Today has been, unfortunately, rather disappointing I'm afraid.
Basically our bus broke down for several hours and so we weren't able to see half the things we should have. Things were fine in the morning and we got picked up ok. Fritz was our driver and he seemed like a nice guy. Still got a strong German accent even though he seems like he's been living in Oz for some time.

We got on our way to the island on the boat without a hitch, and so things were going well. We did a nice rainforest walk at Central Station, and saw a really crystal clear stream running through the forest. Fritz said that the water had taken millions of years to reach the bottom....
We had lunch at Happy Valley afterwards which was a really nice buffet (and also cute but moody Scottish guy working there!) and so we made sure we filled up our tummies!
Made some other friends with girls on the bus - Ida from Norway too who was a doctor, Rainbow from California, and Emily from Toronto in Canada. I don't know how it happened, but we all got named by our countries though the three girls from Norway were a bit difficult so they were Norway 1 (which was Trude as she's older), Norway 2, and Doctor Norway!
There was also another change of plan after lunch as it turns out that we would now be staying at Happy Valley for the night, rather than the camp sight where we were meant to stay. Because the erosion was still pretty bad where we were meant to be going (Eli Creek, Rainbow Sands, Indian Head), the bus still wouldn't be able to get there and so we had to do another alternate route. Groan. However, he said that he thought it was better seeing as Happy Valley had proper rooms and so on and so we were kind of upgraded!
I had originally wanted to use a different tour operator, but the YHA sold me this tour on the fact that this operater were going to actually be going up to the Nothern part of the island as they had smaller buses on the other side, and no other tour operator were doing this. Harumph. Hopefully tomorrow should make up for it as we had been told we wouldn't be seeing Lake Mackenzie (the famous crystal clear blue water one that's in all the photos and postcards) but we would be seeing Lake Birrabeen and that was just as good. Apparently more local people preferred it as it wasn't as crowded as Mackenzie and was just as picturesque.

Fritz was pretty funny along the way, swearing at other 4WD drivers on the island. We came across a convoy of about 8 4WD and they had to manouver around us and out of our way as it was easier for them to reverse and traverse, rather than us having to back up. Not much competition really between a 4WD and a 40-seater bus....with a large German man driving it! He was just cursing them for driving in convoy, and obviously not knowing what they're doing. There's only room for one throughway through Fraser Island, so there's not much room to manouver around other vehicles. If someone is coming one way and you're going the other, the smaller vehicles have to back up. Having trees and bush all around them (not to mention dingoes and snakes) there's not much space!!

Then we were on our way to lake Garawonga, and the bus just died. Fritz couldn't even start the engine, let alone open the door to let us out! We had noticed that the air conditioning wasn't working after lunch, but I think we just thought that he'd forgotten to turn it on or something. In any case, it wasn't baking hot on the bus, as the rainforest was a few degrees cooler than mainland temperature.
So, we dithered about for a while wondering what to do as it was obvious that Fritz wasn't going to be able to get the bus started by himself as he'd been outside and looked at the engine and knew he had to call the mechanic. The Lake was only about 2km from where the bus was and we shouldn't be able to get lost if we walked as there was only one path. He told us all to stick together, watch out for dingoes, and not stray off the path.
So, we all hiked it to the Lake in little groups which was flippin difficult as we had to walk in the sand obviously seeing as Fraser Island is a sand island! Fritz also didn't know how long it would take to fix the bus, but he hoped that he would be able to pick us up at the Lake at some point, so we could get back to Happy Valley.

Lake Garawonga was really pretty so I'm glad that we walked there, rather than sitting on the bus waiting and not being able to do anything! I didn't fancy a swim though, but some of the other girls did, which was cool.
At the Lake, we passed another tour group and so we let their guide know that our bus was stuck and he might not be able to get back. He didn't sound very happy about it, but I guess there wasn't anything he could do about it!

After about an hour of being by the Lake (and us wondering what was going on), we decided to walk back to where the bus was. It was nearing 5pm by this time and so we obviously wanted to head back there before it started to get dark. We were also a bit bummed out about missing out on an afternoon of seeing stuff, but I think we tried to make the most of it really.
Got back to where the bus was and it still wasn't fixed - groan. The battery was dead and so whoever was fetching a replacement was still on their way or something. The other bus was behind ours, and there were also a couple of cars behind the other bus. Oops. Lots of bored and unhappy people stuck behind a big green bus!!
Fritz didn't know when the mechanic would be back, so didn't know when the bus would be fixed. Not great.
So, our options were to sit on the bus and do more or less nothing, sit outside on the sand and do more or less nothing (and probably get bitten to death by all sorts of things) or walk the 9km or so back to Happy Valley ourselves. We chose the walking option seeing as it meant we were actually doing something and not just sitting on our butts in a bus or out on the sand! I think we all hoped that once we'd walked a little way, the bus would actually get fixed and so come and pick us up....wishful thinking!!
We did get picked up, but only when we were about 2km from Happy Valley and it was the other bus that picked us up!!! Christ, was I tired or what!!?? I can safely say that walking through sand is not one of my favourite activities!! Especially when you've already been on a few 2km walks already that day!!

We weren't the happiest campers when we got to the Happy Valley (no wonder they called it that, I was certainly happy to sit down there and know that I could go and have a shower!) but some ice cream perked us up and we were also looking forward to some dinner as we were all starving!!
Luckily the cabins we were staying in were really nice - lots of space and comfy beds - just what we needed!
Dinner was good too, and they'd even catered for me with my tomato intollerance! When I booked the trip, I had said that I was veggie (only one other veggie in the group - also a fellow Brit and called Clare) and tomato intollerant so they actually noticed! Shame our dinner tasted like it had been nuked in the microwave, but we did get some nice bar-b-q'd garlic bread and steamed potatoes, mmmmm.

The night also turned into a really funny one as there were some locals playing pool near the bar. Emily really fancied a game of pool but didn't want to play by herself, so Tove went with her. These guys looked like their birthdays and Christmas had all come at once when two chicks wanted to join their game!!
It turned out that Tove and the guy she was playing with, had had a bet that if she missed a certain shot, that she'd have to run around the place naked. If she made the shot then he would run around naked. You can guess what happened....he took off all his clothes and ran around. As much as I wanted to see him make a fool of himself, I didn't really want to see some unnatractive overweight guy all starkers!! Tove also said that she wouldn't actually have taken all her clothes off either - I bloody well hope not!!
The guys were also trying to lure us back to their house saying that they had plenty of booze there, and lots of chocolate and we were welcome to come for a drink. We kept asking them to bring the chocolate to us and then we might....knowing full well we'd take the chocolate and run! However, no chocolate appeared and it was also really funny how the chocolate lure kept decreasing. First it was 15 boxes, then it was about 7, then 5, and finally one not drunk guy told us there were a couple of large bars there. Oh well, never mind then!! :D

After that 'excitement' we took ourselves off to bed as we were all pretty cream crackered. I think we all hoped that tomorrow would be a much better day too, and that we'd get to see Lake Wabby and Lake Birrabeen. Cross figners!!