Fraser Island

Fraser island is the largest Sand Island in the world. It is made entirely of sand which was swept up together over millions of years from the mainland. It was first held together because of birds pooing out?seeds of plants and trees?in the sand and?so the roots grew?and now are all over the island helping to keep it together. It is also the only place where Dingoes are found completely wild!

Up nice and early at 5.00, I crawled into the shower, (a priveledge I was not going to get for 3 days!) and met my 10 other group members outside to start loading the Toyota Land Cruiser 4x4. We had stacks of food, and even more alcohol to squeeze into the top section of storage above our heads in the back. Designated driver Robin 27 yr old guy from Surrey, showed he had 4x4 experience by driving us all to the ferry with impressive ease. Of course the big question crossing ur mind right now is...why didnt I want to drive? Simple, I did want to, I just wasn't allowed because the insurance for the car only covered 21 yr olds and over, grrr!

On the ferry we had to prepare the beast for some serious off roading. We had to turn the diff-locks on all 4 wheels, release air from the tyres to "soften" (ha ha)?the ride for us all and the most important thing of all, engage 4 wheel drive mode from 2wd with the second drive stick. The first experience of the surface of the track was pretty exciting. I do mean track aswel, not road. It is only wide enough for one 4x4 and is just bumpy sand in between a canopy of wild trees either side. We looked at the suggested itenerary of how to see everything in three days and decided to do it in reverse. Basically meaning that we could see the awesome Lake Mackenzie twice and end up near the ferry on last day instead of driving from the top of the island. Lake Mackenzie was incredible! It is a huge fresh water lake. The water is absolutely crystal clear. It happened to be a scorcher of a day too so we all went for a swim. I ended up swimming across it with another girl from the group which took us 45 minutes, pretty scary, im not exactly a strong swimmer either. Actually kinda stupid too because it is soo deep and once ur half way theres no going back and no one to save u if cant make it. I made it just about and walked back round which only took 15 mins.? After some really quick sight seeing and more lakes which all look the same but smaller, it became apparent we were going to run out of light very quickly. The Hostel told us we should start to set up camp and tents about two hours before dark around 3.30-4.00. We finally reached?our target destination for the day and?found somewhere to camp at 6.30! Yes it was pitch black and had been for about an hour already. The spot we chose was really small and cozy just off the beach, with some swiss guys camping there too. Thank god they had some flame torches to help assist the headlights of our truck and we managed to set up 4 tents in about 20 mins, job done.

The cooking was a great experience for me, we had a gas bbq and ancient tin bowles , pots etc each, which had been used millions of times before for other groups. It was really back to basics. Sweet! After our french ex-chef Roman cooked up some meat for dinner we bagan drinking and getting to know each other.

We had been sitting on a tarpaulin mat all night, and one by one people wandered off to bed. Except three of us lying down on this mat. We decided it was such a nice evening with amazing stars above our heads and the wooshing of the sea, that it would be great to sleep right there. After grabbing our sleeping bags and talking for a while more til early hours of the morning, Miriam, a nice Belgian woman, sat up, and said so dismissively, "Aww look, theres a Dingo." I didnt really believe her because of how she said it. Until I saw 2 more appear from different sides of our camp. We were surrounded! There were 3 wild?Dingoes scavenging for food around our heads poking out of the top of our?sleeping bags! Argh! I was scared but kinda really excited too, what an amazing experience, sleeping outside on a Sand Island in the middle of the sea off Australia mainland, with nothing but air?between me and three wild dogs. Cool. After the adrenaline wore off, it quickly became apparent as to how uninterested in us they were, and dedicated to finding some left over barbie meat in a bin bag somewhere. They couldnt find any because we cleared up very well. After some close encounters with Dingoes sniffing my head, we relaxed and jus fell asleep with them still there, they got bored after a couple of hours and we all woke up with the powerful sun shining on our faces at the crack of dawn unscathed whatsoever!

The next couple of days were similar, just sight seeing and enjoying the hours of crazy bumps in the car. We made the ferry in good time and got the car back safe and sound. So all in all it was a great trip, with some unforgetable, once in a lifetime experiences under my belt!

Cattle Ranch Station and Whitsundays Island Cruise coming soon!