We arrived in Hervey Bay, this is where we were staying before our trip to Fraser Island, one of the packages we booked in Cairns. The trip is a 3 day camping, walking, 4x4 driving exhibition, I had reservations about this one as camping in Australia is very different to the previous camping I've done before in the UK and France. We had a group safety meeting, filled out paperwork and was briefed on the next few days, it was a good chance for us to take a look at the people who we'd be spending our trip with, a few welsh girls, a couple of guys from the Midlands and Manchester, a Danish family (who were the cutest), a Dutch couple and the usual German crowd. We were taken to the supermarket to get food and alcohol, and told to be up for 5am the next day, the girls got an early night but I stayed up and watched a film in the tv room. The sound of our alarm wasn't welcomed by any of us, grunting around the room packing up and getting down for our second safety briefing (I fell asleep but all I missed was a cheesy video - wasn't worried!). We grouped together in the 4x4 land rover jeeps and got on the road to the ferry port, I slept all the way there, and slept the ferry journey, despite announcements telling people to get out their cars, Kate and I were sparko so didn't hear it, opps! Arriving on Fraser Island, the roads were sand tracks and such a bumpy ride, we was all in the back and being flung everywhere, we tried to hold on at first but after a while we just found it funny and let ourselves bang into the windows and each other, we got Kate's speakers on and had a party in the car - we named our tank T-Rex. Our first stop was at a fresh water creek in the forests, our grumpy tour guide explained a little history on the area and how the trees were used as timber and have been shipped all round the world - timber, Zzz, we soon lost interest in that part. Before we knew it, the sky was grey and the rain was pouring, wasn't a good start and the thought of camping in it wasn't a happy one. We waited under a little shelter for the main part down pour to pass then went on a 45 minute light trek through the woods following the stream. It was then time to go to Lake McKenzie, a fresh water lake with clear white sands and a scenic view, only had a paddle as we'd only just scoffed down our lunch. It was my time to drive T-Rex, it was so hard driving on the loose dry part of the sand, felt like being on sheet ice back in the UK skidding everywhere, I didn't like it, freaked myself out and stopped the car to swap drivers, we had a $500 insurance excess on the vehicle too so had that on my mind. After the mishap, we got to Lake Wobby, parked up and started the 30 minute up hill walk to the amazing view of the sand dunes, they went on forever and had a ring of trees surrounding them. We were warned not to run or rolly polly down them because of people's injuries on previous trips but a few people didn't listen, I found a bit that wasn't so steep and had a little (controlled) run down to the lake, again fresh water surrounded by white sands, this lake was home to the catfish but we were still allowed to swim I'm it. As cold as it was. I was trying to have a nap when I came to my first encounter with the friggin annoying Fraser Island flies, they were like a cross between bees and hornets, the wind picked up and it felt like we were being hit by a sound storm, I had piles of sand EVERYWHERE in my bikini. On the walk back to T-Rex, a few of the welsh girls were approached by a dreaded Dingo!! (They're like wild dogs, little bit wolf like). In the safety video it told us that if we find ourselves in an encounter with a Dingo then were to cross our arms on our chest and walk backwards, the welsh girls proved this didn't work, and started to scream and run towards the cars with the Dingo following them, luckily a group of the boys were there and started to kick sand towards it which scared it off. Our first interaction with the animal properly scared the girls in the group. After a rocky drive, we arrived at our 'camp', around 10 teepee looking tents, two BBQs, and a table under shelter. We were all unloading the cars and choosing tents to stay in, Kate unzipped the door to one of the tents and suddenly the thing collapsed, after we managed to stop laughing we quickly choose another one so that we weren't stuck with no tent or splitting up into different ones. We got on with cooking our first meal and getting to know our group, happily drinking and playing games, then we were un-expectantly joined by a Dingo in the camp, we had been warned that if this happens then we grab one of the famous 'Dingo sticks' and show some aggression towards it to stand our ground, obviously this was the boys role while the girls stood on the table benches. Everyone was getting more and more wary now, there wasn't any toilets in camp so it was the joys of squatting to pee, we was always told to go in a couple so one person could look out while the other person squats. Well, I think our group took that to extremes and went in groups of about 9 girls accompanied by four boys with Dingo sticks and torches. The dreaded time of bed time was here, we really couldn't bring ourselves to sleep in that tent, it was damp as hell and we would cook in the heat, which would attract the Dingo's more, sweating girls nom nom nom. We thought it was a good idea to sleep in T-Rex - probably something to do with the ciders, we got our sleeping mats and locked ourselves in, brushing our teeth out the window and good job we did, as we could see 4 Dingos climbing on the BBQs and in the bins, then they had a little scuff with each other, we bolted the windows and doors and tried to get comfy as quickly and quietly as possible. 5am, the sun rises, we haven't slept alot and needed to stretch and click our bodies so much, knowing it was going to be a long day, I pulled on my sleeping mask and put ear plugs in to try to get a little bit more rest, up at 7am, this time people were walking around camp so decided it was safe to get out. Today was the highest tide of the year and we couldn't drive out of camp as it was right on the beach and it would be dangerous for us to drive on the beach then as we didn't have any experience, we were going to be stuck there until 11am so us 3 decided to wander down to a resort nearby and grab some more bread as we didn't have enough for the trip. Well I say a wander, that's a little underestimated, we had our Dingo sticks, using them as walking sticks as it was a lot further then we remembered. We rewarded ourselves with pastries and coffee before heading back, just as we was leaving, a convey of cars went past that was the same company as ours, we were pretty convinced it was our group but carried on walking back to camp in hope that they hadn't left us - we did ask the Dutch couple to tell the Ranger we had gone as he wasn't around when we left. Half way back we found the toilets on a side road, a little way down we realised this is a prime area for Dingos and started to shriek in terror at each other, this obviously didn't help the situation so we decided to sing cheesy pop songs to distract us and hopefully scare off any predators, there was various versions of; Barbie Girl, Steps, Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Billie Piper, S Club 7, Boyzone, blah blah - basically it worked, we were safe in the toilet block. Next challenge was being brave enough to look past all the spiders and bugs in the loo's, we each took it in turns to go with the door open and the others looking around for anything moving, berrrr just thinking of it gives me shivers, after another sing along walk back to the beach, we were lucky with our timing, we nearly missed our group of our cars as they were about to whizz past us. Off we went to a Eli creek, a natural spring water creek that was running from inland down to the beach, we walked beside it and watched the odd few people jumping in, we dipped our toes and was freezing. We then headed up to an old shipwreck site, the ranger told us the history surrounding it and we had a big group photo, the poor guide had about 15 cameras hanging from his neck and in his pockets. Next was Champagne pools but to get there we had to get through a difficult part of the sand, the Dutch guy was driving and he did it first time, we were the first group through, we waited a few minutes realising that everyone else must be stuck, I told everyone to get out of T-Rex and we should have photos on top of the car, everyone took a quick turn of posing, I was last and dammit I got caught and told off by the Ranger like a little girl, owww, got a good photo though haha. The pools were sort of like hot mud pools but without the hot mud (?), it was right on the side of the rocks joining the beach, waves splashing in and causing tidal waves over the rocks, Vidal and I jumped in and swam to the edge were everyone was balancing on rocks, waiting for the next wave. Liv paddled for a while but we begged her to take photos so she played mum :) It was so funny getting washed around in the pools. Lots of photos too. After we had finished playing we went back to the creek to wash in the fresh water to get all the salt off our bodies, I was persuaded into trying to drive again and I loved it, much better at it this time. Another night back at the camp and it was just as scary as the first, a few Dingo visits but people were a bit more used to it this time. Earlier in the day the drivers window in T-Rex broke so we didn't have a window there anymore, meaning it was no longer a secure place to sleep :( the ranger made a bodge DIY job and hung some tar pooling up to cover it, I agreed to sleep in the front because the other two didn't want to and I would rather sleep in the car then the tent. It was okay except at one point I stretched to far and stuck my foot out the window, wahhh, I grabbed it back in when I woke and realised. The next day we only had half a day before we went back to Hervey Bay but we had enough time to get another lake, a bit of tanning, swam a good few lengths in the pool, played some ball games and ate some of our leftovers from last nights meal. We said goodbye to Fraser Island and all the pestering flies, annoying b*****s were always around. Back to the hostel for a well deserved and well needed shower. Our camping group got takeaway pizza that night so we scoffed that down and ended up with 3 veggie pizzas left over so we were set for lunch the next day :) We were all sit outside on blankets, swapping stories and playing music. Turns out the two boys from the midlands had been in Fiji at the same time as us and we had ha friends on Facebook from Fiji, I was looking through one of their cameras and weirdly found a photo where I was in the back of. Very weird, I know it's a small world but its unreal how much we bump into people!! I'm not sure if I mentioned but when we was in Airlie Beach we were in a bar sitting opposite 2 ex LOCOG'ers, we couldn't work out if it was definitely them so I had to go over to ask and it turned out that they was having the same conversation about us and yes they did work for the London 2012 transport team. Freaky freaky freaky!! Sorry got a bit sidetracked there and I have again below. The next stop is Noosa to visit the lovely Jack Merrell and family.

Christmas is soon approaching and I don't think we could feel any less festive, it's just not the same here. Walking past restaurants and seeing Christmas table settings, the supermarkets have Christmas trees on the shop floor and festive music playing but it just feels backwards. This is a very different Xmas set up, a warm day, on the beach, with some stubbies and a BBQ, I know some of you are thinking that sounds lovely but trust me, you'd miss home and the silly family traditions. Mum - BBQ'd croissants and roast dinner won't be the same, I would say save me some Yorkshire puddings but somehow don't think they'll be edible by the time I make it home, I think one of your roast dinners will need to be my welcome home meal though, thanks just putting in my order now, love you :) Still no photos uploaded on Facebook or snapfish and looks like that wont be possible until I get to my dads house at the beginning on January, wifi and Internet access is pretty pointless paying for in Australia. Right enough waffling, next blog coming soon.