Fraser Island - Day 3

Up at 8:30, packed quickly, to try and beat the high tide.

Drove to Eurong for breakfast, then to Lake Wabby. Saw catfish and turtles in the lake. The lake is interesting, it's kind of oval shaped, bounded on side by rainforest, on the other side by huge sand dunes. We rolled down the sand dunes.

Got back to the ferry terminal about 3:10, had lunch, and waited for the 4:00 ferry. Back to the hostel, got a room, unpacked the truck, showered, Kristin, Louisa and I went for supper, I had an expensive steak.

To the bus station about 9:20, bus came about 10:30 and we left about 10:40 on the night bus to somewhere, not sure where as I type this.

Fraser Island - Day 2

Up very early, so hot in the tent. Breakfast was cooked, then me, Erika, and Sharon walked to Indian Head, a big rock jutting out into the ocean. From the vantage point, we saw rays, tiger sharks and a turtle. Sometimes dolphins and humpback whales (when in season) can be seen too.

Back to the camp, packed, then most of walked to Champaigne Pools, except Kristin and Louisa, they were too hung over. Champaigne Pools is some "pools" barricaded behind a series of rocks, the ocean water crashes over the rocks, and into the much calmer pools, it's quite amazing, actually, hard to explain.

Then drove south to the Dundabara camping area for lunch and a hot shower, and to clean our dishes.

Then on to Eli Creek, where we floated/swam/walked down a cold river. Remember me having Kristin on my shoulders and I dunked her in the water. She screamed the whole way down. It was funny. It did make her feel much better, though.

Then to Happy Valley resort area for snacks at the cafe. Bought a birthday muffin for Erika (her birthday).

Then drove south to Rainbow Gorge, and camped there for the night. Only Fraser Escape trucks camped here.

There were dingo's running around the campsite here, not too afraid of humans, get quite close to you. The women went to the bathroom in big groups, often times me or one of the other guys coming along to be on the dingo watch.

We played drinking games, then me, Kristin, Louisa and Richard went up the hill to where some more campers were, and we stayed there way too late. We got back to our camp about 5:00AM, I went to bed, the other three stayed up and cooked bacon and eggs.

Fraser Island - Day 1

Up early, 6:00, for a 7:00 meeting, an old guy swore at us and told us not too wreck his cars, and don't kill ourselves. Showed us a video of all the bad things that can happen. Then we were ready to go, Fraser Escape had 5 trucks going out today, and when they were going to take us to the ferry, our truck wouldn't work. The got another truck, had to wait an hour for it, then moved all our equipment over to the new truck, then they got the first truck fixed, so we had to move it all back, and we got to the ferry two hours later than all the other groups. They told us they would book us on a later ferry on the way back in three days.

Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. In the middle is tropical rain forest. Very veautiful. After getting off ferry, drove to Lake McKenzie, a beautifully clear lake in the centre of Fraser Island, with white, white sand. Very, very nice. Then drove along the beach, towards Indian Head. Stopped at the Maheno shipwreck, which was way cool, a big ship that got beached years ago. Then on to Indian Head, and camped at Indian Head. All the other companies' trucks camped here the first night as well, so it was one huge party. The park rangers came along and told us not to leave any food out, because of dingo's, make sure we go to the washroom in groups (especially women), bury toilet paper, etc., etc.

Big party, lots of booze. Kristin got very hammered, kept falling down in the sand. Haha. Not sure when we finally got to bed, I think I did about 3:00.

Hervey Bay

Up at 7:30, when I woke up, Kristin was already up. I had breakfast, finished packing, got on the minibus to get back to Noosa Heads. Got on our 9:20 bus to Hervey Bay, Louisa met us at the bus stop.

Got to Hervey Bay about 12:45, Fraser Escape mini-bus took us to their hostel, we checked in, had lunch at the cafe next door, then back to the hostel for a 2:00 meeting, which didn't start until about 2:45.

11 people in our group. 3 guys, 8 girls. The Fraser Escape guy talked about Fraser Island, the dingo's, the itinerary, what we'll see, where we shoudl stay, etc. Then we split up into our groups, we all chipped in money for food, Louisa and Kristin went shopping for our group while they shopped, I took some rolls of film in for Kristin to get developed, walked along the beach, picked up the pictures, back to the hostel, met Kristin and Louisa, used internet for a bit, we walked to a restaurant/pub near the beach for supper, back to the hostel, showered, packed, and to bed.

Canoe Trip

Up at 8:00, had breakfast, grabbed our lunch, got the Gagaju guy to take us to the canoes, we got our canoe supplies, and he showed us on the map where to go, and we were off shortly after 9:00. It was easy paddling upstream, as the tide was coming in, and the river reverses direction during high tide. We took our time, much of the time, didn't even paddle, and let the current take us.

AFter hitting Lake Cootharaba, about 11:00, we stopped at a deserted beach and laid down for a while, relaxed. Then canoed a bit farther to Boreen Point, a small town on the lake, had lunch at the picnic site, then walked through the town, looking for the pub. We walked right passed it first time, then on our way back, noticed it, went in and had a drink, then back to the canoe, and canoed back to Gagaju.

The lake is VERY shallow, we were out in the middle of the lake, and we got tired of paddling, so we hopped out and walked the canoe in about knee deep water for quite a ways. At one point, while paddling, we flipped the canoe over, just for fun, and we got soaked.

It was tough going on the way back, especially in the river section, the wind was blowing strong, strong current going against us. Kristin's arms were getting tired, at one point, Jason, from our camp, went by in a powerboat, and told us only two more turns. Kristin started singing a song:
She'll be coming round the bend, back to camp.
She'll be coming round the bend, back to camp.
If she paddles with all her might,
She might get back by night.
She'll be coming round the bend, back to camp.

We got back to camp about 3:00, I went and showered with seven 20 cent coins (14 minutes of hot water!). Kristin napped.

Kristin made supper about 5:15, she got sunstroke, she thinks. She got quite red. I'm fine, I had lotion on all day.

Watched "Shanghai Knights", packed, then sat around campfire. To bed about 11:00.

I played a didgeridoo (sp?) for the first time this evening.

Gagaju. Cool!!

Up at 6:10, woke Kristin up at 6:20. I scared her half to death, I was on top, and reached down over my bed to poke her. When she woke up, all she saw was my arm, and thought it was a snake. Hahahaha!

We walked to the bus terminal about 6:50 and got on bus. We started on our own seats, but sat beside each other when we picked up more people later on.

Changed buses in Brisbane. Got to Noosa at 11:30, Gagaju bus wasn't there. We waited. Nothing. Tried calling Gagaju, no answer. Called Travel Bugs, they eventually got a hold of them, and called us back to let us know that they were on the way. They arrived about 12:45, we loaded our stuff on the minibus, they had two other buses to wait for, so they took us to the grocery store, we stocked up on groceries and played on kids rides and they came back and picked us up about 1:55.

Got to Gagaju Bush camp about 2:30. Way cool! Very "campy", we sleep in army dorm tents in the bush.

About 3:15, Kristin and I walked to the rock quarry pools, small lakes formed in a rock quarry, some of them are mud pools. 45 minute walk. I convinced Kristin to get all muddy, she didn't want to at first, so I threw mud at her. Afterwards she was glad she did it. Then we washed off and swam in a clear pool. You can only swim here on the weekends, when they aren't working the quarry. It was fun!

Walked back to the camp via the road about 4:05, had a shower (showers were shared with a public campground next to us, 20 cents for about 2 minutes of hot water), then Kristin made supper, chicken pasta, delicious, once again.

After supper, Kristin napped, I tore apart my backpack looking for a 2nd battery for my flashlight. As I was doing that, someone came into the dorm room and said there was a big snake outside. I grabbed my camera to look. It was HUGE! Probably 1.5-2 metres long, perhaps 1.5-2 inches in diameter. It was moving really slow, just minding it's own business, slithering through the camp. It was a carpet viper.

Finished packing, wrote in journal. We made some sandwiches for tomorrow. Sat around and had a couple of drinks in the cool common area, around the campfire, and to bed about 10:30.

Horse Back Riding

Up about 10:00, Kristin and I made hash browns (real ones!) and bacon and eggs McMuffins. Yum!

Kristin and I went to get postcards, then to the post office for stamps, but it was closed (Saturday), but found somewhere else that had them. Then we bought tickets to Matrix: Revolutions for tonight.

Louisa went to the beach for a while, Kristin and I used the internet. I bought some Lemsip (Neo Citran) for my cold, worked great!

Back to the hostel, Pegasus Park (horse riding place) came at 3:30 and picked us up along with four others from our hostel for horse back riding.

It wasn't that exciting, just went around their ranch land. My horse was called Cappucino.

Back to the hostel about 7:30, packed, got key deposit back, then headed for the theatre about 9:00 for the movie. DUMB MOVIE!!!!!!!!!! Lots of good special effects, lots of action, no plot.

Back to the room and to bed about midnight.

Louisa told us today that she's going to ditch on the Gagaju canoeing trip and meet up with us in Noosa for the bus up to Hervey Bay.