We are put into 3 groups of 10 and will be spending the next few days with Hayley, Sam, Craig, Luis, Meagan, Kirill, Pepe and Yeye (who is a chef - we definitely got the best group!) We'd 
been given a rough guide of what to eat and our first task was to come up with a shopping list. We then headed over to the shed to pick up our 4x4's and learn how to load them up so that everything fits in (which was quite an effort and mainly involved Luis packing up the gear in the top of the van!)
Then we headed to the supermarket to buy all the food and we bought mostly own brand food (from Woolworths) except we splashed out and bought 
'Skippy' Cornflakes!! We then had to pack this into an already tight space at the top of the van!
Yeye began the driving and, with me directing, we arrived at the ferry port and crossed over to Fraser Island. It took ages to drive across the island to arrive at 75 Mile Beach (which is legally a road!)
The other two groups stopped for lunch but we decided to carry on (the thought of having to unpack the van was too much!) and we headed up the beach and arrived at the Maheno Shipwreck. It was used as a hospital ship in WWI was caught in a cyclone as it was heading for Japan and ended up here.
We then decide to find somewhere to camp for the night and make lunch. It took a fair bit of effort to get the tents up - they were so crap and held up by a single pole in the middle. The rain sheets were tarpaulin that didn't fit and there were not enough guy ropes to secure them! At least they stood up for a while!
Once we were sure it was safe to leave the tents, we headed further up the beach to Indian Head where we came across our first dingo (we'd had lots of warnings about avoiding them as they can get very dangerous!) Of course we had to get a photo or two!!
We had a drink before dinner but it began raining quite heavily so we clambered into the back of the van and waited until it stopped. Eventually we decided that it wouldn't and we'd have to go out to make dinner (plus Sam, Craig & Luis had already decided to get wet and have a little swim in the sea!!)
That night, we ended up with 6 people in one of the tents as the other two had flooded and the rest were 
sleeping in the van. It was very cosy!
The next day we packed up camp and headed to Eli Creek. Hayley, Sam, Craig, Luis & I decided to walk in the water up the creek while the others took the footpath. The current is so strong that you can lie in the water and 
float all the way to the sea which we did (apart from hitting the shallow areas and having to crawl for a bit!)
We met up with the other 2 groups (who'd camped somewhere else last night) and decided to go and set up camp for tonight. Then we walked to Lake Wabby - its a short stroll along the beach and then through a forest before there is a kilometre walk up and down sand dunes until you 
reach the lake! Sam, Craig & Luis decided to roll and jump down most of the dunes and the rest of us followed suit - it was so much fun!
Lake Wabby was a green coloured lake at the bottom of a big sand dune. We all decided to go swimming again and 
headed off to the other side of the lake before turning round and heading back again!
That night the weather held off and Yeye pulled off his best meal yet - a pasta bolognese (complete with basil sprinkles!) The tents also were more stable (since they were attached to nearby trees and bushes!) and they didn't flood!
The final morning it was still raining when we packed up camp so we all donned our swimwear to 
save our clothes from getting drenched! We then headed to Lake Makenzie which was several shades of blue. The 6 English people in our group (Sam, Craig, Luis, Hayley, Kate & I) braved the rain and went for another swim (whilst everyone else was shivering on the shore!)
No comments:
Post a Comment