We had an VERY early get up on the morning of the Fraser Island trip but the incentive of pancakes for breakfast made it a little easier. After getting all of our food together that we were given for the trip it was time to pack the car up. Our car was me, amy, sam and becky (2 sisters from England), Kristofer and Andreas (2 danish guys) and Hanna and Malin (2 swedish girls). When we first saw our 4 wheel drive we were a little concerned that it was black...in the temperatures over the weekend we knew the car would be getting VERY hot. Anyway we had to name the car and the boys chose "Connie"after a lady they had met doing the Whitsundays boat trip...turns out she was a little crazy as was our car sometimes.

I drove first and after getting a 2 minute talk of how to drive a 4 wheel drive we were setting off to the island. Definitely seemed weird to be driving again and especially in such a big car. All was going fine driving along the roads and onto the ferry. After we got off the ferry and onto the island was when it began to get interesting. Connie got stuck in the soft sand straight away and I had no idea of how to try and get her out. Our leader who was 2 cars infront hadn't realised I was stuck so had carried on driving. Some locals came to our rescue and guided me on how to try and get her out of the sand. After that little mishap we were off! The rest of my driving was pretty simple just down along the coast going across wet sand. We parked up for lunch which was ham, cheese and salad sandwhiches (both of us really appreciated having some salad to eat!!) It was then back into Connie for the next stint of driving which was done by Kris. We were going inland to a place called Lake McKenzie. This driving was a little more interesting, it felt like we were in a simulator for the majority of the time with the car going everywhere, but we safely arrived and spent the afternoon at the beautiful lake relaxing. The water was so clear you could see straight to the bottom. The drive back to the beach was then taken by Andreas and this was one of the funniest/dangerous/exciting journeys we did. At one point we had quite a big hill that the car needed to get up and the terrain was awful. We were all chanting "Connie, Connie, Connie" and "Come on Connie you can do it" to try and encourage her to get up the hill. The car was rocking from side to side and the dust off of the ground was making it impossible for Andreas to see anything. Luckily because of his and Connie's good driving we made it to the top safely. It was then a pretty straight forward, bumpy ride back to the beach. We swapped drivers at the beach so Hanna could have a go, everything was going fine and then we think Connie got a little tired because all of a sudden she just stopped...We ended up waiting on the beach for quite a while for our driver to come back and rescue us. A few mechanics later and Connie was sorted and ready to go again. We then headed to our campsite ready to sort dinner.

Dinner that evening was chicken stir fry and rice (made a nice change to beans on toast). The tents and washing facilities were all pretty basic but it was all part of the experience. We spent the evening, chatting to people, playing games, dancing in the "club" (a little platform area next to the cooking area) and ending with star gazing! That nights sleep was awful, the tents felt about 100 degrees so I dont think many of us got much sleep that night.

We woke up and made scrambled eggs for breakfast before heading off for the 2nd day of our adventure. First stop was a place called Eli Creek and this was a stream we could float down. Very cold, refreshing water, just what we needed after our hot nights sleep. We then moved onto a spot for lunch which was beef, salad wraps, again very tasty! Then it was Amy's turn to drive and mine to DJ and she had no mishaps, excellent 4 x 4 driving! Connie was behaving herself too and we arrived at a place called Indian head where we climbed to the top of this point and had a pretty incredible view! After that we headed to a place called the "Champagne pools" they were called this because the waves from the sea would crash over the rocks and cause bubbles in the pool, looking like champange. It was nice to relax in these and then we sat by the side enjoying the sun. Time to head back into camp to start our food for the evening. A problem occured on the way back though...but luckily it wasnt Connie!! One of the other car's battery blew so we waited a while but in the end our leader told us to follow the other half of the group (there were 8 cars in total split into 2 teams) so that we could get back to camp. Once we had arrived at camp we were all ready to get cooking when we realised the food that we needed was in our cool box on the roof of the lead car, which was stranded with the broken car!!! A long long wait and finally they made it back to camp. Dinner that evening was steak and potato salad, again very tasty ( we were starting to miss our beans on toast now though!) The night consisted of the same types of activities and it seemed a little cooler so sleeping in the tent wasnt as uncomfortable!

The last day was another early get up and we made our way to a place called Lake Wabby. It was a 45 minute walk along uphill sand to get to this place and the sweat was pouring off of us by the time we got there! I dont think either of us have jumped in water so fast when we got there! Definitely worth the walk though. After lunch it was time to head back to the main land and to the hostel! Our group for fraser was amazing, we had such a laugh and all got along so well! Everyone was exhausted when we got back to the hostel, but we spent the night in the bar with everyone playing games such as the frozen t-shirt competition. This game is where they give you a t-shirt frozen in a block of ice and the team to open the t-shirt and have someone wearing it first is the winner! Our team came first!! We also came 2nd at the lady gaga competition which was to make the craziest lady gaga costume in a limited amount of time! We also sat reminicing on all the good times we had had in Connie as a group!

Definitely one of our favourite trips of the travelling adventure so far and we are both requesting Range Rovers to drive back in Leicester on our returns now that we are pros :)

Lots of love Meg and Amy xxxxxxxx