Fraser Island/Noosa/Brisbane

Hi everyone! Lots to fill you in on since my last update from Airlie Beach. After a marathon 16 hour bus journey I got to Rainbow Beach, base stop for my trip to Fraser Island. Caught up with 2 friends, Zoe and Kathryn when I arrived and also met people they had met in with and decided that we would go together to make a group for our adventure trip to Fraser Island. The hostel we stayed at organises the trips out to the island, which is the biggest sand island in then world. Five groups of 11 go out in big 4x4 vehicles (which we got to drive, woohoo!) and stay on the island for 2 nights. We were given a route to explore the island which we did manage to stick to and thankfully didn't get washed out by the tides!

Our group had 10 Brits - me, Zoe, Kathryn, Laura, Jen, Shana, Lee, Matt, Jamie, Dan (I was the only Scottish!) because we had created our own but we got given our final member, a German guy called Martin. At first we weren't sure how he would fit in because we all knew each other previously but he fitted in straight away and was definitely one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life, had us all in stitches the whole trip! We called our group the A Team, since we were group A (original!).

The night before we left we all went to see the big sand dunes at Rainbow Beach, they were really pretty! It was a good chance for us to get to know one another a bit better too. We had an early start the next morning so got a good nights sleep. We spent the morning packing up our 4x4 (which we lovingly named Susan!) with food and all the gear we would need.

Matt drove first, glad I wasn't the first person to drive! I didn't have a go until the last morning, was a lot of fun driving along the beach but difficult too. Our first destination was Lake Mackenzie, a beautiful freshwater lake. It was a bit cloudy there so that was a bit disappointing but we had a great time playing around in the water. Next we went to the Marino Shipwreck, a huge shipwreck washed up right on the shore - amazing to see. We set up camp on the beach and started a big campfire to eat our food and have a few drinks around. Dinner the first night was steak and salad, delicious.

The next morning we woke up really early (5am, no idea why!) and chilled until around 7 when we left for the top of the island. We parked up and after making fried egg sandwiches, headed up to the viewpoint. Fraser Island is a shark breeding ground and although we didn't see any we did see huge manta rays in the waters below, was amazing to see. We also took a walk to the champagne pools, whichi were nice but I was so worried about getting stung by jellyfish because they were everywhere!

We drove for a while afterwards to find our next campsite, right on the beach again. We had chicken stirfry for dinner and had drinks, but everyone ended up in bed a lot earlier due to the mega early start in the morning! We all slept quite late the next day and were last group to leave, meaning we were cutting it fine with the tides and Zoe did a great job of driving up on the soft sand towards the end. We did make a stop at another lake, which ended up being a complete mission to get to and we didn't have a lot of time there due to our late start.

We were the last group back and by the time we got back to the hostel were desperate to shower...no showers for 3 days and covered in quite possibly the most sand I've ever seen in my life! At night we headed to the bar to have drinks and reminisce about a fab 3 days...possibly the best I've had in my life! Such an amazing group of people, laughed the most I've ever done!

The day after,we all (except Dan who had to head straight for Brisbane) got to the bus to Noosa, a chilled out beach town. When Zoe, Kathryn and I arrived at our hostel we found out we were actually in an apartment with our own kitchen and living room, bliss after 2 nights camping! We called the rest of the A Team to come round (they were waiting for a bus to pick them up to take them on a 3 day canoeing safari) and chill. We all had so much fun that they decided they would stay in Noosa instead of going canoeing. We had a quiet night because of our lack of sleep on Fraser Island. Was great not having to set an alarm! We had to say goodbye to Martin, Shana and Jen who were all Sydney-bound the next day.

Our second day in Noosa we spent doing some food shopping (Kathryn did some great cooking during our stay at the apartment) and then hit the beach with Lee, Laura, Matt and Jamie. We went back to our apartment in the evening for food and drinks. I don't think that our 2 German apartment-mates were too happy with all the noise going on!

The third day was so much fun....a trip to Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin zoo!). We all got the courtesy bus in the morning and watched old Steve Irwin reruns on the way there. It was so exciting getting there! The first bit we went to was the elephants...they were so huge! When it was time for them to go and get fed they linked tails and trunks just like they do in the jungle book! Next we went to the Croc show...it was great fun but shorter than we wanted. The crocs were absolutely huge and quite scary! We had lunch and then went to watch the Tiger show, which was the highlight for me. the tigers were playing with toys and jumping into the pool, making great big splashes. They were beautiful to watch. Afterwards, the boys went to see the snakes and more crocs while the girls watched the otters being fed, they were so cute and followed one another around everywhere!

The next day we arrived in Brisbane and had to say goodbye to Matt at the bus station, as he was heading all the way to Sydney. We have spent the last few days chilling out during the day, visiting the lagoon on the river and the museum yesterday. Brisbane is beautiful, definitely somewhere I would think about coming back to. We were having so much fun that the boys extended their stay by 2 nights and we ended up staying another one on top of what we had planned. I also got to meet up with one of my really good friends from summer camp who lives here now, and the next night met up with 2 people who I had been in Fiji with.

We waved the boys off at the bus station this morning so now it's just kathryn, Zoe and I for the next 10 days until we are all reunited in Sydney again. The plan for the next few days is Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast and then Byron Bay, looking forward to chilling out on the beach!