We arrived in Hervey Bay at 5.30am after an overnight bus journey from Airlie Beach. We had 1 day to until we were going on our Fraser Island 3 days/ 2 nights self drive. We had a relaxing day. Charlotte and Dale were in our room and it was only 4 beds so that was good. We met our group in the afternoon and had a meeting where we had to do boring paper work for insurance purposes and then we had to go do our food shop for the 3 days we were going to be away for. There were 3 groups of 11 and we were group b. There were myself & Matt, Dale and Charlottte, 3 Dutch girls - Lotte, Kiara and Isabella, 3 Swedish guys - Jonathan, Tommy & Jimmy and an American who we called Super Brian after all the hard driving he did in 1 van! That evening Dale, Brian and myself had a few drinks in the bar taking advantage of happy hour and then Dale and I found $40 so we made money that night!!

The next day (Fri 12th) we were up at 6.30am to check all our camping equipment was there and all in good condition and packing up the van. We then had another meeting with our itinery and how to drive a 4wd before setting off to the ferry port. We arrived on Fraser Island around 11am. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world, so we drove on sand all the time. We firstly drove to Central Station where we did a rainforest walk, which was beautiful. There was a massive log across the middle of the stream and people walked across like in 'Dirty Dancing'! We then drove to Lake Birrabean which was a huge fresh water lake and absolutely gorgeous. We all had a swim there before setting off to Lake Boomanjin. We had lunch there first and then walked down to the lake front. The water was a browny colour because of all the minerals in the water, it was fine to swim in though and we all had a cool down as it so hot outside! After a while we set off to find our campsite. We had to leave places at certain times because of the tides and we were camping on the beach front. We got bogged down a couple of times and everyone had to get out and push the van! We got onto the main beach and all 3 vans drove to the camp place to set up tents. It was very remote, no showers or toilets where we were. If you had to go to the toilet you had to take a shovel with you! We set up camp and started on with cooking. I cooked spaghetti bolognese for everyone. it was a lovely night as there was a full moon and it was quite light. Although it is summer here it still is pitch black at 7.30pm. After we had eaten we saw quite a few dingos on the beach. They are native to Australia and quite safe to be around if you don't provoke them. We had a few drinks on the beach before we went to bed.

The next morning we were all awake and up by 6.30am as the tents were hot and it seemed later because of the early sunrise. We couldn't leave until 10am because of the tide so we paddled in the sea and then sat in the puddles left as the tide went down. We couldn't swim in the sea because of the sharks, rays and jellyfish! At 10 we set off up to the top of the island to Indian Head. It was about 2.5hrs drive which i drove part way along with Matt but I didn't really like it as the van drifted in the sand. At Indian head we did a short walk up to the top of the rock which had amazing views over the island and into the sea. We then drove to the wreck of the Maheno and then onto Eli creek where we walked along the board walk and into the water and got taken downstream by the current. It was ace! We then went back to camp and set off walking to Lake Wabby. The walk was hard as it was all over sand dunes, but it was very worth it. We ended up rolling down the dunes into the Lake! It was good fun. We stayed for a while and then headed back to the camp for a bbq. After tea it started raining so we had an early night!

Sunday 14th we were up at 5am as we had to leave at 6am and we only had an hour before the tide came up. We drove to Lake Mckensie which is probably the most popular lake on Fraser Island. We were the 1st van there and it was beautiful with no one around. We took our photos and then jumped in. It was only 6.30am but still very hot! Matt and I and Charlottle and Dale practised our 'Dirty Dancing' lifts in the water! We headed back to the ferry terminal around 12.30 ready for our boat at 2.30pm. When we got back we rechecked everything to make sure we had it all and then ran for the showers!! We had an early night as we were tired!

We woke up this morning to get our bus however the alarm went off at the wrong time, so we missed it! We are getting one tomorrow morning instead and going straight to canoe camp instead of having the night in Noosa before hand!!

Anyway will update you after out 3day/3night canoe trip!!

Liz

xxx