Jul
15
Fraser Island & Whitsunday Adventures.
Posted by TheMancunian at 11:42 | Filed In Travel
I had just left Jill & Dean’s place on my 6(?) hour bus journey to Hervey Bay with no pre-arranged plans for visiting Fraser Island. Where the Greyhound dropped us off was in a large retail park and there wasn’t really any access to transport other than for people who had pre-booked a Fraser Island visit. With this in mind I approached a Mauri guy standing beside a ”Koala” van and asked him if there were any available spaces at the hostel. He said ”I’m sure we can make room,” so it was decided I would be staying at the Koala hostel in Hervey Bay.
On arrival at Hervery Bay it seemed a very quiet Australian town, not very pretty and full of backpackers. The hostel was nicely laid out and it had it’s own swimming pool and bar as well as BBQ facilities. The way it was ran on the other hand was a bit of a let down. No sheets on beds, only a pillow and a mattress. Grumpy staff and cleaners. Lay on my bed in an empty, cold room I felt a little sad to have left Jill, Dean and the lads. I read for a while and headed for the bar. This was where I met Jack and Alex; we played a few games of pool and arranged to meet back up at Airlie Beach as they were heading to Fraser on the trip before me. We ate in the bar and had a few drinks; this is when I met Debbie for the first time.
It was overcast and grey when I woke up in the morning; I had booked on the tour to leave the day after as the other one was fully booked. In the evening everyone met in the bar and they arranged us all into groups of 9 and 11’s (I was in the group of 9) and briefed us on where we could and couldn’t go and what we could and couldn’t do in our 4WD’s. It seemed a little strict to be honest and everyone was wondering what we had got ourselves into. We broke the ice a little and chatted and got to know eachothers names and where everyone was from. We had Giorgio the only ‘foreigner’ in the group, from Italy. Scott and Charlie, Steven & the 3 Irish sisters and myself and Sarah the Scot. We were prepped and raring to go on what would turn out to be an awesome trip!
We got up early the next morning and started to pack our Toyota Landcruiser! We checked it over for scratches and marked them on a piece of paper and signed the vehicle’s papers saying we had checked it over. I was lead-driver on the trip and had to drive to and from the ferry at each side (this meant reversing onto the ferry into a very tight parking spot!). The indicator is on the wrong side of the steering wheel out here too. A bit annoying knocking the wipers on and off; but soon got used to this. Driving on the island was awesome. The most fun I have had driving; ever.
We had one scare in the car after about 40 minutes of driving on Fraser. There was felt under the dirt laid down by the Park Keepers - presumably in order to prevent erosion; however I - and my fellow backseat drivers misconstrued this felt for a tree root and I hit the brakes and pulled to the left to avoid the soft felt!! This put ‘the shits’ into a couple of those in the back (namely Sarah and Irish Girls! haha). The tree seemed to merge directly to the black felt and as we were to find out later on, there were places where trees roots protruded out of the banking alongside the road.
The first night we turned up at the camp site and pitched our tents up; got the BBQ going and cooked our food. Drank lots of goon (also the last time I am to drink any goon ever again!). Me and George were sharing a tent, Charlie & Scott, Steve & Aileen and the McSorley sisters & Sarah. After going to bed at around 1am on a fully loaded stomach of goon and burgers I felt the urge to get up and be sick; George had the same urge to wake at exactly the same time and goto the toilet. Unfortunately for us I couldn’t get the zip for the tent!! George grabs my foot (thinking it was a hand in his drunkenness) and throws it away trying to get the zip for himself. By the time George had found the zip I was holding a mouthful of vomit in my throat. Luckily, he opened the zip and ran for the toilet while I had my head out of the tent door making sure not to vomit in the tent!!! Happy times…(!)
We woke at about 5am in order to make sure we were at the 75 mile beach by 6am. I was a write-off for driving today - so the other named drivers took over. Driving on the beach seemed good, but not as fun as driving off road. We got photos of the massive wreck on the beach and continued to explore. Lake McKenzie was very nice - a really large freshwater lake that was extremely clear. There were a lot of people there though which made it slightly less special but it was still impressive.
We visited lake Gobi which appeared green from whatever is in the water and it had steep dunes running right down into it. There was an eagle nested across the lake that everyone was watching when it chased a flock of cockatoo’s; he was probably after a good feed! (We don’t know if he caught one as he didn’t return while we were there!)
Fraser Island was one of the best parts of my trip so far and I would recommend it to anyone - especially the driving part. But maybe stay in the hostel on the island as it was bloody freezing during the night!
When we got back to Hervey Bay I had to catch the night bus to Airlie Beach which I had already booked. There were a couple of us from the trip doing the same thing. I arrived at Airlie the next morning and proceeded to meet back up with Giorgio at the YHA. They had no more room available so I went down the road to Beaches Hostel and booked a sailing trip and the hostel. Went back to the YHA to pick up my rucksack I had left with George and headed back to Beaches with a full pack. Checked in and headed for the room. The same day I would have to check in with the boat company ready for the day after to leave on Boomerang for the Whitsunday adventure! I had a good time with the crew and people who were on our boat but it was a bit of a let down after the sights and adventure of Fraser Island. I got off the boat and carried on bobbing around for a long time afterwards. We had a get together with everyone who was social enough in the bar at the Beaches hostel. It was a good night and everyone looked miles better for a shower/shave/bit of make-up!!! haha.
Will post later this year! ;)… Enjoy for now!
Chris
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