Hello everybody...I am in the small town of Agnes Water/1770 basically just relaxing after my amazing Fraser Island safari I did from Thursday to Saturday.

I start you back when I was still in Noosa on Monday (seems ages ago) so have a few very interesting days to cover.

On Monday (5th March) me and Anaick got the bus to Noosa National Park where we walked on the coastal track for an hour or so looking at some great surf spots and cliffs and forest. We got to the end of Noosa head at a place called Hell's Gate then walked down to Alexandria Beach where we found the water not so great to swim in and after a few 'sightings' realised we were actually on a nudist beach. The walk back to Noosa took us across the park on inland tracks and they were so incredibly humid I don't think I have sweated so much in my life so was glad to get back to the main beach and take a well deserved dip after about 4/5 miles of walking. We stayed there for a while then met Jade who arrived from Brisbane and looked around the shops and got a stunning smoothy from Boost. After getting food at the supermarket we made dinner (tinned spag bol on toast with cheese...oh yes) then drank in the Koala Bar for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday was the day I went to the amazing Australia Zoo (Steve Irwins zoo) which I had been looking forward to for ages. The double decker zoo bus picked us up at half 8 and after a nice nap got to the zoo before 10 and got our map and timetable of the days events so we could plan things. We started off by feeding some Asian Elephants by hand then seeing some crocs and some giant tortoises and ending up in the Crocoseum for a wildlife (obviously) show which involved loads of snakes, birds and finally feeding a massive freshwater crocodile. We ate the sandwiches we made then me and Jade had our phot with a Python round our neck which was really cool and definately worth paying for the photo. The kangaroo area was our next stop then headed up to the top of the park to see some tigers lazing about and as we had time walked to the bottom of the park via the red kangaroo area and wombats (wombats are so cool). Here was a Kamodo Dragon (worlds largest lizard), some Kookaboras and dingos; the park aint realy that big so easy to walk around the place in a matter of minutes. We then walked back to the main area where Anaick had a picture with a Koala and we bought stuff in the shop (really nice stubby cooler) before I had my Dingo experience which I had paid 30 bucks for. I met two keepers and two female dingos (one 7 year old named Mia and a younger one who was easily distracted), sat down with them and chatted before they bought them over and I patted them below their chin and Mia licked me which was quality as dingos are wild animals. I had photos taken (by Anaick who was watching and a pro) then I lay down with them and just stayed there for a few minutes which was quite surreal but so amazing at the same time. The bus was waiting so I said goodbye to my new friends, got the proofs of the photos taken by the professional and ran to get the bus back to Noosa. That evening I was fairly tired so wrote in my journal and got a nice bar meal (beef nachos) during a long powercut before ending up in Koala Bar for the evening yet again.

The next morning I went to an internet cafe early to update the site then checked out the hostel and went down to the transit station to get picked up by the Oz Experience bus at 12. We hit Rainbow Beach after a couple of hours driving and here we had an aboriginal experience on the beach which involved digiridoos and boomerangs then I said goodbye to Jade and Anaick for a few days as they were staying here for a night. The bus got to Hervery Bay at 6 and here I checked into Beaches Backpackers Hostel with two guys I met on the bus- Canadian Ben and Pete from the UK who was funny and cocky. Straight after getting to the rooms we had foo at the hostel bar, had a pint then I spent an hour trying to use a payphone which involved going across town. Back at the hostel I sat down with the guys and Georgie and Rachel from England who Pete knew, had a jug then packed my small bag for Fraser and went to bed looking forward to the trip.

Fraser Island 4 x 4 safari (Thursday 8th March - Saturday 10th March):

Day 1- Got to the hostel bar at 6.30 am, had brekky then got sorted into groups after a safety video and initial information about what was happening. The main driver was then picked and unbelievably as no ne else was both 21 and had a licence I was the ONLY driver so was well chuffed to know I was going to bedriving for all 3 days (the other groups and every other group I had spoken to in Australia had one main and a few others that would drive as well so was really lucky). My group consisted of 7 guys- me, Canada Ben, Richard from England, Hampers and Phil from Sweden and Jacob and Anders from Denmark plus 2 girls- Georgie and Rachel (so already knew 3 of my group). The girls got the alcohol and two guys got the food then we got into our 4.2 litre Toyota Landcruisers (we were group A- 4 groups in total) and drove to Bay 4 x4. Here we had a lo-down on how to drive on the island, all the safety things and the various fines you could get and paperwork while the girls packed up the top of the 4x4 with food, tents, roll mat, our bags and loads of other things. We left fully laden after 9am and drove to the barge (stopped off at Beaches hostel to graban ipod connector so we were the only ones with music!) which left Hervey Bay at 10 with 16 cars on board. After a shortish ride we got into the cars engaged four wheel drive and got onto the worlds largest sand island.Sweeet. Driving on sand tracks was fairly straight forward and we got cross the island easily to Eurong where we had to wait a while because of the tide. Once on the main beach (basically the main road-75 mile beach) I put my foot down and soon after reached our first destination- Lake Wabby. The walk to the lake was about 2km through forest and sand dunes (like a desert) and once there we just ran down the sand hill and jumped in the green coloured lake (did this a few times). Back at the truck (should of given it a name) we ate lunch on the bonnet and saw a couple of wild dingos wondering about (250 dollar fine for feeding them or leaving food somewhere). Further north we stopped at Ellis Creek which is a really nice cold stream running into the sea so we just splashed about a bit and played frisbee. Next stop was the wreck of the Maheno which was visible in the distance and just lying there on the shoreline so was cool to see it in the windscreen as it got closer; the wreck is 70 years old and a lot smaller than it used to be with rusty jagged edges so not allowed to go nto it although some Australians actually took a piece off it and took it home. We briefly stopped at the Pinnacles (large hard sand cliffs) and played a game of footy before arriving at Base camp at Cathedral Beach campsite and due to the footy we were last there even though we were infront the whole day. The tents were set up and everything taken from the top of the truck then we had a nice barbeque dinner made by Richard and Georgie and Ray underneath the main sheltered area before we drank goon for ages (cheap boxed wine- we got 4 litres each for 2 nights). Later on some of us went onto the beach and stupidly went skinny dipping in the really dangerous sea (currents, snakes and tiger sharks thrive around Fraser) then went back to the tent for sleep (Scandanavians in one tent and the rest in the other).

After the heavy night before everyone was surprisingly up and about quickly in the morning so managed to leave by 8 (had to leave by then because of the tide) and head far up north to Indian Head. We left 15 min after the other 3 groups and I ovetook them all within 50km but the journey did have some interesting moments as I was driving on the shoreline where the sane was hardest but the tide kept coming in so I soaked the car a lot. To get across to the other beach I had to go across really thick soft sand so unloaded everyone, reversed and stuck it in low range 4wd before powering through it at 4000rpm stinking the place out in the process (its such thick sand that beaches are the only company to let you drive to the other beach). We arrived at the champagne pools soon after (had a few goes at getting up the hill to the carpark and stayed there for a while due to the tide. The Champagne Pools are basically a couple of pools bhind some rocks so when the waves crash into them the bubbles from the force of the wave cover the surface. Here we swam in the pools (shrp rocks so had to wear shoes), relaxed and sunbathed and before we left I lost the frisbee in 6 foot of water a few metres off shore so was gutted. There was only 4 of us in the car as the others had walked back to Indian Head so was spacious in the back for the journey back to Indin Head where we ate sandwiches inside the car then walked up to teh top of it for the amazing views of the island and open ocean plus manta rays feeding at the base of the cliff (at dawn and dusk tiger sharks hang around here. scary). On the way back south along the beach I managed to get the truck to 110 kph (70 mile an hour on sand) which all the guys loved because everyone else stucks to 70kph. Just after base camp we travelled up a long really sandy track to Lake Allam (two cars got stuck on the way and i was in low range a lot it was that thick) to see some small turtles coming out reeds then on the way back down I hit a big branch and scratched the truck and broke the aerial. After this we met Petes truck at Ellis Creek and played a game of footy Swedes vs the rest which we won 4-2 and I scored two of the goals.awesome. A nice dip in the insanely refreshing creek later, we got back to the campsite and got more goon then ate pasta and played evil drinking games (the Scandanavians started it) the rest of the evening.

Woke up disorientated and annoyed as Pete came round the tent and banged a pot and pan to wake us up. When I got out the tent I realised everyone else was up and in full swing packing up the 4x4's so got the rest of the group up and spent the next hour sorting everything out, leaving about 20 min after everyone else. My foot was to the floor on the beach yet again and I overtook everyone at lightening speed (Pete was amazed how fast I drove past him) on the way to Eurong where we stayed for a bit as the guys felt a bit hungover and were all still drinking goon in the back of the truck. Our next stop was Lake Binabeen about 45 minutes away along a couple of great fast tracks (did about 45kph on them no problem in 3rd gear); the lake is meant to be almost as good as McKenzie but we thought it was only Ok as the water was dirty with bits of mud and there were reports of loads of leaches hanging around (we went in the water for a while anyway mucking around and left soon after to go back to Eurong as the guys wanted a goon replenishment (typical). The drive back didn't take as long as before as there was no one infront of me so after a quick stop I drove back up the same track again to go to Central Station (really good tracks) but found nothing there so went straight to Lake McKenzie where we made lunch with the remaining food we had in the car park (I had a tomato ketchup sandwiche). Eventually we walked the short distance to the lake and boy was it worth going to see- it was absolutely stunning with perfect white sand, the clearest freshwater you'll ever see and beautiful surroundings and to top it off the sun was out so glistened off the surface. All of us (except Ben who was feeling ill from drinking night before and in the back) jumped straight in and just stayed there for a couple of hours not getting out at all. We swam around for a while, going down to the bottom where about 20 m offshore the sand went down on a steep ledge into the dark deep so was a bit scary then we were throwing each other in groups and making human pyramids before spending a long time throwing sand at each other (loads of fun but so tiring). Bay 4x4 told us we needed 45 min to get down to the barge but I looked and it was far shorter so we were the last group to leave, at 3:20 (meant to leave at 3) and it only took 15 minutes with the first part being ridiculously bumpy (everyone was flying) and the rest being flat that you could do more than 50kph down it (speed limit only 35 but whos going to pull you over). As usual all the other people down at the barge car park stared at us as we flew in to the music full blast on the ipod and after waiting around for a bit the barge arrive about 4pm. Here I made a bit of an idiot of myself as when I reversed onto the barge we had an almighty bump at the bottom with 3 of the guys heads smacking the window but as I was ddoing it slowly couldn't figure out why but then I looked around and all the other cars were empty of people- I had forgotten to unload my 8 passengers! The barge back took half an hour then we drove back to Bay 4x4 unloaded the truck and cleaned out the appauling mess in the back (proper pig sty) before being told we were getting fined for a scratch we didn't know was there. It was on the drivers door and he quoted 400 buck between us but after heated discussion reduced it to 270 which was only 30 dollars each but still...it was a scratch that we were supposed to be covered for. Everyone was really annoyed at it and didn't help most of them were fairly drunk so the guy was glad to see the back of us. In the evening we had some Thai food then relaxed for a while before drinking goon and going out till the early hours to Hervey Bay's only club next to Koalas.

The whole trip was just incredible and was the best 3 days of my travelling so far- we were in an awesome group (most wern't so lucky), had a great driver! haha and the best time 4 x4 ing on the world largest sand island.

After only 3 hours sleep me, Ray, Georgie and Ben got up and we were on the oz coach at 6.30 outside Koalas where I struggled to find my oz pass. En route to 1770  I had a tasty pizza at a service station on the way, drove through Bundaberg and got dropped off near the road where a women picked me and others who had got off (I was the only one getting off of the guys I knew as the rest were heading straight to Kroombit Cattle Station) to take us to Agnes Water/1770; cost $14 but she gave us a discount card to make up for it. I got dropped off at Cool Banannas Hostel, unpacked and headed into town looking at the only two shopping areas and the beach within about 15 minutes then bought food from the supermarket and made lunch at the hostel (large cheese baguette). The next couple of hours were spent on the beach which had brown sand, was fairly open and had rough waves but looked really good as it was in a large bay (Agnes Waters is the last place you can surf or swim in the sea without a stinger suit on as it is just South of the Barrier Reef). After a dip and some sunbathing and a near miss with a thunderstorm I went back to the hostel and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening writing in my journal and speaking to a couple of Scottish girls (one had done her ACA). Before I went to bed I went on the net and watched a really funny film called Beerfest.

Yesterday (can't believe how up to date I am for once) I uploaded my pictures then rushed down to the surf shop at 10am for a surf lesson with 11 others. We paid our $16.50 (cheapest on East Coast) and walked down to the beach, got our surf boards and after basic instruction that I already knew got in the sea. In the 2 hours we had surfing I stood up a few times for long periods of time, saw a deadly looking jellyfish float by and burnt my face because the sun was so intense and because I had cheap suncream. After collecting a certificate I made my lunch (same as day before), had a shower then got picked up at 3pm by scooteroo tours where me and a load of others were taken to a load of choppers and scooters unfortunately I had to go on a useless red scooter for the first half but couldn't complain as it only cost $30. About 30 of us rode around for a while (a really long train of bikes), saw some kangaroos and a storm and I managed 73kph on the scooter before stopping for photos at a Kangaroo sign half way and swapping for a chopper. I managed to get on the chopper with the Australian flag on it so was really pleased especially since I managed to get it to past 90kph on the way down back to Agnes Water then onto the Town of 1770. Here we had a beer and wedges and sat on the rocks looking at the scenary and a really beautiful sunset in the distance over some hills. We rode back in the dark with our beams on then got taken to the hostel where I again spent the evening doing practically nothing (no drinking at all for second night in a row) and ending up in bed after 12.

Well there you have it- my first completely up to date blog entry so make the most of it and enjoy the read. The next time I update my site I will have been on a 2 day 2 night Whitsunday cruise on the greatest maxi yacht of all time- the Condor which should be amazing.

Speak to you all soon

Cheers

Ant