Hello from Hervey Bay! it's been a weird few days but highly enjoyable.

I never thought i'd have to add another species to my list of animals to be wary of, but to crocs, spiders, snakes, man-eating sharks I now have to add magpies. Yep that's right, the common magpie. Walking down the road on sunday morning to meet jetteke at the internet cafe, something swooped at my head and made this horrible squarking sound. I turned around to see a magpie making another flight for my head! Much to the delight of 3 guys at the cafe on the corner, who found it hilarious, the magpie proceeded to fly at my head another few times, I could only stop it by lookin at it- as soon as i faced it, it would stop short of heading for my head. But i couldn't really walk backwards down a road so i ended up crossing over and walking with the guys who had been laughing at me. It eventually flew away. I know this wasn't a one off because the same had happened to jetteke the day before. We avoided that street and took the scenic way home, wondering what it was all about. Apparently, when I asked at reception, magpies have babies at this time of year and so are protecting their nests, even though I was nowhere near it! It sounds funny, but walking through reception that afternoon we found a girl with blood pouring from her head- the magpie had actually succeeded in pecking her and she had a cut on her head that looked quite deep, bless her she was quite shaken! Once she was cleaned up we took her to the beach our way, everytime somethign flew over us we all flinched!

The next morning we were going to Fraser Island on a guided tour. There are two ways to do this: a) a self drive over 3 days where you are put into a group of 11 and given a 4x4 to drive yourself and camp over night on the island with no guide, just a map and some guidance or b) do a 2 day guided tour which is more expensive but you have your own guide and stay in a cabin overnight. We had opted for the second, and im so pleased we did. Our group consisted of 14 people, most were my go or slightly older. We got into what can only be described as a monster truck- big, noisy and high up. It was cool! Sarah was our esteemed guide and she was awesome! Gave us lots of time at each point and we didn't feel like Japanese tourists going from one place to the other with only 10 minutes to take photos.

when we got to the island Sarah told us that the beach is actually a national highway. That means it has a speed limit and you must drive on the left as with any other highway, even though it's actually a beach and there are no road markings. This concept seemed to be lost on a few of the self-driven 4x4s as the people driving obviously don't know their left from their right. Sarah was full of excellent information such as did you know, koala's (that don't actually live on the island) spend 4hours a day eating the leaves of the eucalyptus trees they live on? These leaves are full of toxins that affect the brain, so effectively koalas are stoned 24 hours a day, which explains why they have very little brain activity, a low IQ and sleep for 20 hours a day! I did not know koalas are high all the time!

The sea at fraser island was very fierce, with lots of fishermen. You could swim, however, just past the break of the waves there are hump back whales migrating, along with bull sharks, tiger sharks, black and white tipped sharks and the odd great white. So i decided to give that a miss. Sarah said her mum wouldn't let her go swimming to save anyone who did, but she would stand on the bus to shout directions and warn you when a shark was approaching.

Eli Creek is a freshwater creek on the island, the water is pure and unspoilt, as is a lot of the creeks and lakes there. It also had the only flushing loo that we would find for the next half a day so i decided to pay it a visit, a short walk up the board walk. The family next to us warned us of the large snake they had just seen lying across the walk. I would have not gone, had I not been quite desperate! We then went on to Indian head, where I walked down to the waters edge for a paddle. i figured man-eating sharks couldn't get me in 2 inches of water. With my back turned to the highway behind me, and everyone else, all I could hear was the roar of the waves breaking in front of me. It was easy to pretend I was the only person on that island. It was so soothing to stand and think. I realised how incredibly lucky I was that I was here, stood on a beautiful beach with the sun beating down on me. I know it took a lot of hard work and saving up, and i've always wanted to do it, but there are a lot of people who have helped me get here, from friendly advice and encouragement to making sure I have everything I needed, and it made me realise how incredibly lucky i was and how thankful I am to them. I don't know if i'll ever be able to show how appreciative i am.

Anyway, there is a shipwreck on Fraser called the Maheno shipwreck that was once a luxury cruiseliner. It has been there since around 1930 and is now just a rust bucket stuck on the beach. It looked quite impressive, the bottom deck is somewhere buried in all the sand.

That evening we stayed in Dilli Village, an eco village used by the University of the Sunshine Coast and we were given a small cabin to sleep in (very comfortable) and that night we had a bbq, which was beaut. That night as we sat around chatting, sarah told us a few horror stories of tourists on the island renting the 4x4s here. I'm quite glad i didn't do it, and i'm glad I didn't know these horror stories before ali and lis went on it! She also told me stories about lace monitors (snake like things with legs) appearing in her toilet! That night a few of us stayed up til about 11, polished off a bottle of wine, drank tea with chocolate cookies and played monopoly. It was so much fun!

Dingoes are a problem on the island. Becuase they've been fed so much by humans they have become sometimes aggressive as they forage for food, and at one point were beginning to lose the ability to hunt. We saw one, she had just given birth and so looked incredibly malnourished, but apparently this was normal because mothers just transfer all their energy to their young when they feed. Tour guides put the fear of God into you when it comes to dingoes because they have been known to attack humans, but apparently it's mostly unsupervised children they have bitten in the past. Large groups of adults they tend to stay away from. You just have to make sure that all food is completely looked away otherwise it wont be there in the morning!

Ok, that was the first day, I have to go and get my coach now to go to Brisbane, so will complete that blog next time I have time on the computer. xxxxx

I'm back! Right, where was i? Oh yes, so day 2 of our trip. We woke up and had a lovely breakfast of melon, pineapple, cereal, toast and tea then headed inland to the tropical forest. I never knew trees could be so interesting! We started a 2km walk from central station, learning a bit about the history, it was there that I heard a Cukaburra (sorry about the spelling, it's escaped me) laugh. It sounds like a chimpanzee! In fact, in the first king kong movie, they uised a Cukaburra laugh because chimps didn't make enough noise for them! I've seen a few and they're funny birds. We walked down into the forest alongside a stream that had a catfish in, and the scenery was just beautiful. It was very quiet and calm, and we saw a lace monitor (aka goanna) lead on the bank. He must have thought he was camoflaged cuz he didn't move. The night before I had heard a funny story about a lace monitor popping up in Sarah's toilet... while she was sat on it! It didn't bit her luckily (these tings can do- quite a nasty one). They're a bit like snakes but with legs. If they feel threatened they'll run up the nearest tree- it has been known many times for a group of tourists to circle arounda goanna taking piuctures and frightening it. So what does it do? It chooses the tallest person and climbs up them! Which isn't very nice, it has very sharp claws and really digs in. The forest was beautiful. We came across a tree- called a Satinay that was 1,000 years old and nearly 4m in diameter. It took 5 people to circle the tree.

Our next stop after tea and biscuits was to LAke MAckenzie. Wow. White sand, 97% silica whatever tht means, incredibly fine,- really good for cleaning jewellry bexause it is so fine, and water that is 5.3ph- which is the same as skin- very soft and clear, you can swim underneath with your eyes open and they wont hurt at all. It also leaves your skin and hair feeling soft and silky as well. It was incredible! We stayed for 2 hours, but i could have stayed for 2 days.

The journey back was really uncomfortable. The sand tracks weren't easy and we bumped around for over an hour- that was the worst part of the whole trip. When we made the beach again it levelled out and was an easier ride.

So that was pretty much my Fraser Island Experience, it was amazing, definitely a highlight so far, I'd love to go back.