Fraser Island - someone said to me "It is like a little piece of heaven" having been there and spent two beautiful days exploring in a 4x4 coach I would totally agree with this observation. I will try to summarise the two days into managble eading unfortunately when I do return you will be BORED to death with all the photo's I have from the island but I think when you see them you will agree that it is one of the most beautiful places on earth!

Waking up on Saturday morning to a thunder storm my heart sank I had been wishing for nice weather for my trip to Fraser and it looked like I was going to be unlucky! However 10 minutes after being picked up in a 4x4 coach that looked like a lorry with a coachy bit on the back instead of what they normally have, and heading for the barge at Inskip point and the sun was shinning and the sky was clearing of all the thunder clouds - Thank You!!!! We made the 7minute crossing on the barge and drove onto the main "Highway" on Fraser - which is actually 75mile beach but the road rules are the same as a regular tarmac highway!!!! First spot - 3 dingo's in the shallows with a turtle! It was a little gory to watch the dogs ripping bits out of the turtle but because they were pre-occupied with food the bus was able to get really close to them. On the "highway" we were making our way North, we were driving along the beach at high tide (not reccomended) so that we could get up to the Champagne Pools and indian Head. Because of the tide in some places we had to go off the beach through little cuttings which were only just big enough for the bus to fit through! And then when the waves came a little too high up the beacu the bus had to "run away" from them! All in all an awesome ride up to the pools where we grabbed some lunch and wandered up a cliff path to some enclosed pools which had been formed by rocks and were therefore shark proof! Sat on the headland looking out to sea - probably the most beautiful place I have ever had a picnic! After a bit of chillaxing the three "kids" in the group - me and two canadian girls - went for a dip in the water! After an invigorating swim it was back into the bus for a short time to get off again and clamber over the rocks to Indian Head, the most Easterly point of the island. Up here you could actually see forever! Right to where the sky met the sea, where the natural curve of the earth formed a horizon. It was truly stunning! Swimming around the rocks at the bottom of the cliff was an eagle ray - like a sting ray but more triangular shaped. Also a long way out in the ocean we could see the spray coming from the blow holes of whales! On the drive back we stopped at the Maheno Shipwreck - another incredibly impressive sight! And a little way on again we came to Eli Creek - a small extremely clear fresh water stream which wound through the rainforest into the sea! I walked along the bridge up it and then down some steps and back to the beach through the water. Our last stop today was at Rainbow Gorge Sand Blow ( The difference between a dune and a blow is that the sand on a blow is moving so no vegetation can grow) I managed to run half way up before it got too steep and I crashed out! And then it was time for the fun part of running straight off what looked like a sheer drop back down the sand! :) Back to the bus for the last little trip to our amazing resort! By this time the 11 of us had successfully bougght enough sand onto the bus for it to resemble the beach! After dinner most of the group went out to watch the stars - the sky was so clear and with no commercial lights polluting the sky we could see billions of stars and the whole Milky Way! At night Dingo's are scary!!!!! We didn't see any but the fact that they could see me and I couldn't see them freaked me out a little!!!!

This morning I got up at 6am to watch the sunrise - it was 100% worth it!!!! The sky looked like it was on fire! It was perfectly clear apart from a few clouds gathered around where the sun came up making it an incredibly impressive sight! Today the weather was stunning again and a fabulous day follwed the amazing sunset! After breakfast we jumped on the bus and drove up the beach to Lake Wabby which is a lake with one side formed by a sand blow! We ran down the sand and straight into the lake - a great way to start the day and it wasn't actually cold! I swam all the way to the other side of the lake which was about 100metres or so but it felt alot further!!!!!! in some places the lake is 14 metres deep so there was no stopping for a rest! In my journal I now write about 2 pages about the other people on the tour with me...but you don't want to read about them! We headed back to the resort for some lunch and then headed to Central Station through the closed cannopy rainforest! Sat at the back of the bus I really got thrown around as i learnt the true meaning of off road driving!!!! We went on a 2km walk through the rainforest along a beautiful clear creek and then headed for our final stop on the island - Lake Mackenzie! In the picutres this looks stunnign - it is a crystal clear sand bottomed lake. And it was even more amazing in real life!!!! Perfectly clear it almost looked like a swimming pool! For about two hours we swam, chilled on the sand and mucked around with photo taking! A man in the water provided priceless entertainment for the whole beach while trying to get to grips with an underwater camera. And all too soon it was time to leave!!!!! The drive back through the rainforest was just as bumpy but when we hit the beach the driver said he wanted a co-pilot to ride up front with him and as no one else seemed to bothered I climbed up into the cab for the final ride along 75mile beacu and back to the barge to take us home to mainland Australia.

This was 2 of the best days of my life but I have been saying that about everything I have done since I have been away so I will just generalise and say I have had the 3 best months of my life!!!!

Back at Dingo's and I was stuck on a top bunk....when you have been on Fraser Island this is not a good thing - I accumulated enough sand to have a beach party and found it in my backpack for weeks afterwards!!!!!