We have survived our three days camping on Fraser Island without being eaten by dingos or sharks!!

Hello everyone,

We have just come back from our drop bear self drive tour to Fraser Island, which was two nights and three days. We both had an amazing trip, and have made memories that we will never forget of the beautiful island. Fraser Island, was originally called k'gari by the local aborigines,which translates as paradise, and me and lee both agree that couldn't be more accurate. It is a world heritage listed island, and the largest sand island in the world half a million tourists visit each year. Me and lee are so pleased we got to spend time on this naturally beautiful island, which we have learnt is gradually changing over the years.

So we said our goodbyes to the beeson's, we had a lovely time with them in their lovely home and were going from one extreme to another in terms of accommodation!! We were picked up at 8 o'clock in the morning on Monday, in a huge 4 by 4 truck that each seats eight people. We were introduced to our tour guide, Jay-man and we immediately knew he knew the island inside out, so we were in good hands. Lee later named him a cross between google and Wikipedia, he had been camping on Fraser Island ever since he was one and he is now forty, he has even wrote a thesis on the island. We were so fortunate to have such a knowledgable guide who shared it all with us, and we learnt so much.

We crossed the river in noosa, and were soon driving along rainbow beach as it was low tide. The weather was perfect, blue skies and it was crazy to be driving so close to the water and going to quick. After about twenty minutes of beach driving, one of the other cars behind was not keeping up. Jay-man said right lee get in the car behind you are driving. Talk about thrown in the deep end, I stayed in the first car and lee went off to drive behind me. He absolutely loved driving in the sand I was so worried they would get stuck, and as you guessed lee had no trouble keeping up the speed. He even drove an off road track, which was so challenging, he was in his element and we hadn't even arrived at the island yet.

We passed the breathtaking coloured sands of rainbow beach, and stopped at what jay man said was the best stop to surf in australia for him to catch a few waves. Jay man is also a professional surfer who come 3rd in the surf comp last week in noosa. I then swapped cars and was with lee! The scenery as we drove was so beautiful words cannot describe. We picked up a few more people for the tour, then got on the ferry to head over to Fraser Island, everyone was so excited to live on a sand island for three days, despite the rain predictions!!! There were 30 of us in the group, and everyone was really nice we made some lovely friends and all got along great.

It was lees turn to drive again when we got off the ferry, he was the first to drive on the island and he was still loving it! We are greeted once again by an absolutely stunning landscape. We were told to follow the track of the lead car as that was the safest route, some of the driving was so dangerous and you could easily get stuck in the sand. We had to avoid the water at all costs, but were told not to turn the steering suddenly as we could flip the car. I immediately knew that my driving skills did not extend to this type of driving, it was so difficult, so all the girls let the boys drive. Lee was driving, and there were four cars in the line,we were last. He was following the tracks of the cars in front, but as we were a few minutes behind we got caught by a massive wave. It went all over the car, we all got soaked and we couldn't see through the windscreen. Everyone in the car had a giggle as this happened not once but twice, it was so hard to avoid as your couldn't do any sharp steering, luckily we didn't get in too much trouble!

Lee got us to camp safely, when we arrived he said lauren there is your toilet, I thought he was joking, but he wasn't! Our camp was set just off the beach, you could hear the ocean and had a big undercover marquee which was set up for us to all eat dinner together. We didn't have a shower, and we had one of those pop up camp toilets, which the zip was broken on. Jay man told us he had to empty, hinting to only use it if we have to, telling us to dig a hole when we needed to go and that we will stop at lots of proper toilets along the way. The aim of the tour was to give you an authentic Australian camping experience, there was no fences around the camp site so dingos could roam freely, and the purest breed are found on you guessed it Fraser Island. Further it is mating season which means dingos tend to be more aggressive, so you can imagine how scared I was. When we were having our introduction about the camp, the housekeeping rules etc, two dingos just waltzed onto camp sniffing around the tents, I couldn't believe it, the tour guides soon chased them away, as they are apparently scared of humans. We couldn't leave one thing in our tents not even a toiletry bag, as dingos would rip it open and go through it.

We sorted out all our sleeping bags and sheets and were back in the cars heading to lake wabby, which is located in the great sandy national park. We had a 35 minute walking trek to the lake, and passed so many sand dunes, it looked like we were in a dessert. Jay man explained to us about the butchella people, who are the indigenous people of Fraser Island, we learnt so much about their lifestyles and believes, it was truly incredible. Aboriginals lived on Fraser for more than 20,000 years, the arrival of European settlers on the island resulted in a sheer reduction of aboriginals on the island. We heard many stories some good where the European and aboriginals would work together and others of the Europeans torturing them.

The area which surrounded the lake, was of sentimental significance to the butchella people, as this is where they would bring young teenage boys, and they would return as men, women were not allowed to this area. Jay man showed us a series of stones with sharp edges, that the aborigines bought on the island to tattoo the boys. These were hidden under the sand and over time have come to the surface.

After a hot trek we finally reached the lake, it was a green freshwater lake and the deepest one on the island, and home to many fish. It has a ph2.5 and that was our shower for the evening haha! We had great fun relaxing and swimming in the lake and taking in the beautiful surrounding landscape. The lake is directly opposite a sand blow, and soon will be completely covered by sand! We then trekked back to the cars and headed back to our home for the night!

We were all starving, jay man cooked us rump steak with sausages, mash and onions. It was absolutely delicious and lee went up for a second round, which was topped off by cookies. We spent the night chatting with some friends and we were all sensible and didn't drink too much that night as we were up a six for a nation packed day of sightseeing. The first night in the tent was fine, although it was very hot and I was paranoid of the dingos!

The next day unfortunately the blue skies had disappeared and we awoke to thick grey clouds. Which is such a shame, but we were quite lucky in that it didn't actually rain too much. We were up at the crack of dawn for eggs on toast, then we all loaded up in the cars, where lee got to do some more beach driving.

Our first stop was Eli creek for our morning shower, the largest creek on the island with a flow of 80 million litres per day. It was absolutely freezing but also beautiful and we all enjoyed floating down in the fresh water. The water is fresh you can drink it, jay man filled 20 litres from here for the camp! Our next stop Indian head, was our furtherest point, located at the end of seventy five mile beach. The spot was named by captain cook in 1770 as he spotted many aboriginals living opt here, jay man told us some were even chucked to their death at this spot. The headland provided 360 degree views of the whole island, which again was amazing. Jay man told us that the headlands are in fact moving 8cm every year into Asia, so a century ago the island looked completely different and the headlands were also higher. Unfortunately on a clear day it's almost certain to see turtles sharks and various other fishes.

Next stop was the champagne pools. These are naturally formed volcanic pools and it was great to swim here and watch the ocean crash onto the rocks. We had great fun swimming the the salt water, as this is the only spot you can swim in the sea water, due to the high risk of sharks. At last it was lunchtime, we stopped at this lovely picnic area for lunch. Luckily for lee there was a shop as he was getting withdrawals from crunchies and we stocked up on from goon for the night (cheap box of wine).

After lunch lee was back behind the wheel, this time we never got covered in water and we headed to the landmark, the shipwreck SS Maheno. This was built in 1905 and was a luxury passenger ship. Whilst being towed it got caught in a cyclone and swept up to the location it is now. The wreck has been on the beach since 1935, and is now 4 storeys in the sand. It was fascinating looking at it and we couldn't believe how big it was considering over half in buried in the sand. We enjoyed comparing before and after pictures.

We then went to see a whale carcass it was amazing to see the skeleton was absolutely massive, only to find out it was only a baby, weighing five tonnes. It was got washed up onto the beach after being chased by a shark and it was too heavy to get back into sea. We were then going back to Eli creek to quickly wash off the salt water and for a quick drink and it was just a great at the first time. It was only a small distance from where we were, so I was persuaded to drive. I was very nervous but thought I will probably never get the chance to drive on Fraser Island again so had to give it a quick go. Lee was very worried fortunately the other boys had never experience my driving in a small Clio! Fortunately it was automatic, and it was so so much fun driving along the beach right next to the shore and up bumpy sand and through water. I loved it and so happy I gave it a go!

Next we saw the pinnacles, this is a coloured sand cliff, there was so many colours and have formed over hundreds of years where minerals leach through. The whole group found it incredible that the whole island is made of sand, there were parts that looks like solid black rocks, but when we touched it it just crumbled. Our final stop of the day was to an area with bubbling sand that was knee deep. Jay man showed us titanium in the sand, we all held it , it is so so heavy. It is used to make space ships, paint, perfume the list was endless, it is worth a fortune but you can't take it! On the way back we spotted some more dingoes just roaming around and lee got a great pic.

We had an action packed day, and we learnt so so much about the island from jay man and saw so much. We headed back to camp for an early dinner, this time a delicious chicken stir fry with rice. We all started playing drinking games at four o clock, yes you guessed it far too early. We played horse riding and ring of fire but we combined all different rules from different countries. We had such a laugh, it was a really good night. Lee and our friends chris and Pete entertained everyone with their attempts on the didgeridoos, it was absolutely hilarious and made some of the strangest sounds. It was such a hard instrument to play.

All of a sudden our drinking was interrupted by screaming from the near by tents. Everyone rushed over to find out that some girl went to get in her tent and two dingos were laying in there. I couldn't believe it, the workers went with sticks to try to get them out but they just didn't move. Eventually they got out and run off, everyone was so scared after seeing that! It's far to say that that night me and lee both slept uneasy, every noise we heard we thought it was a dingo outside our tent. The next morning we found out the workers were up to early morning trying to scare the dingos as there were about eight lingering around camp. I was happy that it was our last night sleeping with the dingos!

We were up bright and early for our last day of exploring with some people getting out of bed with awful hangovers, fortunately us two felt fine! After our eggs and packing up the car we were heading into the rainforest. Lee drove again and this time it was through the forest, some really hard off road driving, the girls in the back were flying around all over the place. The first stop was the favourite lake Mackenzie, everyone was so excited.

The lake sits 300 metres above sea level in the middle of the rainforest, surrounded by greenery and pure white silica sand in the heart of the rainforest. The water is made up of rain and is so pure with a 3.5ph. It is the home to turtles and a few fish. It was definitely one of the most picturesque sites, with crystal clear fresh water and pure white sand, the only thing missing was the sun. When the sun is shining the reflection makes it look even more crystal blue. We had an hour in the lake and although it was raining we had so much fun. We all played ball and took some underwater pictures. We found it incredible that this beautiful place was in the middle of a forest, and the lake is absolutely massive. It was definitely a highlight of our trip.

After drying off we took a walk deep into the rainforest, jay man encouraged us all to go bare foot and connect with the land all hippie style and feel the energy below us. He even made us all hug a massive tree and hum! Fraser Island is the only place in the world where tall rainforest trees are found growing on sand dunes on elevations over 200 metres. We saw so many difference species, some plants you could even eat. The trees were gigantic and some were so old, and have existed since the age of the dinosaur.

Finally we visited the heart of Fraser Island in Central station rainforest. We went to wanggoolba creek, which was butchellas women's birthing place and was later the headquarters for Fraser Island's forestry operations. The water here is completely clear and pure, as there is a big sand dune sifting through the water, which members of the public are not allowed to walk through. We then had lunch before we headed to the ferry back to Hervey Bay for one night.

Our trip was truly incredible, we will never forget the things we have learnt and we still can't believe how beautiful the island is, and that it is all made of sand. Although we were sad to be leaving paradise, we were so excited to get to our hostel, flashpackers for our shower and to sleep in a bed! Our hostel was absolutely lovely, we both spent ages in the rain showers, which was a real treat. Lee was thrilled to find out that every Wednesday night is all you can eat dominoes. We both enjoyed our pizzas and made the most of all you can eat of course. You will be surprised to know this is the first dominoes we have had on over three months!! Haha! We both slept like babies last night. There was such a heavy rain storm in the night we are so lucky we were not still in the tents!

Today we are getting a bus to Agnes water, to the town of 1770 for two nights. We arrive today at around 6pm, and are meeting up with our friends from Fraser Island for some drinks which we are looking forward to. Tomorrow we are off on our scooteroo chopper tour around the town, there is bad rain forecasted so we are hoping we don't get too wet. We leave late Saturday night for an overnight bus to airlie beach where we will be for lees birthday!

We hope you enjoy all the pictures, unfortunately they do not do it justice especially with the grey skies. You should google lake Mackenzie and see what it looks like on a sunny day! We are hoping for better weather especially for our whitsundays trip next week!

We will update soon. Missing you all lots

Xxx