Fraser Island - Day 2
Friday 5th February

An early 6.30am rise to make sure we had eaten breakfast (which group 3 had prepped) toast and cereal - easiest of the lot, and then were in the jeeps at 7.30am ready to go. Again it was a case of taking it in turns with the driving, as well has who was stuck sitting in the tight space in the very back! We let Joe go first as it was his birthday. What we didn't know at the time was that Joe was still drunk from the night before as well as drinking goon (cheap Aussie wine) from a coffee container so his driving was pretty chaotic. At the time I was sat on a soaking wet seat from one of the lads getting in without changing to dry bottoms the day before so I was sat in an Asian squat trying not to get my bottom wet. This meant not only was I being thrown around all over the place but whilst also trying to maintain Asian squat positioning - I think it was doing more damage to my knees than anything else! Joe at one point got told off for Garie for noticeably trying to make the car skid and Dave kept reminding him in a friendly light-hearted way that there were 7 other souls in the car - something we'd learnt about in the safety briefing. None of us were impressed when we found out the next day from Adam that Joe had been drinking, we chose not to say anything but just didn't let him drive again! Our car before this point had also had so much credit for good driving as well, so much so that our walky talky that Garie radioed everyone on was taken off us and given to car 4 for its inability to keep up. Our car was nicknamed, 'Hot to Trot', title suggested by head driver Dave.

We made it alive to our first stop of the day, Champagne pools. Sadly, it was a raining drizzling day so we were all less reluctant to be getting in the water. They were two or three circular shaped pools of water where the sea crashed over the tops of the rocks and filled up. I had a paddle and then Laura and I stood in a cave and had a chat trying to stay dry and protected from the wind. When we were doing activities we tended to stay with the same people who were Laura, Vicky and Dave, so we got to know them very well and built up friendships quickly. I got along with Vicky really well being my age and Dave is the same age as Nick with also similarity of them having to have done long distance relationship working before so it was nice to chat to her and feel like she understood well. Vic also missed Asia like I did and was finding the rainy days of Australia difficult to find much enthusiasm for. Laura was closer in age to Lisa but I still spent lots of time with her chatting, she had a younger sister too and I felt like she was relatable to for Lisa and me, and a lovely person.

Our next stop of the day was a sacred place called Indian head. I managed to drive the short distance there as a tester go and it was pretty hard to change gear and drive in the deeper sand! When we arrived, Garie told us the Dreamtime Story of island Garie (a coincidence the same name or not I'm not sure maybe he was named after the island and that's why he loves it so much). It was an interesting story of spirits and the island, part of which Lisa and I got distracted for and told off. Basically there are these huge flies on Fraser Island that sit on you and bite you unless you smack them whilst on you. If you try and run away they will constantly come back and bite you. Anyway this fly landed on me so I started jumping and then it went for Lisa while I slid out of the way. We were directly in the firing line front of the group distracting Garie and he ended up shouting at Lisa for dancing around like a 'twit'. I found this quite funny as I'd escaped without being told off but Lisa was furious he'd spoken to her like she was a child at school again. We walked up to the top of Indian head and were told of mass murders that took place there and although it was a sacred place I felt nothing but sadness there.

We went for lunch which this time was wraps with the same filling as the day before, I decided I was more interested in the chips and chicken in the restaurant and bought them to go in the wrap which others also then followed suit to do. Next up was the Maheno ship (which I drove us to!). I found the story to this interesting that 8 Japanese men had been sailing it when it crashed, the tribe on the island had tried to greet them but in looking aggressive the Japanese wouldn't come out of the ship. The Australians that had moved to the island then came and rescued them. It turned out one of them was due to get married the weekend after, the ship was still in perfect condition with brand new tables, chairs, linen and chandeliers so what better place they thought to hold it than on this shipwreck? I thought it was a grand idea anyway and imaged how unique and magical it would have been. Sadly the ship was then years after used to test a bomb on which is why it is in the state it is now all burnt out and more sunk over the years. It was a shame the story finished like that but I guess that goes to show the world we live in today.

Our final stop of the day was to Eli creek. It was still raining at this point and as Garie is throwing us down body boards we are all slightly cold and hardly fighting over them. I ended up with one but just carried it to the creek for someone else to use as the water was freezing there was no chance I wanted to get anything but my legs wet! At one point Garie got everyone in the spring for a 'group photo' before soaking us all...thankfully Laura and I were on the edge so managed to escape but poor Lisa was stuck in the middle of it all and came out much more damp!

Back at the site we had bolognaise (mine veggie version) for dinner, and then after chatting and drinking a bit a few of us decided to go down onto the beach. This is not recommended as you can a) get attacked by wild dingos and b) potentially get ran over by a jeep. Garie did however say he understands travellers do like to go down to the beach at night and would turn a blind eye to it....so fourteen of us headed down. On our exit from the campsite I was linked arms with Paulina and Laura when Paulina thought it would be funny to scream, 'ahhhh snake' when there wasn't one there but as soon as she started laughing about it one all of a sudden slithered across in front of us the timing of it was really bizarre and we were all squealing hysterically. We found a spot to sit down and turned some of our torches off and began to tell ghost stories followed by funny/strange sex stories to lighten the mood before 10 minutes later walking back to the site. We had a dance in the bar and celebrated Adam and Sara's birthdays and me and Laura went to bed about 1am leaving half of the others still up.

xxx