We started early that morning so we could make use of the daylight on Fraser Island. We were all assigned to a 4x4 making sure that drivers were split evenly throughout the cars. Joel & I were both driving & were put in a group with Phil (a fellow Brit) & Ryan, Zach, Nicole, Kirsten & Hannah ( 5 Americans over in Oz studying). Thankfully they were much more tolerable than the previous Yank we had met. In fact, they probably made our weekend!!

Joel took the reins as the first driver & we followed our tour guide Wayne, who was in the lead car with a group of non-drivers. Our car was the only automatic, so we didn't have to concentrate on changing gears through the soft sand & mud, all we had to do was shift between low & high range depending on the softness of the ground we were on. It did feel really strange though having a lazy left foot without a clutch to work.

Our first stop was Lake Mackenzie. It had sand that was whiter than an albino in a snowstorm & water that was bluer than a really sad smurf. This was our time to chill out on the sand & in the water. Wayne gave us a football to play with, but it wasn't round, it was one of those funny egg shaped things. How strange! Unfortunately a sudden rain shower had us all scattering back up the beach for shelter, but thankfully it didn't last very long & we could get ready to prepare lunch. Each 4x4 had its own eskee of food for the weekend, so we had to ration it out carefully so that we sisn't end up starving. After lunch we were leaving the car park to head to our next location, when Joel obviously didn't realise the size of the vehicle & managed to uproot a wooden fence running alongside the 4x4!!

Our next stop was the campsite that we were staying at, so that we could get our tents up whilst we still had sunlight. Being a seasoned festival goer, our tent was soon up, which meant that the drinking could commence a lot sooner. We spent the evening getting to know all the passengers from the other cars & drinking copious amounts of goon. At some point during the evening I was informed that Joel had curled up into the foetal position & had been a bit sick. Upon getting him to his feet, he steadied himself against the centre pole of the marquee we were sat under & promptly face planted the floor, pulling the tent down with him. After somehow getting him to bed, we rebuilt the tent & resumed the drinking well into the early hours.