24th Apr 2012 - 28th Apr 2012 Arriving in Rainbow Beach, Shannon decided to go surfing again, so he hired a board and took to the shark infested waters (something he only found out later). he had fun riding the waves even though the sea was alot rougher than Noosa.
As part of our Fraser Island package we had three nights accommodation (2 before, 1 after) at Dingos Hostel. the hostel was big and the dorms came with en-suits. On the second day we took a walk along Rainbow Beach to see the different coloured rocks which give the beach its name. it was also ANZAC day- remembering the heroes of the war. We remembered by scoffing our faces with a box of ANZAC biscuits.
We had our briefing for the tour, which basically said dingoes can kill, there's tiger sharks in the sea and the cars can roll and crash. We had a free pancake breakfast before heading out to the cars and getting organised. We had a great bunch of people in our car, a fellow Scot Alistair, a lovely English girl Malika, a funny Irish couple, an Austrian and for a change a nice German.
The 3 day/2 night tour consisted of camping on the beach of the worlds largest sand island and a world heritage site, driving a 4x4 along the sand and inland off-road tracks. Once we arrived on Fraser Island by barge we set up camp on the beach, put up our tents and had some lunch (all our food is included in the price). we then drove to Lake McKenzie, a huge fresh water lake which was very picturesque, we even drank the water as we swam along (when can you normally say that eh?).
Then it was back to camp to cook our steak for dinner. We were the chefs and I made my special garlic butter and thankfully everyone loved it. Then the goon came out and the drinking games started. Goon is basically a cheap boxed wine but I've heard bad stories of fish extracts being in the ingredients, but we fair enjoyed ours- maybe a but too much- Shannon cant remember getting back to the tent. The odd dingo was lurking around the camp but didn't come near. Dingoes are wild dogs and look around for scraps, they can mistake small kids for food and have been known to attack and even kill. So we were told always to pee in a bush in pairs. We were told how to defend ourselves though if a dingo came to close- which made some funny jokes about how helpless you are when your squatting, you'd have to keep waving your hands in the air to be taller and scare them away.
The next day we washed away our hangovers in Eli Creek whilst floating down the water with the current. Then we sent he Maheno Shipwreck, once a luxury passenger cruiser then used as a hospital during the war, it wasn't until it was being sold and sent to Japan that it met its demise and now its rusted old shell is stuck in the sand. then it was on to Champagne Rock Pools, where the sea water creates a bubbly effect when it hits the rocks. Had lunch then headed to Indian Heads, climbed to the top and looked out to sea.
Then we went to what was my favorite part of the trip, it was massive sand dune, which we all ran up and then ran and jumped back down. the views from the top were really amazing the sea went for miles and the land was just covered in sand. But the whole island isn't just sand, there are lots of forests with trees being rooted to the sand.
We took turns of driving, some inland area were really rough and we were all bouncing around like mad, banging our heads and whacking our knees. The thick soft sand was the worst as it had no traction and unfortunately that was my turn to drive. A guy from the leaders car came to join us for his turn behind the wheel and we welcomed him until we realised he couldn't drive and at one very scary moment we thought it was all over- he drove up on the verge with tress scratching the side of car and the left side was 4 foot higher than the right side! All in all it made it more fun, and the bumps and water made us laugh.
By the afternoon it had started to rain- yes rain on paradise!! We had stir fry for dinner then stayed hiding under the cooking tents as it poured the whole evening. In the middle of the night we were woken up not just by the dingoes howling and scratching around but the tent had started to leak. We found out in the morning every ones tents had leaked big puddles so we werent too bad but Shan did go to sleep in the car and was joined by 4 others.
In the morning we packed up our wet tents, went another drive to another lake, tried to eat some food but it was wet and got the barge back to Rainbow Beach. Where the fun wasn't over- we had to clean out the cars, wash the dishes and hang out the tents. Back to Dingos Hostel and had a lovely long hot shower before meeting our group for some jugs of beer.
The next day we all met again and went to Carlos Sand Blow and huge area of sand high off the ground, it looked amazing.Then it was time to get on our way and drive some more...
