Hello all!

Before we got to Fraser island we attended a meeting with Ryan who was a darling man whom we all adored. His sweet nature, distinct lack of name-calling and patience was appreciated by everyone of us. We didn't nearly get in a fight with him and his wife IS a lucky, lucky girl......Thanks Ry.

So we got up at about 6am and made our way to the garage in order to collect or 4x4 and equipement for the excursion. After making our way to the barge we were let loose on the island. We were not '7' a this point but '10' as we had three English girls added to our lot. We were known as Group 1. For those of you who are not aware...Group 1 is better than Group 2.....Group 1 is better than Group 2.........camping, camping.....Group 2 are idiots. Sorry.

Nick drove the monster to the first place on our schedule, which was a lovely natural freshwater lake. Group 1 had a jog around the lake as Group 2 looked on in a manner one could only describe as forlorn. Bless em.

We then moved on to cook our dinner or our gas stove. We had been provided with lots of food that we had to cook or heat up in order to survive. When I say moved on......Adele had us bouncing literally. It was good fun watching everyone get used to the beast of a vehicle. With Mike climbing up the van to get the food andthe team working like a well oiled...team it worked just fine.

After lunch some of the group went to other lake and then the guys and myself ventured to the campsite to organise our base for the evening. Boys Brigade would have been proud...of me. Yes t'was I who realised the tent was inside out.....Ah boys!

We all ate dinner together by fluorescent light and I think that each of us saw the most stars ever in one sky. It was absolutely incredible. You could see the Milky Way and literally thousands upon thousands of shining twinkly stars.

The group then split into four tents. All I can say is thank you Laura, your olfactory region took a battering. Nuff said.

In the morning we made our way to a wreck that one of the girls knew a lot about. I cannot remember much of it BUT it was interesting and the area had a bit of a feeling of em, death. Lovely place to go before breakfast!

I then drove to Indian Head which is a viewpoint on the island. Oh the driving was proper, healthy fun. Incidentally Faye drove as well but thought she may need a booster cushion! On the way to Indan Head we saw whales blowing water into the air. When we stopped we could see sharks about 5 metres from the shor...for being so close they were big mother-fockers. We are told before leaving the shore that under no circumstances should we venture into the water as 'marine-stingers' (the Aussie gay name for jellyfish) and sharks, stingrays and the like come into ankle deep water. It is true. We were lucky enough to be able to see lots of whales in the distance. They stuck their head out and then disappeared again. Later in the day they even slapped their massive flippers(not a marine biologist sorry) on the surface and turned around. It was very cool.

When we were about to park at Indian Head Imanaged to get the 4x4 stuck in the very loose sand. We used the s*** spade, our hands and mounths (no really) to dig ourselves out. It was funny, in a looking back sot of way!!!

When we climbed up Indian Head we saw lots of cool views of water, sand, marine life and people almost falling off of the cliff edge. We came down at varying times and read, played football, sunbathed, ate etc. Faye, Matt and I hen walked to the Champagne Pools, which are accessed via another beach. They were very pretty and get their name because of the way the water sprays when it hits the rocks and subsequently fills the pool. Again Faye went in on her own as she is used to braving the cold and em, other reasons!!!

We spent quite a lot of time at Indian Head and were slightly late getting to the next camp site. Ryan told us that we could not take the 4x4 into the saltwater as we would not get our deposit back, so the tide coming in as we drove to the campiste was becoming problematic. We then got stuck as the sand is so hard to drive in and we literally dived out of the beast to dig our way out. It was all a bit James Bond-esqe the rushing before the tide came in....Mike loved it. We got to our next site and had a lovely evening by the..dark.

Up the next morning we ate and headed to Lake McKenzie which was absolutely lovely. We chilled out there and then sadly had to go back to the barge to get to the mainland. On the way back we saw dolphins diving in the water.....it was amazing....

There are lots of funny things that I could include but I will leave with this...

TURN THE GAS OFF MIKE.

Shaznay xx