Fraser Island - Day 1
Thursday 4th February

We woke up super early and feeling super tired after hardly any sleep the night before. Strange antics were going on in our 16 bed dorm some of which included someone playing a harmonica, somebody sleep talking, somebody having a shower at 2am and getting ready like they were off back on a night out and someone shouting to a girl on the other side of the room they wanted a massage. I was pleased to check out to say the least! We had to be out of the room by 6.30am, have our bedsheets handed in to check out and on a bus by 6.50am. I realised I'd dropped my driving licence the night before out of my bag when I'd gone out in the dark to speak to Nick on the phone so was in a flap asking reception if they had it and searching around. Unfortunately I didn't find it so I'm there trying to re-order one before getting in the van as I knew I'd have no signal for the following 3 days. I managed to order it to come in time for driving in New Zealand and we hopped on the front of the minibus with our huge bags. Everyone else apart from me, Lisa and a girl called Julia were going back to Noosa after the trip for the after-party, but we were staying at Rainbow Beach and heading upwards once we were back so didn't see the point returning in the south direction.

The minibus driver was really chatty and friendly also calling Lisa and I 'double trouble' and chatting to a Swedish guy in the front seat called Max. It took about 3 hours and we eventually arrived at Rainbow Beach. Everyone piled out and stood in a line to sign up for bedsheets which was $10 and to pay $10 insurance incase any damage occurred to the jeeps we would be driving on the island. We got put into cars depending on who could drive and by chance of where we were stood in the que. Our car consisted of me, lisa, Vicky and Dave (a couple from Barnsley we'd met the night before at the briefing), Adam and Joe travelling separately from somewhere in the UK, Laura from Bath and Max who had been in the front of the minibus. We had a deep red coloured jeep and were the second vehicle in a line of four, following the lead car which had all those in it who weren't allowed to drive (had to be over 21 and with a licence). We had to check the vehicle over and after a bit of faffing we finally got going with Dave as the head driver. The tunes were put on and we got chatting to our group who turned out to be a great bunch. All of us were 25 or over so we were on more of the same wavelength than some of the younger travellers you meet!

The driving was to be taken in turns and Dave had to jump out on the way to the ferry stop to get contact lens liquid (yes this was random) so Lisa took over driving so he could hop in and out. Unfortunately she then had to try and drive the jeep onto the ferry, she did a good job up until the car started rolling back, I started screaming about it while the rest of the car looked panicked and some man was waving his hands in front of us shouting for her to pull the hand break and put it in gear as I saw us nearly go into the car behind but it was pulled off in time. Dave took back over driving off the ferry and for the groups first cruise along the shore of the ocean convoying one after another. The sun was trying to come out and we had music blasting and it felt lovely to feel like the only people driving along the island...until we saw our first Dingo which was simply a skinny wild dog.

Our first stop was at the resort for lunch which the group from car number 1 made, basic bread with filling but was fine. We then got taken back out to see Lake Mackenzie known as waters of wisdom to the people living there. We got into our swimwear and went into the clear blue water, lots of us were putting the sand in our hair as it is supposed to be really good minerals for it and also rubbed it into our skin - a nice free exfoliation! Unfortunately it started raining while we were there, but we got a few group photos and then headed back to the resort.

The resort we were staying on was very similar to the hostels we stay in in having a pool table, communal area and bar on site with shop around the corner. We had to split into groups of four and choose a room so Lisa, Laura and I decided to stick together and we asked Jon Jon who had been in our room the night before to come in with us. Jon Jon turned out to be a great help throughout our stay in helping us with killing spiders, taking the rubbish out and just generally being a gent.

That evening our group had to cook and wash up, Vicky and Dave volunteered to cook and the rest of us sat down to eat with them at half 6. We met many others including; Yael from New York, Many from the UK - Ciara, Gracy, Abi, Jo, Susy, Tiff and Ben (a couple travelling together), Luca (Poland), Alice and Paulina from somewhere in Europe and played ring of fire. Laura made me laugh as was sneaking into the fridge to get cheese slices to snack on and Garie our tour guide let us have somebody else's Tim tams out of the fridge after we washed and tidied up. A few drinks later and people playing killer on the pool table (to which at one point I sat at the table to stop the Swedish guys from playing as they weren't listening to Susy's rules!) and I ended up sneaking off to bed for half 11 being really tired still from the lack of sleep the night before.

Xxx