Well I have been one very busy girl the last week or so. We arrived in Rainbow beach for our meeting and briefing about our Fraser Island tour. Basically they put 11 people from the hostel in one group and then we rent a 4x4 with camping equipment and food (they supply it all). Our group consisted of Ruairi and Ruadhan (the Irish guys) and Marco (the German) as well as Sabine, Johanna, and Valarie (French girls), Skippy (Swedish), Taylor (USA), Scott (Canadian), and Leo (Italian) as well as myself. So that day we ordered our drinks for the trip as well has rented any sleeping bags and stuff we needed. I was a bit nervous about this trip. It is a self guided tour and about 10 days before that one of the self guided tours had an accident and 2 people died. The Scottish guy I met on the farm was friends with one of them. The next morning we had to be up early for breakfast and get our vehicle ready for the trip. We had to count all the equipment and load the vehicle as well as check it over. We didn't actually get on to the fairy for Fraser Island until 11am. We then went to Lake Mackenzie right away and had lunch. We spent most of the afternoon there, then headed up the beach and found the rest of the vehicles that had left with our group. We all camped in the same spot for the night. It was like one big party in the sand. We were camped not too far off the beach. Since the beach is the road, we had to go behind the sand dunes and camp, also this way our tents and vehicles wouldn't get washed away in high tide. There are not really good roads on the island. You can drive along the beach, but you have to be careful because the sand is always changing, it can be too loose or too wet and slippery. When you are inland the roads are also sand and they are usually up and down hills. They are very rough, and a bit scary.
The next morning we had to get up at sunrise because we couldn't drive after 7am because of the high tide. We drove as far up the island that we could because some of the roads were washed out. We parked and walked up the beach a bit. Some of the other groups walked the 10km to the ship wreck, but our group got about half way and decided we had had enough. We then headed inland to another lake. We went for a quick swim, had lunch and then went for a hike in the trees. We hiked for about and hour and half threw the bush. We then headed back to the camp and settled for the night. The nights were so cold and it was hard to get comfortable in the tents. There was also sand everywhere which was so annoying. The whole time we are on the island we are keeping an eye open for dingos. That night while the guys were playing a game of rugby we had a visitor. A lone dingo was walking threw our camp looking for food. You can be fined for feeding a dingo, so we basically just scared it off. But at night, since there are no toilets you have to pee in the bush and pray you don't come across a dingo. We could see them wandering around the outsides of the camp. So you always had a pee buddy.
The next morning I was awaken by the howling dingos out on the beach. We got up around 6am and got our camp packed up. I had heard from some other campers that someone in our group of 55 fell asleep on the beach and was bitten by a dingo on the leg. I don't understand why this stuff happens, likely because people drink too much and don't listen. We then headed to lake Mackenzie again where we had breakfast and spent the day. After lunch we headed out to make our way back to the fairy. Apparently we took the longest route possible since we were an hour and a half late getting back to the shop to turn in our vehicle. I was very glad to be done the trip. I was tired of being in that vehicle with the loud music and drunk people. I was also excited to get a good nights sleep.
The next morning we left for Noosa. We got there just after lunch, to find out there were no hostels available. We then found a place that was like an apartment. It was cheap for the four of us and we had our own space, including living room and kitchen. We were all still tired so we just spent the day relaxing.
We got up early the next morning to hit the road. We went to the Australian (Steve Irwin) Zoo. We got there about 9:30am and stayed until 3pm. It was a very beautiful zoo and all the animals had very nice living areas that were very large. We watched a crocodile feeding and a bird show. We also got to feed the elephants. But the best part of the zoo was the tigers. We watched a show where the trainers played with the tigers. They would jump in the water with them and give them toys to play with. There were 6 tigers at one point trying to play with a big barrel in the water. The trainer had fun trying to get it away from one of the tigers. After the zoo we drove straight to Brisbane. We arrived just before 6pm. Seems to be a difficult city to drive in, luckily I didn't have to drive. We got settled and then went for a slice of pizza. We got a few drinks and then came back to the room. A few of the other guys were off to watch a rugby game in a pub so we followed. I couldn't afford to drink much so I only had one drink and went back to the hostel about 11:30pm. I guess the guys had a good time since they are all feeling awful this morning. Today I have just been booking my bus ticket and getting some things organized for when I arrive in Sydney. The only thing I am not looking forward to is the weather. It is cool in Brisbane and I know Sydney will be even cooler. It is a huge shock from Cairns, where you sweat just sitting still. Guess I shouldn't complain.
Until next time,
Cindy
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