Someone is definitely looking out for my weather on this trip!

Last week the whole of Fraser Island was evacuated because of a cyclone - all the campsites were flooded out - so I was sort of expecting to get a bit wet. The day before my trip I arrived in Hervey Bay to meet my group and plan our trip and was greeted with torrential rain the entire day and night so we were starting to panic a bit! Then, 6am the next morning when we were due to get up and start packing the car the sun came out! And didn't disappear until the ferry journey back across to Hervey Bay - amazing!

We had the most amazing 3 days in our 4wd. They sent 11 of us off with tents, cooking equipment, food and a map and just left us to our own devices. So on the first day we took a very very bumpy route through the centre of the island to the eastern beach via a couple of beautiful lakes so stopped off for swimming on the way. Then, once the tents were up (and yes I was involved in setting them up!) we went down to the beach for sunset and dingo spotting...

Fraser's dingoes are some of the most genetically pure in Australia but have become very used to campers so are pretty much fearless when it comes to scavenging for food so we had to very quickly get used to keeping all the food locked in the van and doing regular torch sweeps to make sure they didn't come too close to the camp. Some of the people camping next to us had tents ripped open for the food inside so we were pretty lucky! It's quite scary just how fearless and calculating they are - the next morning when we were driving off we saw a pack waiting in the grass for us to leave so they could come and investigate anything we had left behind. They've obviously learnt that when cars are starting up it means people are leaving their belongings unattended...

So on the second day we got a very early start to our drive up the beach to make sure we got to Indian Head before high tide. Indian Head is one of the highest points on the island and looks over a tiger shark breeding ground. Once we had climbed up there it takes a while to get used to what you're looking for but the water is so clear you can see the shadows of the sharks swimming around below which is pretty impressive. We were getting excited at the size of them until we saw a REALLY big one - about 12ft long! We also saw loads of rays and a school of dolphins hunting fish but wrong time of year for whales sadly.

After that we all had a bit of a mental block and for some reason decided to go in the sea! You're not supposed to because of the undertow and the sharks but once we'd had a bit of a paddle the waves proved a bit too irresistable for some people - crazy when you think about what we had just watched swim past in very shallow water but we all survived!

Then once the tide had gone down it was time to drive back down the beach, stopping off for very welcome showers and to look at the shipwreck and Eli Creek on the way back. Then after another night filled with dingo encounters (I've never been so scared going to the loo before!) it was time to pack up the van and head back to the ferry, stopping off for a swim in Lake McKenzie. It's meant to be the most beautiful lake on Fraser but sadly by that point we'd lost the sun so it didn't look as impressive as it could have done in better weather. Really can't complain though as all the groups leaving before and after us had horrendous weather and I'm pretty sure camping out in the rain would be nowhere near as fun!