Fraser Island

Our trip to Fraser Island was one of the best trips I've ever done and Emma thought so too, didn't you Em - "Yes, it rocked!" said Emma.

We took a ferry over to the Island from Hervey Bay early on Thursday morning and were greeted by our tour guide for the next 3 days, Graham.

Emma and I had decided to take the posh option and had chosen the 3 day/2 night guided tour instead of the Self Drive. With the guided tour you are put into a bigger group than the Self Drive but you have the comfort of a big 4 wheel drive bus/truck thing and you sleep in cabins and all your food is layed on.

We had asked people about the Self drive and although it sounded like it could be a good laugh, we didn't want to camp and we were worried about being in a crap group full of annoying young Amerdians. We had heard a few horror stories about groups falling out and not getting to see everything because they were arguing so much... Not for us chicks!

Brief facts - Fraser Island is the worlds largest sand island. It is World Heritage Listed and has become an eco tourism venue now that its timber and sand mining industries have been abandoned. Fraser Island attained its World Heritage Listing in December 1992 in recognition of the island's exceptional sand dune systems, its rainforests on sand, and its beautiful freshwater lakes.

I will try not to write everything we did but it's hard becuase it was all so good and so funny. Emma and I have never laughed so much in our lives, it was awesome!!! We laughed the whole way round, for the full 3 days, and again I do delcare that we became the tour guides favourites!!

Day 1 - We all got into the bustruck, fastened our seatbelts and then sped through the island. There are no proper roads on the islands, just tracks dug into the sand so it's a really really rough ride but loads of fun.

Graham took us for a walk along to Basin Lake. Before the walk he explained about all the dangerous things on the island including spiders (Emma had a minor fit about coming to an island full of spiders but the promise of an all you can eat lunch soon took over her thoughts), snakes, dingos and the Drop Bears. Drop Bears are a cross between a Koala and a Wombat and they drop from the trees onto their prey and claw them to death. He passed some pictures around and they looked gruesome.

Anyway, we walked up to the lake which was beautiful and had a swim and then walked to Central Station (where they used to do the logging) and had lunch.

The afternoon we took the big bus/truck up to lake McKenzie and had another swim and an exfoliation using the sand in the lake which was surprisingly afffective, and had a sunbathe. We then headed off, after having tea and muffins, to our accommodation.

We were all put into log cabins just up from the main resort, it was all very nice and soooo much better than a tent. We were happy with our decision! We decided to have a wee tipple before heading out for dinner to celebrate our good choice. After discovering we had no glasses in the cabin Emma went up to Graham's lodge and, finding no one home, went through all his cupboards until she found some plasic glasses and stole a few of them. We then had wine of the balcony with some of our cabin buddies who were all very nice, 2 Spanish men - Xavier and Claudio, a Frenchman - Francois, and an Austrian man - Martin, in particular. I stayed on the porch without mozzie spray on for about 17 seconds and got 6 new bites.

Dinner was Mexican all you can eat (Emma had 2nds) and then we all went into the bar to drink copious amounts of beer. We had a great night and Graham helped us win the quiz by giving us most of the answers. We nearly blew it at one point when Emma shouted the answer before the guy had even finished the question - Q. Which country has the most sheep? / A. China (apparently!) We hung out with our cabin buddies and Graham until about 3am before retiring for the evening.

Day 2 - more visits to attractive parts of the island. We went to 75 mile beach, which is also a highway and a runway but you can't swim in the sea as it's full of sharks. Then up to Indian Head to watch for whales and dolphins and sharks in the sea. We saw a turtle and a big Mantaray and some people saw a shark but I was too scared to go right to the edge of the cliff so missed that. A picnic lunch overlooking Champagne Pools and then back to the lodges via a creek or two and a rough ride through the island. Emma got to sit in the front along the beach and then I got to sit in the front back through to the resort. Much more fun in the front as you get to see everything, and a lot more bouncy as Graham tries very hard to drive over all the lefthand bumps at high speed.

Emma got prickly heat.

Martin (cabin buddy) bought a nice bottle of wine that he shared with us and then Em and me went up to Graham's cabin for a bottle of wine with him and another guide. They regaled us with stories about who had seen the biggest spider or snake until Emma could take no more. Dinner was all you can eat spag. bol. (Emma had 2nds again!) followed by more beer. Graham also made me do a tequila and made Emma drink her beer with a shot of vodka in it. It was also this night that we found out just how gullible we are - Drop Bears don't exist. I was particularly embarrassed as I had been asking Graham about them when I'd sat up front in the truck. Basically he made it all up and the picture is just a photo of a prehistoric creature in some museum. Der!

Day 3 - last day. Graham let me sit up front again and play the music from my ipod as I had been complaining that his music was shite (which it was). Obviously everyone was more than impressed with my awesome tuuuunes!!!!

We visited another lake and then walked across the desert to the sea, had a walk along the beach and saw some dingos and then off to another lake to have one last swim and scrub (they really should bottle the sand and sell it cos it works a treat!).

The trip was finished all too soon as we got back on the ferry to Hervey Bay and watched the sun set.

A really really great trip that I would highly recommend. We had a great group and a great guide, the accommodation was good, as was the food which there was a lot of, much to Emma's delight!! We thouroughly enjoyed ourselves. Highlight of Australia so far for me.

On leaving the island, I counted a total of 29 mozzie bites on various parts of my body - looking good!!