Two 4×4s, camping gear, maps, 16 nutters, wild dingos, 300 beers and 6 boxes of goon, 2 nights, 3 whole days and one magnificant island – FRASER ISLAND.
At 6am we left Hervey Bay after 3 different meetings with the Koala Adventure guides. They told us how to drive the 4×4, what maps to use, how not to get fined by the island rangers, how to get to the barge, how to set up tents, how to store foods so dingos dont attack, how to keep quiet we dont get fined blaa blaa. They scared the crap out of us, Claire drove out of the pickup sheds with our 6 other group members whilst I was in the front seat panicking about maps, which gear stick to use, did we have enough food, was everyone strapped in etc. I didn’t stop fussing for 3 days.
Our jeep was paired with another jeep which had another 8 people in it (one from Folkestone!!) so we decided to have our crazy adventure on the biggest sand island together. As we left the barge the road turned to sand tracks which were the bumpiest roads I’ve ever seen. Massive drop one side and beautiful rainforest hanging all around us. First stop was Lake McKenzie – and WOW!!!!! It was amazing!! White sand, burning sun and the clearest bluest FRESH water ever. Had a lovely swim and the groups got to know each other more. I think it was the most amazing place we’ve been to yet! I was expecting a swampy old lake so to stumble upon this was the best thing ever!
Next stop was Lake Birrabeen and then our final stop for the day Lake Boomanjin which was actually brown because of the tea trees all around it. We set up our tents in a big circle and moved the tables into the middle for a big feast and drinking session. It got dark at 6pm so we started early! Yes, me and Claire struggled with our tents and yes we put on the whole help us help us which didnt work because the guys were already quite drunk. We actually camped in a dingo cage too! There were dunnys a good 2 min walk away so we wrapped a sheet around a tree dug a hole and got on with our business there! Luckily we had a lovely chef with us (from Yorkshire, wicked accent!) who helped set up the gas bbqs, however it got dark so quickly we were soon fumbling around ike fools eating raw sausages! As time went on people gradually went to bed… not us, we carried on drinking until way too late with 3 guys who then started to tell us horror stories. I was a nervous WRECK anyway because as you all know I really do not like animals (parrots, lizards, DINGOs, ants, bugs, giant centipedes, you name it we saw/felt/heard it). The stories went on and with a mixture of tiredness, goon (cheap wine) and the horror stories I absolutely freaked out. I was a mess!!! It was ridiculous, I am ridiculous but that is how our night ended – with me being gagged and held down by our new crazy friends and Claire giving me a smack!
4 hours later we did our usual trick of getting up in the DARK and trying to pack away everything so we could drive as soon as it was light (this is 5am) - everyone was excellent, silent and helping each other. Off we drove down sandy bumpy as hell tracks for what seemed like forever – we drove out of the rainforest onto the East beach. And WOW it was so worth it. The sun was coming up over big crashing waves and the longest whitest beach ever. The sky was beautiful and for a few minutes we were all gobsmacked. One of the guys drove us down the beach (while we suffered in the back being thrown about) over soft sand which was awful to drive on then wet sand and over creeks. We stopped at 6am and everyone perked up a bit while we ate cheerios out of tin mugs (too lazy to get bowls) watching the sunrise. Best breakfast of our lives on that beach with the sun rising up.
After 2 hours of being completely bruised and thrown about more we arrived at our northern spot – Indian Head. We scrambled over rocks and hiked for ten minutes to the top the view was stunning. I know I’m saying it was amazing but it really was! The rocks stuck out and there was a massive drop each side down onto shark infested waters (no joke, we were not allowed by law into the sea anywhere on the island). We could see miles of fresh beaches and out to sea we could see whales!!!!! We caught some sunrays and stumbled down where it was my turn to attempt driving the 4×4.
I say attempted because within 10 seconds I had us stuck in the sand. God knows what I was trying to do, we were told to stick to the wet harder sand unless we really needed to drive on soft, I headed straight into the soft. Everyone pushed the car out and then 2 minutes later after stalling a couple of times, I did it again. This time a 4×4 (which are the only vehicles allowed on the island) full of fishermen all stood smirking. One of them jumped in and blurted out that I was in 2wheel drive not 4wheel drive, at that moment in time I didnt have a clue what he was talking about, I just had a real shakey leg on the clutch and 2 cars of people moaning. Ha!
I drove for half an hour then told Claire to drive.
Like I mentioned before there were freshwater creeks running out of the land over the beach into the sea. These created sand banks either side which were fine most of the time because we drove over them at the sea or land end so the river dip was only shallow. The tide was coming in fast so we ony had a short time to get off the beach and we were rushing. On one side of this particular creek the dip was shallow but on the other side there was a massive sand bank to get up. I told Claire to put her foot down so we would make it up the bank. And oh my god – she listened! She went smashing up this bank, water splashed everywhere, loudest bang. I saw the front of the 4×4 go up and up and bang come down as the back went up and came thudding down. People in the back were screaming as the food heavy boxes came crashing down on them, beer everywhere, injured heads and necks. The other group in the other car came running over to check we were all OK. All we wanted to do was get over the bank and boy did we do that! The other car could not believe their eyes at all. Jesus, we went flying practically horizontally.
This was our second day and it felt like all we did was drive. Both cars were bickering and it soon became apparent how hard it was to make any decisions in a group of 16 people. We took a vote and instead of setting up camp on a dingo infested beach we drove on another 30mins to a campsite at Central Station. We were starving as we hadnt eaten since our beautiful 6am brekkie. We were tired and hungover. And the drive took us 2 hours. Yes, 2 more starving painful hours. Then when we arrived we found out we could not camp at the lake. War nearly broke out!!! Seriously it was the worst moment ever!
We drove back on ourselves and with sore bumped bums, sore heads and being absolutely starving we arrived at Central Station campsite. A ranger was by the gate driving through at then told us if we made any noise on the FAMILY campsite “he’d come back and nail us with a $150 dollar EACH fine”. At this point we didnt care, we hauled everything out the trucks and totally pigged out.
Yorkie made a huge bolognese and once again we drank our goon and stuffed our faces, then we flaked out in our tents.
Today we got up at sunrise and decided to ignore the instructions set by our guides back in Australia. It was too hard trying to pack up camp in the dark. I took charge of the vehicle and got some courage – I actually drived us pretty well (after getting lost because the group were arguing too much over the route) to Lake Wabby. Now this Lake will disappear within 3 years so it really is amazing that we were there! We walked 35minutes through the rainforest to it and left the 4×4s on the beach. Lovely walk but tiring and hot. On one side of the transparent lake we really tall rainforest trees and on the other were huge mountainous sand dunes!! I felt so small! We jumped in the lake and sunbathed – that moment made all the disgusting camping, headaches and bugs worth while. I climbed to the top of the dune and on the other side it was sand which went on forever and ever, up and down, dune after dune, desert I guess!
Our barge back to mainland Australia was at 2.30pm so we decided to leave around 11.30 to head back across the island. And good job we left early. One of the boys sent us the wrong way for a whole half an hour so I had to do a brilliant 3 point turn in the biggest car ever, on sand, with a big drop at the edge of the track and go all the way back onto the beach to go another way through the forest.
We made it with half an hour to spare so grabbed warm ham made sandwhiches and got our barge back to Hervey Bay. We even saw 2 dingos on the beach digging holes looking for dead animals – they are so wild humans have been eaten and killed so humans cannot make eye contact and have to keep away from them. I never thought wild dingos really existed but now we have learnt they do! And they are dangerous – so be ‘dingo-safe’ like our guides taught us!
Fraser Island was like being on shipwrecked (the tv program) and no I do not want to go on that show anymore! It was stunning and a really wicked experience. We both had the times of our lives but the camping and the group work is defo not for me! Digging a hole to wee in whilst having friends with us with weapons to hit dingos if they came is just not my idea of fun. But, I’m so happy we did it, we survived and we had the best time ever ever ever!!
Next stop – Whitsunday Islands!
