G'day, hope everyone is good. We got to Hervey Bay on Wednesday 16th. We arrived at the greyhound and were met by a minibus from Beaches backpackers who took us straight to our accomodation. It was a pretty nice place, and we had a dorm room to ourselves (so we thought). We went to the hostels bar and got some food and a few drinks, then headed to bed as we were tired and getting picked up at 7.40am in the morning for our Fraser Island tour. There was a foreign couple now in our room too which was fine and we got into bed and fell asleep, before being rudely awoken by some Korean girls at about 1.30am barging into the room with suitcases, lights fully on and talking loudly - grrrrr!!! After several huffs from around the room they got the hint and turned the lights off and got into bed.

In the morning (Thursday 17th) we got up bright and early, headed for some breakfast and awaited the arrival of our shuttle bus for our tour. We got on the ferry and arrived on Fraser Island (a World Heritage Island and rightly so) at around 9.30am ish. We were met by an Aussie guy Chris who was to be our tour guide for the three days. We headed up to the end of the jetty and got onto the 40 seater 4x4 monster truck. After a few safety announcements on Chris' behalf we headed off. It was so cool, a really bumpy ride that threw you everywhere. Our first stop was Basin Lake which was really small but beautiful white sands surrounding it. Afetr a few photo opportunities, and we walked out around it. Loz almost got bitten by a massive red ant which apparantly would have caused her alot of pain. Chris then told us the dreaded walking news. We were to walk 2.8 km through a Rainforest to meet him on the otehr side with the truck. A couple of the guys who were hungover were not happy about this but nonethless we headed on. We walked to a place called Pile Valley through what seemed like the middle of nowhere. We then met Chris in Central Station and ate a gorgeous salad bar type lunch he had set up for us. We then were to go on another walk, a 2.6km one and then headed to a Lake McKenzie. This was such a beautiful lake, again white sands surrounding it and the water was crystal clear so again, we thought it would be silly of us to not take the opportunity for some photos. We also saw a Dingo (which the island is covered with) trying to steal food out of someones bag on the beach. A young boy cam eup to us when we were in the water too witha fresh water turtle in his hands which he let us hold for anothe rKodak moment - it scrateched me though as Steph got really scared as I was passing him over and she pulled away so I almost dropped him. So she reulsted in pointing to it for a picture instead of holding it haha, bless her! After staying there for an hour or so we had some tea and coffee and biscuits then ehaded back to the bus, buckled up tightly and returned to our lodges at the Kingfisher Bay Resort. The accomodation was really nice, there were about 10 lodges each with kitchens, showers and 5 dorm rooms in each. We were in a room by ourselves. Lodge 5, Room 4 to be precise. We then headed up to the bar at the resort for some dinner and a few drinks with our fellow tour buddies before heading to bed at around 10pm. Graham, Frank and Paddy are absolutely hilarious.

We got up on Day two of the tour at 7am and headed for breakfast ready for our 8.15 am start to the day. We buckled up, this time on the bag seat (known for a really bu,py ride) and started off by heading down "Rollercoaster Road" - the name explains it all! Very bumpy but really funny at the same time. we then drove through Snake Valley where Chris spotted a big carpet python snake and he picked it up for a photo opportunity. Loz was the only one who managed to touch it, we didn't fancy it. We then drove to Stonetool Sandblow Lookout which was a really cool view then headed towards the East side of the island and drove along 75 mile beach. Again was very bumpy - our bums came off the seats several times, but was hilarious!!! We stopped off at the Red Canyon for a look around and some photo opportunities again then headed back along the beach towardsIndian Head. Here we walked up a really steep hill to see a gorgeous view of the beaches and the ocean. It was a really sunny day too which made it even better. The lookout also saw Taylor Bay which was invetween Indian Head and a place called Champagne Rocks. We were told by Chris to look out for sharks in the ocean and to see if we could spot them asd apparantly you sometimes can but we couldn't :( On the way back down the hill we saw a big spider too yuk!! We then got back onboard the bus and headed to Champagne Rocks for some lunch and a swim. We didn't go in but it was really cool. When the waves came over the rocks it really did look like champagne bubbles after popping the cork! On the way back to the resort we stopped at Maheno Shipwreck on the beach and swam in the clear water of Eli Creek which flows into the ocean. That night we went to Franks, Brians, Paddys and Grahams lodge for some drinks after we ate food but then went to bed early again ready for another early start the following morning. Graham was really drunk though and was really funny. They were in Lodge 7, Room 4 and about 2.30am we were asleep and heard banging and kicking on our door (to which we were quite scared) so we decided toa sk who it was rathe rthan open the door but noone answered and they went away. About 5 minutes later, it appeared again with loud shouting of "Let me in" and otehr mumbles to which we figured it was Graham. We opened the door to which Graham then looked confused and in his Scottish accent tells us He doesn't live there and he was sorry. Very funny event.

We woke in the morning (Final Day Three, 19th) and headed to breakfast. With about 5 minutes til we left on the tour, we noticed the boys weren't here so Loz and I went to knock for them. Paddy, Brian and Graham were in bed still and we were greeted by Frank who told us they wouldn't be joining us as Graham hurt his ankle the previous night (to which we found out today he had broken it by falling down a step). We then headed to the bus where Chris asked if anyone wanted to ride upfront and I gladly offered too. It was so much fun... you get even more bumpy rides and a first look on everything. We stopped at a tree which looked like a dragon (completely natural causes and actually did look cool. Then as we were driving around Chris slammed his brakes on and opened his car and pulled in a snake (only a little one) but I was petrified, and he made me touch it - It was really rubbery! We then went to Lake Wabby Lookout which was really cool with loads of sand dunes and then walked about 2km to the lake. Here we were able to sand board down the dunes into the lake (I wasn't particularly fond of this though, but Loz and Steph loved it). We then did a 2.8km walk across SandDunes in the heat which was really hard to the beach and the sea. This was quite scary as Chris had previously told us about a guy who had got lost on this walk and had been found 2 years later by a backpacker tripping over his skeleton as she went to the toilet - nice! We were met by Chris on the beach and he took us to another resort at Eurong Beach Resort. Then we headed to a Lake Birrabeen which was stunning. As I jumped out of the truck though my flip flop broke (it was a sad day - they were my favourite) and so Chris lent me his size 12's which you can imagine how funny it looked bless him! Lake Birribeen really was beautiful. After sunbathing for a bit, Steph and I decided we wanted to re-enact the Dirty Dancing scene where he tries to lift her up in the water, so we grabbe dpoor Frank and made him try. We were really close but its suprisingly hard to keep your body in a straight line. We then headed up for tea and biscuits before heading back to Kingfisher bay Resort as that was the end of our tour :( We got on the ferry and arrived back in hervey Bay at the Greyhound bus stop around 6pm ish. We then had to wait til 12.30am for our bus, so decided to go for food then went to the cinema to see "P.S I Love You" which is a really good film. Then we boarded the bus ready as we could be for the 14 hour ride ahead of us. And here we are, 14 hours later... In Airlie Beach. Our resorts ok, got a dorm room of 10. It'll do :)

So that has been my past couple of days, and I can safely say that Fraser Island really is one of the most beautiful places in the world!

Will update you after we have done our sailing trip around the WhitSunday Islands on Tuesday. Speak soon. xxxxxx