Arrived at Rainbow Beach and met up with the Irish boys again. They had just arrived back from doing Fraser Island..was a pity we were days behind them, they would have been a great laugh to go with. Gauranteed good group. Looked like they'd had a good time and we were abe to get some tips for when we were to go. Stayed at Dingo's Hostel and booked our trip for the Monday.

Boys left in the morning and Fergal managed to wangle a free surf lesson from somewhere so he gave it to us. Had our lesson and got on pretty well, just so hard work with currents dragging you all the time. Managed to stand up most times. There were two Canadian/French guys in our lessons, one we called Pedro(not his name we just made it up) and another called Etiennne. They were also going to Fraser Island the next day so arranged to go in a group witht ehm so at least we would know someone. Had our meeting for Fraser Island when you had to watch a video about all the dangers on the island. Pretty much don't feed the Dingos that live on the island and drive safely staying only on marked roads! Met the rest of our group, 4 German's and 3 swiss girls who speak German.

Left on the Monday. had to check all our gear out first and make sure everything worked and we had everything we needed. There are no real roads on Fraser only sandy roads and the beach so had to have a drving chat too! We were told that 'Sand is your enemy and Momentum is your friend!!' Kar and I decided that we were definately going to try driving. Once we checked everything and strapped ourselves and we were off....3 days 2 nights adventure! Pedro drove first..rather him than me...had to get the ferry from Rainbow beach to Fraser island. Landed at Hook Point and it was straight onto driving on the beach....4x4 was good but it had seen better days. Stopped at a place called Eurong and changed drivers, my turn! Got on fine and didn't get stuck at all (even though it's supposed to be the toughest route to drive) Very Very bumpy and the group in the back felt it more than me. Momentum was defiantely my friend.. Decided to go to Lake McKenzie first, what a beautiful place. Clear fresh water, so nice not to be salty. Karen took a turn driving after me and decided to head to Lake Wabby to set up camp on the beach so off we went following signs for Lake Wabby, not looking at the map.....1 hour later we realised that we were on the wrong road. We had taken the inland road instead of the road back to the beach and up that way. The road was really bad and we got stuck so many times, poor Karen, so bumpy and deep fine sand. had to push the car out at least 6 times! Ended up going through a forest, losing sun light and getting stuck again and again....started to worry we were never going to get out and find a camping spot. Poor Pedro was given the task of driving and as he was trying to make time we took the corner too fast and kinda crashed into the banking, thankfully we crashed left and didn't tip as there was a sheer drop on the other side. Decided to take it easy after that. Luckily an Aussie family came past and helped us out and back onto the right road.

Eventually made it back onto the beach and found a wee spot behind some dunes to camp. Set up camp, had the music on and cooked tea , ready for the wine. Started drinking games, the germans couldn't keep up.....Went to turn the 4x4 over to keep the battery ticking and got nothing back, a flat battery!!!!!! Shocking! Ended up in bed early due to no light and no music. Karen woke in the middle of the night poking Pedro awake ( he had to share with us because his tent had burst) scared there were Dingo's outside the tent....I didn't hear a thing.

Woke early on our first morning and Kar and I went out to find soemone to jump start us. Walked along the beach and asked loads of people but no jump leads.....managed to flag someone down who was a mechanic for one of the bus companies and he started us...phew!! had a good breakfast and made for Happy Valley to stock up on ice for the food and drinks and fuel! Met up with other groups who also had flat batteries...the cars must be old. Stoppped at teh Maheno Shipwreck fisrt. Our tour guide for the day (aka Miss K Watters) explained to us the story of the wreck, built in Glasgow and taken to New Zealand it was shipwrecked of Oz en route to Japan. It was left there and looked after by a customs officer, who was married ont eh ship. It was then used as a bombing target for the 2nd world war. There was something quite eerie about it, some original features still in tact.

Drove all the way up to Indian heads and went to the look out to search for sharks, turtles and whales...saw nothing! Spent the day at Champagne Rocks and even though weather wasn't good had a good enough day. One of the German girls drove back to camp and it was a case of hang on...changed drivers half way becasue we didn't feel safe, she couldn't even change the gears herself. Got back to camp in the dark again and took no chances with the battery, no music and limited light.....an earlier night. I was quite excited it was Halloween so made Pedro tell some stories...he told them about Dingo's attacking out tent and me!! So funny! Karen also had a go at story telling. Saw a couple of Dingo's hanging aorund the camp area but they didn't come too near.

Last day on teh island and we were up with the sunrise again. Packed up and headed to Eli Creek. It's a pure water creek that flows into the sea. Walked to the top and managed to borrow some family's rubber ring to float down on, karen and I lay across it and Pedro lay on top of us, our bottom's were scrapping the bottom of the creeek but it was a good laugh! It was nice to swim in fresh water and have a wash, no showers on Fraser. Drove on to Lake Wabby. Had to walk across many sand dunes to get there , rolled down a couple all tied together. (we were already covered in sand so a bit more wouldn't hurt). The hill down to Lake Wabby was also a sand dunes so Karne adn i rolled ourselves down it and into the lake, tried forward rolled too! We were covered in sand, in every place you could imagine. Saw some big fish in the lake so couldn't go back in, too scared. Headed back to the barge to take us back to Rainbow beach and the end of Fraser Island. As we were having lunch we saw a dolphin swimming really close to the shore, a bit of wildlife at last!

Made it back safely...great adventure and it was good fun getting lost, crashing. Thankfully there was no damage so no extra cost.