After leaving Brisbane we had a 7 hour bus trip to Hervey Bay in order to take part in a 4WD Safari trip to Fraser Island(another part of Maxine's prize!!). We rocked into the Hervey Bay hostel at about 9.30, not the greatest hostel in the world but we were only there for one evening before leaving for Fraser Island the next morning. A SERIOUSLY rude awakening on that morning as Maxine came flying back into our room at 6am to inform me that we had about 10 minutes to pack, check out and get ourselves to a briefing on the trip! This is where Max and I met the group we'd be sharing a 4WD vehicle and camping gear with for the next 3 days. There was Oscar and Maria from Spain, who unfortunately couldn't speak English(a bit of a draw back). Then there were 4 students from Sydney, Gesafi from India, Howard and Veronica from the USA and Marsha from Holland(a completely selfish, rude pain in the arse by the way). A pretty good group we thought as many of the others contained loads of kids that would have driven me insane. After the briefing it was off to get the camping gear and supplies from a local super market. The shopping turned out to be a bloody farse as we somehow managed to double the amount of money we were told we should spend. It became obvious how this occured when I looked into the trolley to dicover eight loaves of bread, about 14 pints of milk(I remind you that this was a 3 day tour!), something like 16 litres of fizzy drinks and sh1t loads of crisps, biscuits, and crap basically. Thankfully Maxine managed to get things that would be of use.....like REAL food! After the fun and games at the supermarket we had to speed to the ferry and made it with a couple of minutes to spare. 45 minutes later we arrived at the Island, an amazing place. Which made the fact that the memory card in our camera which had stopped working on the ferry all the more frustrating). One other problem, a rainstorm of monsoon proportions had started, not the best weather for setting up a camp. Gesafi volunteered to drive and proved to be an excellent 'off roader'. Our first port of call was to see the wreck of the Maheno, a rusting old liner on the edge of the surf and a striking image......which we tried to capture with the aid of a $10 throw away camera(pictures to follow......they're cr@p by the way). With the light fading we found a place to set up camp....in the p1ssing down rain. This was not fun. I'd expected to get serious sun burn but was begining to fear hyperthermia. 3 rather dodgy looking tents later Maxine got the cooking under way. What a trooper, rustling up food in that weather. Soon after we abandoned the sodden food and all dived into the truck to escape the down pour and drink beer. This by the way was the only peice of advice given to us by the "expert" at the briefing......"just make sure you take loads of booze so you can get pissed"...invaluable?! No mention of the best way to erect the tents or set up a decent camp, just make sure you can get pissed..... After a pretty uncomfortable night we woke up to a beautiful day. Camping on the beach was looking like a pretty good way to spend our time. We had a wicked breakfast, once again cooked by Maxine before heading to a rocky out crop called Indian Head where the view of the Island were stunning. This was followed by a swim at a place called the Champagne Pools, which by the way contains no Champers at all......I felt cheated but enjoyed the dip anyway. That evening we managed to set up what looked like a passable campsite, a heck of alot easier when the weather is perfect. Mind you - we were camped next to a a team that had a guy from S.Africa - who was used to driving in the bush or something. He'd rigged up some wickedly cool folding tarp between the tents - and I swear that they had a hog roast. But we were comfortable anyway. That night all of us agreed we'd never seen a night sky like it before, SO many stars, and a few shooting stars thrown in for good measure. This was probably bettered when we realised we were watching the moon rise above the horizon out at sea, not something any of us had experienced before. All in all a beautiful, relaxing night......until Marsha who had gone off to answer the call of nature came flying back into the camp and promptly launched herself head first into the truck. Finally the much talked about Dingoes had decided to make an appearance. Max and Veronica were pretty freaked as they realised the high pitched howling was getting seriously close. Howard and I decided that we'd ignore the advice that's given to back away from Dingoes by standing our ground on the track they were using to get closer to the camp. A bit of a Mexican stand off you might say. There were probably 4 or 5 of them and they made a hell of alot of noise. Eventually they blinked first and went on their way. All very exciting and we'd finally come face to face with the animals this island is so famous for. Next day - off to Lake Mackenzie - a massive fresh water oasis. This trip is one to remember...