Blister in the Sun

Fraser Island

I left sunny Noosa behind and went again via Greyhound, toward Hervey Bay. A town that exists it seems only to service Fraser Island - the worlds largest Sand island - home to beaches, rainforests, lakes and some really amazing wildlife - not to mention some awesome memories for many travellers that take the 3 day camping trip here. On arrival I was immediately subjected to a couple of hours worth of safety briefings. Pretty necessary as we'd be driving 4x4s on some rugged terrain, the island is also home to some of Australias purest breed Dingos (wild dogs), and the seas surrounding the island are also infested with anything from Turtles, Rays and Dolphins, to Hump back whales and Tiger sharks - so no early morning swims then.

30 people met in the hostal bar and were randomly assigned a group, this group of 10 would be your co-pilots and co-inhabitants for the next few days so everyone would hope to get a good bunch. Adam, Kay, Sebcil, Sarah, Dave, Julian, Elodie, Pat, Nick and Luke formed group B and would spend the rest of the evening having a couple of drinks and getting to know each other.

Day 1
At 5.30am, our alarms went off and we met up for 5.45 to get the cars packed and ready to go. Again, this was something everyone would rather not have done, tiredness and a bunch of excitement just meant everyone wanted to get motoring. After checklists, more safety videos, and some paperwork was complete, I took the wheel to get us from the hostel to the barge landing. Nick and I set about reducing tyre pressures and altering the vehicle for 4x4 as everything from now on would be sandy and pretty crumby surfaces.

First off the boat and Group B hit the sand quick. Our first destination was Lake Mackenzie - a gorgeous deep Azure freshwater lake. After what seemed like an epic battle getting a fully loaded 4x4 (10 people, 60 beers, 10 4 litre wine bags, meat, food, cooking gas, luggage etc etc) we arrived and took a quick walk down to the lake. The heat was reflecting off of the white sands as we arrived and the obvious thing was to get submersed as quick as possible. After the swim, the other 2 groups had also arrived and so it pretty quickly became sunbaking time for the girls and beach-soccer for the boys. The boy Fonfara this time (Thai silky skills eluding me this time) showing his ineffectiveness in the sliding tackle position!

Back in the cars again, we started the trip out to the East beach of Fraser; a sandy motorway giving access to the other sites around the island. Though after making a couple of Kms headway, we found that a car had blown up "Arnold Shwarzeneggar style" and we'd have to back track. Bumping around like a crazed bumpy thing, we eventually made it to Eurong and the refreshing flat grounds making driving far easier... or at least until Pat took over the driving and dropped us down into a stream at speed. The pots and pans made it sound worse than it was but still entertaining nonetheless.

We made it to the North East tip of the beach and to Indian Head where we stopped to have our first meal of the trip - sandwiches with a rationed 1 slice of cheese followed by crisps. A little more football and everyone was ready to take a hike to the top of the cliffs to have a look at the Ocean. On a good day you'll spot all kinds of sea life - we had a good day and spotted Whales, Dolphins, Sharks, Turtles and Rays - no blood though.

The sun was dipping fast and we had to set up camp. We found a spot and met up with Group A, a little unsure of where group C had disappeared to.

With tents up, my iPod once again making itself the most invaluable gizmo of all time providing the tunes as we set about creating culinary masterpieces... or burgers and spuds. The cooking time was slow, and though all was a little laced with sand, everyone was happy to be getting a good feed after a long day of adventure, and several hours of drinking.

Day 2
Our second day would be the only full day on Fraser so we took the opportunity and the lead from yesterdays Mackenzie experience to head to Lake Allom. Along the beach, we stopped off at the Maheno shipwreck - a vessel that's sat here since the 30's I believe. After the photo session we headed back off of the beach.

A breath taking drive along the Northern Scenic drive with group A's 4x4 always in rear view, past the Boomerang Lakes and eventually we arrived at Allom. With everyone in boardies and bikinies, towels in hand... we walked out in front of a very reedy looking lake; home to hundreds of turtles, some of which came to greet us. Sadly no swimming, so 20 tired backpackers retreated for some lunch.

We headed off for a guaranteed swim, or at least a crawl in some shallow waters at Eli Creek. The creek is a short and windy water way leading out to sea that I assume on a wetter day would allow your to float from inland all the way to the beach. In places we could do that, but others required some Commando style dront crawling along the sandy creek bed.

Much of the remaining daylight had been eaten up, so concentration was then put on the night ahead.

We found a much better beach spot to finish up at, and we soon had two 4x4s lined up parallel in order to form the walls to a great party. Tarps set up between, grills flaming and an arrival from Group C who had broken down the day before. Sun set with music pumping once again. The night would see more sand eaten, many drinking games including the much chanted Zimmy Zimmy and a few of us falling over a little too much to the preying Dingo's humour.

Day 3

Some sleepy heads awoke on the final day, and as the sun rose, some of us boys went for a run along the beach to clear some toxins before getting camp together and setting off for a return visit to Lake Mackenzie - the obvious highlight of the trip. By now we'd seen quite a few Dingo's but this morning seemed to really attract them around the camp - maybe due to the amount of people, or maybe due to some of the deposits a couple of people may have left lying in the grass the night before. After some horror stories, the Kanine vultures seemed pretty tame.

A far more chilled session at the lake as everyone was feeling the lathargy of the past couple of days. Midday passed us by and soon it was time for a final lunch before gunning the relatively lightweight 4x4 - now missing all the drink and meat back to the barge terminal.

After clearing up the cars, returning equipment and getting bond moneys back, everyone took some time to chill out. We headed out for some final group drinks before I ducked out at 11.30 to grab a taxi to the Greyhound stop destined for Airlie Beach. I arrived at midnight for my 12.25 bus, and in what seemed like seconds, I was lucky enough to have the driver tugging at my foot asking if I was planning to sleep on the bench all night or if I'd like to jump on board.