heat in the morning, pouring down rain when we got to the pools, within an hour bright sunshine again. Andy and I both love water so this is the perfect kind of day for us- water hopping.

A short hike up Indian Head gave an incredible view of the ocean and some of the bays of the island. The reason for the name is not due to the hill resembeling an Indian headdress as some believe but instead named by Captain Cook upon his arrival and seeing the whole hill full of abroigonals. Again, torrential rain began and it was time to run back to the cars. Although by this point we were used to getting wet and just drying off so we aren't too bothered.

Back at camp for the evening, Car 2 started on pasta bolognese and garlic bread for dinner. We ended up in a drinking game of Uno with some Germans , I love this part of travelling, learning about different cultures, languages and traditions. Dinner was as good as it smelt and after more drinking and games it was time to head to bed!

12 January 2019
Final day on the island, another early morning on breakfast duties, we had to pack up all our stuff up as we wouldn’t be returning to camp once we’d left. We made our way to Lake McKenzie which was about an hour drive on the sand beaches again which was so much fun. The heat downpour had made the tracks a little tricky. Andy and I would’ve loved to have been able to drive too but it was still fun being a passenger.

Lake McKenzie was beautiful, a humongous lake surrounded by forest, it felt like your own private lake. The water is so pure that only three species of fish can survive in the lake, we were literally in paradise! The guide explained the sand was the second purest in the world, you could run it through your hair as conditioner. Since he was a bit of a prankster non of us believed him. He scrubbed sand in to his hair and washed it out and made everyone feel is hair. He was right, cue all 31 people proceeding to scrub sand in their hair, faces and bodies. It was crazy how soft everything felt after.

Andy went in search of turtles but came back disheartened. The lake was so deep looking down all you could see was pitch black, quite disconcerting. Making my way back to shallower water, treading water is so exhausting, we started playing a few games. Up first was taking it in turns to try and stand on each other’s shoulders to flip them off backwards, it resulted in a lot of side splitting laughter, especially from two of the Germans. I then suggested shoulder wars; initially I was on Andy's shoulders and we had a degree of success but this game seemed to gain traction and soon it was carnage. Everyone was on someone’s shoulder pushing and barging others around, definitely a fun way to end the trip together.

Unfortunately, you’re only allowed to spend two hours here or risk a fine so we had to move on. On the single track back we came across a stuck 4x4, with another car already helping our guide got all of us to get out the cars to help push. This poor family stuck were suddenly surrounded by 31 people trying to push and dig their car out. The problem was the more the wheels spun the more sand they dug them selves in to. Some of the guys from our tour got right under the car to try and dig the sand out and in the end another car came to the rescue and pulled the car out. We made our way to the lunch spot, there was a bakery with huge doughnuts so we headed over only to be let down by pretty rubbish looking pastries. The trip started to wrap up with everyone pretty exhausted it was time to head for the ferry.

The constant on off rain had made the sand really difficult to drive and the car windscreen was steaming up, we had to leave the windows down and I ended up drenched! The guide couldn’t see anything out the window and had to keep putting his head out the window to see where he was going. It made the drive back very hard and slow, taking longer than normal with a number of breakdowns. This meant we ended up crossing quite late and getting back to the hostel a few hours later than expected but with nothing to be back for it wasn’t an issue for anyone.

Since all the guests of the trip were staying in the hostel they put on a special for burgers (best burger I’ve had in years!) and drinks. With everyone all showered, in clean clothes and good spirits it was a fun way to end the trip! It was a relief to finally get the sand out all those awkward places it gets in to. Everyone was drinking and dancing with all their new friends.