Hello from Bondi Beach, Sydney! We're now extremely behind with this blog, so I'll just carry on from where Alissa left off...

After our sailing trip, we made our way down to Rainbow Beach. We stayed in a hostel there called Dingos, where we met our group that we were going to spend the next 3 days with on Frazer Island. We watched a safety video made by the government, it was very funny, they told us that if a dingo comes up to us (dog/wolf thing that can kill you) we have to cross our arms and walk slowly away and shout "Dingo Danger" so people know not to come close. All that will do is make us look like idiots and get eaten anyway! I think in the end when we saw one we just "acted aggressive" and they left us alone.

At sunset time our hostel had a shuttle bus going to a place called Carlo Sand Blow point or something...you could basically see the sea on one side and a gorgeous view of the surrounding area with the sun setting behind it on the other side. We went with a girl (Lally) who was on our boat to the Whitsundays, and she bumped into 2 boys from her hometown - one was the headmaster's son from her school - it's a small world. Anyway, we've since ended up meeting then all along our way down the east coast which has been really nice. But then, they were just 2 nice people who had agreed to take photos of us.

We woke up early the next day and packed our jeep with our bags and food rations that they had provided us with! All the drivers then went to go listen to a talk on how to drive a 4-wheel drive. It was only me and another person from our group of 11 people who were over 21 and able to drive a manual. Learnt when to use 2 wheel drive, 4 wheel drive and 'super 4 wheel drive' - when we go on soft sand or on a really difficult track in the forest- scary!!

We went across to Frazer Island on a barge with all 5 jeeps, was quite a funny sight. our first stop was Lake McKenzie. In all the travelling that I've ever done, I really don't think I've seen much that could top that lake. If you picture the most perfect place, that is ixactly what it would look like. It's a freshwater lake, so the water is clean enough to drink from and wash in. You could see straight down to the bottom it was so clear. There is white sand that slowly turns into the lake, then it goes into a turquoise blue colour ...I just can't describe it well enough - absolutely stunning!!

Then it was my turn to drive. It's so different from driving a normal car! Even the tiniest bump makes the jeep fly up. And no matter how slowly you go over each bump, it feels like you're going really fast and there's nothing you can do about it. You just have to keep going. At times it felt like we were going to topple over but obviously it never did!! Driving along the beach was nice though, just cruising along...but it still works like a road, so when another jeep comes you have to keep to the left hehe.

We got a bit lost going to our campsite but found it in the end - everyone else had already started cooking their dinner by the time we arrived. We parked up and put up our tents in the dark. There was an odd number of people so me and Alissa kept silent when people were deciding tents and we managed to get one between the 2 of us. Score! Needed a bit of help putting it up though...a bit embarassing...

We cooked our veggie burgers on the little camping gas hob thing - they were disgusting and falling to bits, but managed to cook up a good potato salad (who would have thought mustard would be nice?!). That night, everyone just chilled around where we'd put up our tents - it was really nice because all the 5 different jeeps were all together. One jeep could play music for just over an hour before we had to turn it on to recharge the engine so we each took it in turns - got a little party going on!!

The next day, all the jeeps decided to drive to the north part of the island - it was 'officially' closed because of the cyclone that had just hit, but all the coach tours were going there so we went. Peter (the German boy who could also drive) took us to where the road was shut. The cyclone had exposed some huge rocks as it had blown metres of sand away, so it was uber difficult to drive over. Like we were literally swaying from side to side - about to topple any minute! Was one of the scariest things I've ever done, definitely. But we made it!!!

We first drove to a ship wreck which was pretty cool. Had a few photos as you do. Then we drove to this place called Indian Heads - it's a stunning cliff with gorgeous views - picture postcard perfect! Although we were pretty high up so it was a bit scary...

I then drove us back - we were heading for somewhere but somehow got slightly lost and ended up at another lake that we have no idea of the name of cos we don't know where we went! We then drove back along a track that clearly hadn't been touched since the cyclone. It seemed to go on forever - everytime we saw blue we got excited that it was the sea, but it kept being the sky! We kept driving over rocks and fallen tree branches, but eventually made it out in time to pass back over the scary rocks to the south side of the island before the tide came in and we wouldn't be able to cross back.

The next day mine and Alissa's wishes to see something new were outruled, so we ended back at Lake McKenzie from the first day (not a bad place to be)! Attempted a human pyramid with our group for a photo but it never quite worked out. We had to leave quite early to get back to the barge - we just made it in time, after our 2nd gear started making funny noises and broke and we could only drive in 1st or 3rd.

We had to drop the jeeps at the mechanic who gave it the once-over. We were praying that they didn't notice the gear as they'd charge us a fortune, and luckily they didn't (although I feel bad for the next group who are sure to get the blame!).

All in all it was an amazing trip, we met some lovely people, and I will leave you with Alissa who will hopefully take over and write a much better account that me about the rest of our wonderful adventures...

Debra xxxxx