Let the Good Times Roll - Fraser Island Adventures!

What can I say, a good time was had indeed. Like I said earlier we decided to take off from Brisbane and do one of the packages we booked just to have some fun before we started work agian. It was really nice to put any worries behind and have a solid adventure.

Being a baller

We arrived in Rainbow Beach on Saturday evening and checked into our hostel. Luckily we didn't have to really pay for anything because 3 days accommodation and a meal ticket was included in our package that we booked when we first arrived in Australia. We were told that we had to be up the next morning at 6:45 to do an orientation, which included watching three videos about different ways we can roll our van and how to avoid it, about how if we go in the ocean we will get attacked by sharks and about the dangers of dingos! After watching the videos, which kind of put us off, we got ready to be put in our groups for the vans. We ended up getting pretty jipped on this because we got put in the leader car, so none of us got to drive the whole time. Just the guide guy, Adam. Bummer. But don't worry, we still took fake pictures of us driving.. Seen below :). Our group consisted of me and my three guy friends who I have been traveling with the whole time, two Israeli girls, and a brother and sister from England. We all got along really well and played some really interesting games to pass the time on the road. At first we thought we were just only with our van the whole time but there were four vans following each other and we did all the stops together as a big group and camped out together, so that was nice because it gave us the opportunity to meet more people.

Crystal clear lakes!

Fraser Island is the biggest sand island in the world and there are several lakes throughout it that are beautiful. The first day we stopped for lunch then went to a lake where it was crystal clear and changed colors dramatically. The picture doesn't even do it justice. After swimming around for a few hours we went to our little campsite where we set up camp then cooked a nice little feast for everyone. The night was spent under the stars with jugs of goon at our sides and some hilarious banter. During the night the dingos came out and we could hear them running all around our camp site scavenging for food! Creepy.

The next day we went to another lake and went off roading a bit. We stopped at this beautiful lake with champagne waves but as soon as we got there it started pouring down rain on us so we had to run back to the vans! I managed to get a few good pics in though. Again the night was followed by good laughs but the dingos were much more aggressive this time! In the morning we woke up and they had torn through four of the tents when people were sleeping, including my friends' tent! There was a box of goon outside of the tent and they ripped it to shreds. Guess they were trying to have a good time too? Alcoholic dingos...tisk tisk.

Dingo aftermath!

The last day we had some breakfast then set out to see a few sites. First we went to this huge sand dune which had a lake at the bottom of it. It was about a two mile walk to get there then we spent a few hours there before heading to our next destination. We made some wraps for lunch then headed to this canal where we could walk through, it was pretty cool! I kept hearing this guy shouting out, "This is just like Minnesota water!!" What?

About to walk through the canal

After the canal we stopped and saw a giant ship wreck that's been washed up ashore for a long time and snapped a few photos. Pretty neat that a giant ship wreck is still just on the beach after all these years. It was used during WW1. Sadly after the shipwreck it was time to head back to Rainbow Beach and back to reality! We still had 2 days accommadation left on our vouchers so during those two days we were going to figure out our next move.

We decided that we were going to get on the OzExperience bus Thursday morning and head to a small town called Bundaberg. Pretty much the only thing cool to do there is go to the Bundaberg Brewery and yea, that's about it. Although there isn't much to do there, it's a good place for backpackers to stop for fruit picking work so we figured we would give it a go. I guess the hostels there set you up with work, so we will see what happens. I don't know if I really want to do the fruit picking, it sounds like some pretty strenuous work. Up at 5am every morning, picking fruit throughout the day in the heat. The boys are for sure going to do it but I will at least just get to Bundaberg so that I can get phone reception again and maybe check it out for like a week and if it's unbareable I think I'll try and do the barmaid job in a pub gig. The boys really need to do it because they need quick money and in order for them to receive their second year working holiday visa they have to fruit pick for three months. I can't get a second year visa so I don't really have a need to do the fruit picking.

That's pretty much all I've got for now. Tonight is our last night in Rainbow Beach then it's off to Bundaberg! I hope I can get some phone reception there, keep your fingers crossed for me!

Cheers