I arrived in Harvey Bay about half an hour before our briefing for the Fraser Island trip. After dumping our bags in our rooms for the night I went and joined my group for the trip. There were eleven of us all together, five lads and six girls. The five lads were in a group all travelling together, the other girls were in two couples and then there was Stephanie and myself. The whole group seemed to get on really well from the start. We were given our itinerary and a shopping list for food for the three days and we all headed off to the supermarket. We bough enough food to feed an army but at least it meant we wouldn't go hungry.

The next morning started with a bang, literally... We all arrived at our 4X4 to find the front tyres had been slashed. Someone obviously had a pretty strong grudge against the tour company. By the time we had our final briefing and had loaded all our luggage it was all sorted and we were on our way. Unfortunately, because I was under twenty-one I couldn't have a go at driving the 4X4, To be fair it was enough excitement just sat in the back! Some parts of the track were so bumpy the whole ride felt like a rollercoaster. Fraser Island is the largest sand Island in the world and there was sand EVERYWHERE! - they type of sand you are still finding in pockets weeks later. The island was spectacular. Waiting for the ferry to cross over onto the island we spotted a large number of dolphins frolicking in the water. The day was beautifully clear and so very very hot. Once on the island we headed to our first lake (Fraser has over one hundred freshwater lakes dotted across it). I have never seen water so crystal clear in all my life. It didn't take much convincing for everyone to strip off and dive in! The whole group got along swimmingly (excuse the awful pun) but then again when you are all stuck in the same vehicle with each other all day you haven't got much option. That night, after setting up camp, we all got together and cooked an impressive barbie before sitting down to play a few drinking games and to have a good laugh.

The next day we all had to be up early and on the move up to Indian head by 9am. The weather that morning was overcast but we still made the most of it and from the top of the climb up Indian Head we spotted a whole family of manta rays swimming below. We also took time to bury Will in the sand with fake boobs and all. On the way back we stopped by Rainbow Sands, an area of cliff face composed of varying layers of sandstone in all different colours (of red) and then made our way down to look at an old and rusted shipwreck of the Stirling Castle. It was an impressive sight, it was all broken up and half buried in the sand but still distinctly recognisable as a ship. After lunch we all grabbed our swimming gear and headed for lake Wabbie. Wabbie is the deepest lake on the island but unlike the others it is dark and is full of catfish and turtles. Its main attraction however is its sand-dune surroundings. The lads and I all ran hand in hand as fast as we could down the dune and into the water. I even (stupidly) decided to side roll down into the lake and afterwards wondered why I was eating sand?! We all had a good laugh which turned into shrieks from a few as on the way back we walked by some rather large spiders hanging on enormous webs spun between trees. It makes me laugh how Australia is natively void of the main predators we see in the rest of the world e.g. lions, tigers, leopards etc. yet is home to a combination of the most deadly insects, jellyfish and snakes! Why does any snake need enough poison to kill a man a hundred times over?! That night we al got together again and cooked a campfire version of spag-bog. It has to be said that it wasn't half bad!

The final day we had to get up early again, pack up camp and hit the road (well, the left hand side of the beach) all the time attempting to avoid the sea because any salt water found on the car would result in immediate loss of our bond a total of $60 payed by each of us. Our last stop was the largest and the most famous of all the lakes on the island - lake McKenzie. It was stunning but I personally preferred Birabeen. The lake was just as clear but the beaches were much more crowded. Non the less I still enjoyed my time there and Mark, Will and I decided to make the epic swim all the way over to the other side. When we reached the middle we couldn't see the floor and the other side never seemed to be getting any closer. By the time we reached the other side we had firmly decided we were walking back! On the beach I bumped into Tom, Tim, Dan and Ell, the four boys I met on my trip in Noosa. There are so many people doing the same route as you up the east coast that you are bound to bump into people you have met before.

Leaving Fraser island was sad, I had had such a wonderful time. It was nice having the opportunity to do a trip like that so unsupervised and we had a great group which made the trip that much better. Back in Harvey Bay we all showered and headed out for a few drinks together and ended up being joined at our pub table by a couple of blokes that claimed to be crocodile and shark hunters. Their stories were interesting but as far as believable went, that's another question. That night Yvonne and Sinead, the two Irish gals on the trip were catching the midnight bus up to Airlie Beach. Nat and Laura, the two London girls, were catching a bus the next morning down to Brisbane which left the five lads an myself a whole day on the beach before catching our bus that night up to Airlie Beach aswell. As it turned out, by complete coincidence, all eight of us that were heading up to Airlie beach were all booked on to the same Whitsundays trip on the same boat at the same time. Hehe, that will be fun!