Before going to Fraser Island i had one night in Hervey Bay which is were my tour starts from. I didnt arrive in Hervey until Late afternoon so i just spent the night at the hostel. I met a couple of people who were also doing the fraser tour so i had a few drinks with them.

The next morning i had to get up at 6am because we were meeting in the bar at 6.30am for our briefing!! Here we were told whats we would be doing on fraser, put all our valuables and backpacks in storage (we were only allowed to take a small bag) and we were then put into our groups. I was in a group of 9 people and it turned out to be a fantastic group!

On fraser island we would be living and travelling around together as a group. It was a self diven tour so we were just given a map and a few tips of where to go and the rest was up to us. We just had to be back at camp at a certain time. There is no accommodation on teh island so camping was the only option. Im not really a camping person but i was happy to give it a go and luckily our camp site had toilets, showers and cooking facilities which is unique on the island as no other camp site has. Fraser island is the largest sand island and teh only way to tarvel around it was by 4x4 along narrow roads and driving along the beach!

After buying food, alcohol and picking up our 4x4 cars, we headed over to the ferry! You had to be over 21 to drive the vehicle which put me in the picture but i chose to wait until the island. Once we were off the ferry we were on our own with just a map in hand. The roads were very very bumpy and of course sand so the ride was a lot of fun!

We had arrived on the island early morning which meant we had until 4pm to get to camp. We drove from one side of the island to the other along narrow sand road until we hit to beach! This experience was brilliant. The beaches were absolutely goorgeous and stretched out for miles! Driving on sand however was very difficult. We had to avoid any soft dand and try keep close to the water. When going over softer sand it was very hard to keep control of the steering so we her bumping and sliding quite a bit, but this made it good fun.

Our first stop was to visit Lake Wabby. Most of the sites we visited on island were lakes that we could swim in so when the photos get put on there will be lots of lakes, but they were very beautiful, surrounded by rainforest and surrounded by sand dunes. What makes the island unique is the rainforst and how it actually grows out of the sand!! There is so much sand there that it is said to have more sand than the entire sahara desert.

It was a good trek down tp the lake so the walk back was very hard work! At it was very very hot!! I was shattered!!! But i needed to exercise so it was good.

After leaving we stopped at a few lookouts over the island and then headed back to the beach so we could go in the directiopn of our camp. This is where it all started to go wrong! As soon as we reached the beach, we got stuck!! We thought it great at first all part of the experience! But after the first time, the other times didnt take long to follow!! None of them were particularly back but the woirse was yet to come.

After visiting a shipwreck and come pinnacle rocks, we headed for our camp. At this point i was driving. The road leading up the our camp was up a steep hill of very soft sand. So i put it in the correct 4 wheel drive mode and went for it. We got half way and then the car started sliding back!! Crazy!! So everyone got out and luckily i managed to get it up. We told the guy at the camp how we had got stuck a few times but he didnt make much of it. Little did we know how the following day would be even worse!!

We arrived at camp, had another briefing, then went to put our tents up. There were nine of us in our group adn we had two tents. It didnt take us too long so finally we were able to go and get showers. The day had been so hot!!! and after sitting it a hot car, waling along beaches and doing hards treks we were all very smelly. It was nice knowing we had the luxury of showers, but then we found out we had to pay!! $2 for 4 minutes!! how rude!! So you have to be very quick!!

For tea we did a BBQ and salad which was very nice. Then the drinking started. i decided that the only way i was going to get some sleep in the tent was to have a drink! There were thousands of bugs around and the possibility of dingos coming into camp which happens frequently!! So a drink was needed!!! One guy called Chris from New York got us going in a game of flip cups (which i will teach you all when i get back) and we had a blast. In teh end all nearly all the camp was joining in!! Fab!!

At 10pm the lights get turned off so we headed down to the beach to continue the party! We were all getting pretty tired so the drinking stop but we just lay on the beach and looked up at the stars!! It was the best night sky i have ever seen!! They semed so close!! It was a great way to finish the day.

By 11pm we were all in bed. It was very very hot in them but i did manage to get some sleep.

Next morning we were up at 5am!! We were going to go to a place called idian head where if you get there early enough the sea is like glass and you can see all the sharks and turtiles swimming. So we got up to make some breakfast only to discover that our plates were missing!! During our drinking session we had totally forgotted about them and now they were no where to be seen! The plates had been provided by the 4x4 company so they would have to sharge us. Not a good start! After breaky we headed off in the car. But it wasnt long until we were stuck again!! As soon as we got down the hill that i had previously got stuck on, we got stuck again!! We couldnt get it out but thankfully a guy came a towed us out. So off we went, but after 100 metres, we were stuck again, and then another 5 minutes and we were stuck again!! By this time we were all getting a really annoyed!! We dug, pushed, got salt water to harden sand, but nothing worked!!! It even got the point where some of us gave up and just sat on the beach! And all this time people were driving past and not helping at all! The flipping Ranger drove past three times and ignored us!! During one more effort at pushing one of the boys noticed that the back wheels were spinning like mad, but the front wheels wernt doing anything, which meant we were not in 4 wheel drive! After finally managing to get out we were off again with the thought that maybe our 4 wheel drive wasnt working.

After 2 and a half hours we reached the indian heads, a journey which should have taken an hour! We had got up early especially but it had all gone wrong. But before going up we had to park the car. The rest of the cars were all lined up in soft sand, no problems, but our car wouldnt do it. Anytime we got close we got stuck. We ended up parking miles away from everyone else on sand that was slightly harder!! It just kept getting stuck!! Something was obviously wrong. Anyway we climbed the rocks and had a gorgeous view out to sea. We even spotted a shark in the water!! It was pretty big, a tiger shark i think.

From the indian heads we were supposed to drive to some other rocks to a place called champagne pools. To get there you had to go through some very soft sand, which the other groups did easily, but we didnt even bother trying so we walked. It was a good 45 minutes each way. The champagne pools have their name because in the rocks there and pool that you can swim in, but the waves crash over the rocks giving it the bubbles effect! We stayed for an hour or so but it became cloudy so it was pretty cold in the pools.

After treking back to the car we had lunch on the beach and then headed off again. We wanted to go see some turtiles in a lake near our camp but we were a bit worried about the car because it meant going in land a through some more soft sand. We decided to give it a go, and inevitably, we got stuck!! This time we all just sat there, we just couldnt face getting out again and digging, we just gave up. So a couple of the girls went down to the beach to flag someone down for help. Thankfully some guy came to help and he said the same thing had happened to him one time. We told him how we didnt think that the 4 wheel drive wasnt working so he had a look and discovered that the front tires werent locked!! which is whats makes the 4 wheel drive work!! So for the whole two days we hadnt even had 4 wheel drive!! and thats why we were getting stuck so many times!! We couldnt believe it. The guy fixed the problem and even test drove it for us to make sure we wouldnt get stuck again. Thank god, it finally worked!! We could go anywhere we wanted! We were very annoyed though as we had wasted a good few hours of our trip digging out the car, therefore missing out on seeing parts of the island. A big complaint was going to be made when we got back!

Anyway on to the turtles we went. We were expecting to see big ones but when we got there, they were these tiny little turtiles! I must admit i thought they were cute. If you patted the water they all came up to you!. Not whats we expected but it was funny!

After that is was time to go back to camp. Luckily we found our plates, the local ranger had picked them up for us so the dingos didnt get them. We were all pretty exhausted and after tea we only had a couple of beers before having an early. Despite a few noisy neighbours i got some sleep.

Up at 5 am again as we were determined not to waste the day again as it was our last. Over night how ever it had rained and all our stuff was soaked, so again not the best start.

I did the first bit of driving along the beach which was a very long drive but i did well. It quite hard to drive on the sand becuase you lose control of the steering a lot but i got the hang of it. The now 4x4 car that was working was so much better and we didnt get stuck once! We visited three more beautilful lakes, which we didnt swim in as the weather was still a bit dull, and we wanted to save the swim for our final stop which was the famous lake mackenzie. On one of the lake there was sand that you could clean your jewellery in! So did my rings so now they are very shinny!

We reached lake mackenzie by lunch time and spent a bit of time there, It is a gorgeous lake, the colour of it was amazing! We all had a swim and just chilled out on the beach!

The group i was in was brilliant. We all got on so well and had such a laugh. There were two boys and a girl from holland, 3 girls from london, a very funny guy from new york and another girl from canada. I hope we all keep in touch!!

After lake mackenzie it was back to the ferry to go back to hervey bay. The Fraser Island experience certainly wasnt we had expected, but it was certainly one il remember. Things did go wrong, but that was ll part of the adventure and we all havent been able to stop laughing about it since!! I havent laughed so much in ages!

As far as dingos go we did see a couple but not many. Saw a couple of big spiders, ahhh, plenty of massive bugs and got bitten to death by mossies, but hey, it was a great experience!! It nice to be back in a normal bed again though, even if it is in a hostel! Its fair to say last night i pretty much passed out!

Hopefully i will get chance to put some photos up soon which will help you guys understand what we got up you!

Sorry for any grammer mistakes in this!!

Next stop, 1770!