12/2/10

Since James decided to sleep in the 4X4 I took his pad so I was able to double up the pad and roll the top of one as a pillow.The sleeping was a little better but not quality sleep and I was up by 7:30 am.I decided that a nice stroll in the ocean would help freshen me up and wake me up.It felt great to get in the water and it looked like it would be a nice day.After breakfast and making my lunch for the day it was time to start breaking down camp.Dave showed us how to fold up the tents and everyone pitched in to help clean up and take down the campsite.Once again Richard was working like a machine and it seemed like he was everywhere helping out with whatever was needed.I helped do some tents and then with the help from Inge we took everything out of the 4X4 and swept it out.In the couple of days we had accumulated a lot of sand from getting in and out of the 4X4.I think we were all packed up and ready to go shortly after 9:30 am or so.I enjoy seeing everyone come together to get a big task done.The trailer which holds most of the gear and the camp kitchen is quite impressive how well thought out it is.

We headed out and our first stop was in town so people could use proper toilets and get something from the bakery if they wanted.Dave was also going to use this time to wash off the trailer and park it in a spot where he leaves it in town.I just took the time to chill since I had just eaten and it was like our 3rd stop here in the 3 days which for me is about 3 times more then I cared to stop.I knew that next we were headed to Lake McKenzie which everyone talks about and the pictures look amazing.It also gave me some time to change up my bandage on my leg.I had this wound right below my knee that is elevated and the opening is about the size of a quarter and it was getting worse on the island.I had been putting cream on it and putting bandages on it but every day it got worse.It was now constantly seeping blood and some sort of yellow gunk.It was pretty gross looking that I will admit and it did hurt some but I was not going to stop doing the things I wanted to do.My friends in my group seemed concerned about it and the redness all around it but I was not too worried about it.Other people in our larger group would ask what happened and since I had no clue I just said I did not know.Some were convinced that a spider had laid eggs in my leg and soon they would be crawling out and others said that it was an alien marking.Jeppe and Stacey said they would take me to a chemist to get it looked at before we left the next day on our road trip to Noosa.Today Jeppe and Stacey were also in my group 4X4 since they traded spots with Fiona and Bex since those two were hanging out with Woody and Phil every time we were out of the vehicles anyway.We left town after about a half an hour and started the drive to lake McKenzie.The drive was all in land and quite bumpy but we had fun in the back with our group.We arrived at the parking site for the lake and near the parking site were some toilets and a couple of fenced in picnic areas.No food was allowed at the beach and this fenced in area was to keep food safe and to help keep the Dingos away.The lake was beautiful and like nothing I have ever seen or experienced.It was a nice sunny day as well so everyone was pretty happy.I went out and swam around and my group was throwing around a Frisbee and another soft type ball that floated.My feet were still hurting and sore so I was not overly mobile so I just played catch in one spot in the water instead of running around.I swam out a ways and wanted to see if I could touch bottom.I tried 2 or 3 times with no luck and I decided to try one more time and go as far down as I could.I usually close my eyes and work my way down and return without opening them.This time I started down with them closed and I went down a long way as the water got much colder but still no bottom.I opened up my eyes and I could barely see the top even though the water was crystal clear.I kept them open until I surfaced which seemed to take forever.It was a total trip and when I got to the top I had a hard time catching my breathe but I was amazed by the experience.We spent some more time just goofing around until a couple of people had decided to play chicken.I did not participate in this but I enjoyed every minute watching, laughing, and taking pictures.I learned that Caroline was a tough competitor and she was undefeated on top of Richards shoulders.Then we took a break to go back to the 4X4 and get our lunch so we could go eat at the picnic area.While we were getting out our food at our vehiclelooked at the 4X4 parked on the other side of ours and I saw faces that I recognized.It was the Norwegian girls that I had meet on Magnetic Island and done some hiking with.They were just starting their 3 day tour with another company and were doing this site on the first day but it was a very nice day for it.I am glad my group did it on the last day since we all got to know each other better over the course of the trip.Lunch was nice as we ate in the fenced in area and my group was happy to have a nice day to eat the big watermelon that we had bought for our trip.After lunch we had another 45 minutes more to enjoy the lake before we needed to leave and catch the ferry back to the main land.In the last bit we got some nice pictures of the seven of us that were planning on going to the Stereo Sonic festival in a few days in Brisbane.We also just took some goofy pictures where we pretended we were building and one were everyone was just pointing.Good fun with great people.At some point near the end our guide Dave was showing off on the beach by doing walking handstands and slipped and fell on his shoulder.He was in a bit of pain and was favoring his shoulder quite a bit for the rest of the afternoon.The ferry ride back was enjoyable and we were trying to see if we could spot any dolphins but no such luck.It was bright and sunny and I was a bit sad to be leaving the island.We got back to the Palace hostel and Stacey checked into the see if tickets were still available for the music festival on Sunday and they were.The tickets were expensive at $135 but I was down for going if the group was going to go.We ordered the tickets and then I had to say good bye to Richard and Caroline since they were not staying another night in Hervey Bay but instead were driving right down to Noosa.I knew I would see them again in a few days so that made saying good bye easier.Judith and Inge had time kill before they caught their night bus to Brisbane and they decided to go to town and get some pizza.Jeppe and I were out of booze so we took his car to the drive in liquor store.....yep, that is right drive in liquor store..CRAZY....this was my first time going to one in a car, I had been to a few on foot but that is not quite the same experience.We had planned on using our unit to make dinner and such but some of the Germans beat us to the punch and were doing their cooking in our unit.When I was walking back I happened to run into my traveling companion Beat who I hung out with at Airlie beach so I invited him to the little BBQ as well.I decided to move our little cooking party to the BBQ area next to the pool and I also had put in a load of laundry.Richard had left me his big Kangaroo steak to eat and it turned out very well.I cooked up a bunch of sausages, burgers, and some kangaroo.Beat had joined us to hang out but had already eaten.I was getting the kangaroo that I had bought ready and Beat told me I should do it differently.Next thing I knew he was carving it up and taking over with his own knife.I found out that Beat was going on Fraser Island the in two days with the next group going out.During hanging out by the BBQ Stacey and Jeppe had invited two German girls to join us on our little road trip the next day.So Jenny and Sally were in for the road trip.We know had a full car so that should be fun.When my laundry was just about finished I had noticed that Judith and Inge had returned from getting dinner in town so I went and told them that I had moved their bags into my room so they would be safe.I was the only one in my room which was the same room and the same bed I had when I first arrived.The girls came back and wanted to get some sleep and shower and change before the 1 am bus ride they had to take.It was a nice and relaxing night after the BBQ and everyone was looking forward to getting a good night sleep on a real bed.I chilled in the unit on the couch for a while talking with Stacey and Jeppe and looking at some of the pictures of the trip.The girls got up and got ready and then came out to say good bye before they left to catch the bus.It would be nice to see them again and hang out in a few days.This hostel is not great and it did not have a place to lock up valuables within the rooms but it had the nicest storage lockers I have seen in OZ.They do a lot of trips like this so it makes sense that they have nice ones so people feel their stuff is safe.They just take a deposit as well so they do not even charge anything extra for this.