Hey everyone,

Well what an amazing experience we had doing the 4WD off roading. We shared our jeep with 9 other people who we became really good friends with and went to Fraser Island. We drove on the sand and through amazing rainforests and sometimes got a little stuck but we always got out of the deep sand in the end. We had to folllow the tide times and could only drive on the beach inside these times. On the 1st day we drove to a really beautiful lake called Lake Makenzie. The water was as blue and clear as the sea and we went swimming and messed about. We went back to the jeep and had lunch in the forest whilst dingos were around (wild dogs) so we had to be careful and watch our stuff particularly food. We then drove to a rainforest at Central Point for a lovely walk along by the river and drove back to the beach to set up camp on the beach for the night. We had a massive bbq and got to know each other more and played games and went to watch the stars out on the beach. It poured of rain that night but didn't stop the fun.

We all woke up with hangovers the next morning but got up nice and early to head to another lake called Lake Wabby. This lake was also truly stunning. We had to walk through the forest for over half an hour to get to it but was so worth the walk. There were massive sand dunes which led straight down to the lake and the water was dark green which is from the pigment off the leaves in the forest which surround the lake. Again we went swimming and messed about in the water for an hour or so. Time was against us today because of the early tide so just as we got to the beach, the tide was coming in so we had to drive inland to find somewhere to camp for the night. It took us longer to drive to get to the beach beacause there was a cyclone not so long ago that pushed massive rocks onto the beach so we had to drive really slowly over them and also detour inland to get round. We drove 2 hours to find a camping site inland by the forest but when we got there we could not camp and it was closed! We were also against time again beacause nightfall was coming and we couldn't drive at night. The jeeps and terrain are hard enough to drive on during daylight! Anyway, we found another jeep who had just pulled up who told us they were staying in an Aboriginal private camp about 15 minutes away and we could follow to see if we could stay the night. When we got there we met this amazing Aboriginal man called Daniel who let us camp the night and use all his facilites for GBP4 each! What a bargain! So we set up camp and had to finish pitching our tents in the dark! We made dinner and all sat around the camp fire he had lit for us and toasted marshmallows. He brought digeredoos out and taught us how to use them and he also took us through the woods to teach us about the land and wildlife. As the night went on, we all got drunker and drunker and started playing card drinking games.

On the last day we all got up early again with even bigger hangovers and went to a shipwreck which was once a beautiful liner called Maheno wreck. We all had our pictures taken and then got back in the jeep to try to find Eli Creek which we couldn't so we decided to drive back to Lake Makenzie until our ferry came. As we got to Lake Makenzie, a jeep came up to us telling us someone had crashed into a tree and the road was inacessable so we just went back to the beach and waited for the earlier ferry. We got back to the hostel, cleared out our jeep and all had lunch together and went in the pool.

In the evening everyone we had met helped celebrate my birthday early because they were all leaving today. We all sang kareoke all night and everyone bought me loads of drinks. I had 2 birthday cards written on pieces of paper and my presents consisted of a flower, a packet of washing detergent, a condom, 5 dollars (GBP 2.50) and a freddo chocolate bar - quality!!! They all made my night so special. What an amazing early birthday!!! Will put all pics on soon as these stupid computers won't load my camera. Love ya all xxxxxxxxx