I was quite excited this morning as I had to get up early so that I could go on a 3 day trip on Fraser Island in a 4x4 car with 2 nights camping on the beach. The only problem with this trip was that I would have to drive an 8 seater Toyota Land Cruiser and not my usual Land Rover Discovery, so please don't tell anyone that I know. First things first, we all has to watch a safety video on off road driving, which they couldn’t get to play and then sign the usual disclaimer to say that we had seen it and agree to follow the rules on the island for insurance purposes of course. We all stood around for a while and talked as they loaded up the car. In our group were 2 German couples, 1 Scottish couple, 1 German girl on her own and also me. 8 of us in total.

Once the car was loaded up with everyone’s bags and beers, they asked who wanted to drive first. No one volunteered so of course I did. The first set of driving was easy as it only involved driving from the hostel to the ferry port, and then reversing the car down a ramp and on to the ferry backwards. Everyone was very impressed with my reversing skills considering that you couldn’t see out of the back window. Once on the island I got to drive on the sand and through the hills to our first stop which was at a place called Central Station which was the ranger station where we had our lunch which consisted of cheese and ham sandwiches, crisps and drinks.

The next drive was to Lake Birrabeen and I let someone else have a drive next. Doreen, the German girl who was there on her own and very annoyed that there were mostly couples on our trip and even more annoyed that they were German too, jumped in the driver’s seat and drove the next stage. We would normally have driven to Lake McKenzie which was the biggest fresh water lake on the island but this was closed for refurbishment of the facilities there and also for clearing some of the bush. So we had to settle for a smaller fresh water lake this time, but it was still amazing to see and swim in, especially as there were no crocodiles on this Island.

After a swim, a few underwater photos and a quick lay in the sun to dry off we headed on to the beach in the car and through some pretty soft deep sand. The trick to driving here was to get the speed up a little and keep going without causing the car to stop as you could easily get struck here, which we saw one car sunk up to the chassis and the other car that came in to help it also stuck deep in the sand. The picture is dark as it was taken through the rear tinted window as we drove past.

We stopped at the Maheno shipwreck to take a few pictures and as we will be back here on the way back, hopefully the tide will be out and I can get a bit closer to take some more pictures. The guide gave us a quick history lesson, see video but here is the history lesson from Wikipedia.....

The history of the Maheno shipwreck.....

The S.S. Maheno was an Edwardian liner on the Tasman Sea crossing between New Zealand and Australia, and was used as a hospital ship by the New Zealand division of the Royal Navy during World War I. A landmark on 75 Mile Beach in Fraser Island is the shipwreck of the Maheno. Maheno was originally built in 1905 in Scotland as a luxury passenger ship for trans-Tasman crossings. During the First World War the ship served as a hospital ship in the Mediterranean, Gallipoli, and the English Channel, before returning to a luxury liner. In 1935, the ship was declared outdated and on June 25, 1935 the ship was being towed from Melbourne to Japan for scrap metal when it was caught in a strong cyclone. A few days later, on July 9, 1935 she drifted ashore and was beached on the eastern shores of Fraser Island. During the Second World War the Maheno served as target bombing practice for the RAAF. The ship has since become severely rusted. Climbing on the shipwreck is not permitted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maheno_%28ship%29

Just up the beach a little bit from the shipwreck we stopped at a campground just off the beach surrounded by dingo fences (to keep them out of the campsite) at a place called Dundubara. As our guide knew the ranger here, he went a got a key to a separate area of the campsite where we could be away from the other campers and also have a camp fire.

Before it got dark we set up our tents, all the couples got one each and Doreen and I had to share the other tent. One of the German couples, didn’t realise that coming to Fraser Island and camping actually meant they would be staying in a tent, so the girl had a bit of a strop for the rest of the evening. Poor thing!!!

Our Guide had a really good set up and you could tell that he does this very often as he had everything that you could possibly need, with regards to lighting, cooking utensils and even logs for the fire. We had pasta with chicken in a creamy sauce and even garlic bread and plenty of it.

After dinner we washed up, opened a few beers, cut and lit a fire and then walked down to the beach to see stars. It was amazing; because there was no light pollution anywhere we could see hundreds and thousands of starts. While we were sitting on the beach looking up to the stars, Doreen and I decided we would set an alarm and get up early so that we could walk down here and watch sun rise. We then headed back to the camp (and the fire) and finished a few more beers and then hit the sack.