G'day Mate!

After a rushed journey and arriving at the bus literally a minute before it left, we arrived at Rainbow Beach at 7pm - five hours later. We'd planned to eat the food provided by the hostel but unfortunately, due to the floods causing shortages, the meals couldn't be prepared and as a result we dropped our bags, met our roommates and headed straight to the IGA (supermarket) for some food supplies. We woke up early the next morning to the sound of our roommates leaving for their Fraser Island trip, we once again walked to the IGA, had some food and sunbathed by the pool before going to the Fraser Island safety meeting with Merv where we were told that our three days on the island would be spent without a shower, having to dig holes if we needed to go to the toilet and being pestered by dingoes. After our meeting Merv took us to see a car which had been caught out on the beach and swept out to sea - when we arrived there was only 6 inches of the roof visible! It started raining so we chilled out for the rest of the day and booked our bus back to the Langthorne's on Saturday.

The day of our Fraser Island trip had arrived and we woke up early with Gary and Vienna from our room and got ready before checking out. We then spent the next couple of hours checking the car, food and equipment as well as getting some last minute tips from Merv about driving on sand before finally hitting the road. Our tour guides Micko and Crumpy took charge in the lead car and were followed by three tag along cars, we were in the A-Team along with six others; 2 Dutch, 2 French, 1 German and 1 Canadian. After the barge crossing to Fraser, we headed straight to Lake Wabby which is an emerald lake surrounded by huge sand dunes. To get to the lake we had to walk through the rainforest for 40 minutes before exiting onto what seemed like a desert, luckily a little further exploration revealed the lake itself and we spent the next hour cooling off, swimming and chatting. On the way back through the rainforest it lived up to its name and the rain really set in - by the time we were back to "The Beast" we were all soaked. We headed to the shops and then to our home for the next two nights; Cornwell Beach. We had been warned about March Flies (Horseflies to us English) but hadn't fully prepared ourselves for the pest that was to come! There were hundreds of them and it became very frustrating trying to swat them off our bare arms and legs. Kie and Dave, the Canadian lad in our group, began smacking the flies, killing them and leaving them in a pile - by the time the night drew in, they had built up quite a collection! We set up our tents and had a lovely steak dinner cooked by Claire and Audrey, the two French girls in our group before the drinking games commenced!

Our first night in the tent saw us waking tired and covered in sand! Our first stop of the day was Eli Creek, or as Micko called it "Hangover Creek"; an 18oC, freshwater creek where you walk up a pathway and enter before the current takes you back to the beach. Once we'd finished at Eli, we headed to the shipwreck of the Maheno which was a former passenger liner blown ashore by a cyclone in 1935 as it was being towed by a Japanese company who had acquired it to sell for scrap. Conspiracy theorists believe this was no accident as it gave the Japanese an excuse to come over to Australia to recce the area before WW2. However, Aboriginals believe that the ship is meant to be there as "Maheno" means "Island" in Maori.

Our next destination was the Champagne Pools and Indian Head, stopping off along the way at the Pinnacles. The Champagne Pools are saltwater rock pools who earn their name due to the bubbles caused when the waves crash over the rocks. Indian Head is a renowned lookout on the island where, on a clear day, sharks, rays, dolphins, whales and turtles can be seen in the clear water below - unfortunately, it poured down with rain when we were there, and we saw nothing! Typical! Micko came to an abrupt halt on the beach to show us some pippies; a small, edible saltwater clam. Unfortunately some people were too competitive when it came to collecting the pippies, which Micko had said we could take and cook for dinner and many were left wasted in the container - Micko was unimpressed by everyone's greed and tried to revive some of the pippies in the sea. We returned to Eli Creek for a quick wash in the freshwater and our last toilet break of the day. Kie drove us back to camp plunging into the water which not only washed the car but tickled our feet when it came through the floor! When we arrived back at Cornwell Beach we enjoyed an early dinner, again cooked by Claire and Audrey! While we were sat having a few drinks we were lucky enough to be joined by the dingoes; there were about six in the pack including two pups, they circled our camp a number of times during the night looking for leftovers and watching our movements. Tired from the previous night, we decided to call it a night and went to bed - awoken numerous times by strong winds (as in the element, not Kie's!) and a big storm.

On our last day we packed up our camp and set off for Lake McKenzie; the highlight of the island, this meant driving inland through the rainforest on the uneven, winding, sandy roads. Once we arrived we were greeted by clear blue waters, a white sandy beach and welcomed by a huge goanna. The lake was so beautiful you could have been tricked into thinking it was manmade. On the way to the barge, Kie jumped into the driver's seat and enjoyed the challenge of the sandy roads. We arrived back to Rainbow Beach at about 4pm, cleaned our cars and equipment and headed back for a well-earned and much anticipated warm shower! With no food and no motivation to cook, we decided to splash out on takeaway fish and chips! Yum!

After a very fun but exhausting trip we were keen to get back to the comfort of the Langthorne's house and eagerly boarded our bus on Saturday morning! We will update you all on our Brisbane adventures soon!

Lots of love Sophie and Kie xx