Rainbow Beach & Fraser Island

Day 1: A really long bus journey with Tommy down to Rainbow Beach. It took us pretty-much all day.

To break the journey up a bit, we stopped in a town called Bundaburg along the way and paid a visit to the factory where Australia's most famous Rum is made (Bundaburg Rum surprisingly enough). I'd not heard of it personally but it's apparently a very popular drink in OZ and we were keen to check the place out and take a break from the bus.

The tour itself was pretty short and basically involved us reading wall posters to get the history of the place and details of how the Rum is made. It was quite interesting though. We finished up getting samples of 2 different types of Rum that they make. I went for the traditional one to begin with, followed by a ginger-beer mixed version, which was much nicer. Not a big fan of Rum myself and I don't think anyone else was particularly either, since we were all requesting drinks that would hide the taste of it! A good way of breaking up the day though.

We arrived at Rainbow Beach that evening and checked into our hostel. Dave and I had booked our Fraser Island trip to start the following morning, meaning we had a desperate last minute dash to the convenience store to stock up on Goon before they shut. Don't worry, we made it. We then had dinner at the hostel with a nice girl called Kelly, who we had met on the bus that day.

Day 2 (Fraser Island: Day 1): Up early for our safety briefing, ahead of the 3 day / 2 night Fraser Island trip. For those that don't know, Fraser Island is one of the main places to visit in Australia. It's the largest sand island in the world (the size of Wales apparently) and it requires driving 4WD vehicles across and over it. The package we had booked was a driving tag-along trip, meaning there would be one lead vehicle and us driving 3 others that would be following. Hence the need for a safety video, instructing how to drive the Jeeps on sand and also how to avoid Dingos, Australian dog-lookalikes that have been known to kill people on the island in the past. Needless to say, we listened intently to all of it.

After the video, we made sure all our food and camping equipment was ready and then met everyone else on the trip. In my Jeep were; myself, Dave, Jenny & Tasha (Norn Iron), Jones (France), Dan & Sharron (Rep of Ireland) and Emma (Winchester), who all seemed really nice and a good laugh. After we had all met and made sure our Jeep was fully stocked, it was time to meet our guide, Jeff, who gave us his own safety briefing prior to departure. He outlined the best ways to drive the Jeeps over sand and how to avoid getting stuck in it. He also outlined the potential charges we could expect if we didn't drive them properly and gave us an example of a guy who ended up having to shell out $4000 after driving straight into a wall before they had even left the hostel! If Jeff's briefing was designed to scare us, it worked as we weren't exactly crawling over each other to be the first one in the driving seat. Dan stepped up to the plate though and off to Fraser we went. Looking forward to this.

Jeff also had his own piece of advice in case of a Dingo confrontation. Whereas the video suggested we should back away slowly with our arms crossed, Jeff offered a different approach - kick sand right into their eyes. We were hoping that neither approach would be required but I was more convinced by his advice than that offered on the video.

It took us about 20 mins to get to the Ferry crossing and onto the island. From here, we had a long drive down the beach, where we began to appreciate the size of the island. After a while, we stopped for a picnic and had an opportunity to meet some of the other people on the trip - Erik (Holland), Jo & Nick (England), Dimitri (Beligium), Andreas & Matthias (Germany) and Lindon (US). All really nice so we seemed to have a good crowd of people. 32 of us there in total so it was pretty hard to meet everyone initially.

After the picnic, Jones took over the driving and we headed to Lake Mckenzie, which is probably Fraser's most famous site. Once we arrived, we could see why - crystal clear freshwater and some stunning white sand beaches. We even ventured a bit deeper to find our own private beach, which was ace. Not so much for the couple that had it to themselves before us though - they promptly left. We spent a couple of hours there soaking up the sun and swimming before following Jeff back down to the main beach to set up camp for the night. Dave was at the wheel for this trip.

We pitched up for the night and everyone helped out with the preparation and cooking of dinner (or in my case, the washing up afterwards). Unlike some people on the Whitsundays trip, everyone was getting involved here and helping each other out, which was nice to see. Jeff had told us before we left Rainbow that he had nothing to do with our food and that it was down to us to get all the cooking and cleaning done. Fine by us though and we all clubbed together. Fair play to those cooking as well - really nice meal.

After dinner, the Goon drinking got into full flow (Still no-one knows why it's called that) and we all got pretty pissed. A few of us ventured down to the beach to watch the stars as well, where we came across our first set of Dingos. Thankfully, there were lots of us down there so they kept a fair distance away. Given their appearance, they don't look particularly threatening but the locals informed us that they were. Safety in numbers for the rest of the trip. We got to know Jeff much better as the evening went on as well and he had an abudance of crazy stories to tell us, mainly of antics and accidents from previous Fraser trips.

Day 3 (Fraser Island: Day 2): An early start to day 2 and many of us woke with some pretty heavy hangovers. The Goon is pretty nice when you're drinking it but it does make you feel pretty rough the next day. I felt so bad when I first woke up that I fell straight over when first leaving the tent. After a sneaky look around, luckily no-one saw!

After breakfast, our action packed day began with Emma at the wheel and a visit to Eli Creek AKA ''Hangover Creek'' according to Jeff. He assured us it would sort us out and, to be fair, he was spot on. It's basically a really nice, clear stream that you can float down but it was so refreshing that it cleared the hangovers in no time.

After a couple of floats down, we were preparing to leave when a huge, red water snake started swimming up the stream. Luckily, I was out of the water by this point and couldn't believe my eyes when we saw Jeff preparing to grab it. It was a pretty tense moment for everyone, all wondering what the hell he was doing.

Basically, him and his mate fooled us all. And I mean everyone. The snake was made of rubber, as we saw with our own eyes when he dived on it and raised it into the air. His mate was further up the stream pulling on an invisible piece of string to make it move, leaving us all pretty terrified. It was really funny though and we joined in the laughs when they played the same trick on another group, who weren't so in-the-know. He had us all totally fooled the first time around though and I would have crapped myself if I'd been floating down towards it.        

After Eli, Jenny took over the driving and we headed down the beach to find the Maheno Shipwreck, which is pretty cool. Jeff gave us all the information about how it ended up there and for how long - quite a while looking at the state of it.

Myself and Sharron shared the next bit of driving, which took us up to Indian Head - a huge cliff-face we climbed up to that gave us some spectacular views over the whole Island. We chilled up there for a bit getting some good photos before heading off to the next spot - Champagne Pools. This was another cool spot that gave us all the opportunity for some more swimming, while the waves crashed over the top of the surrounding rocks. Some amazing sites all over the island and we were all loving it.

The final trip of the day took us to Lake Allom. Prior to the drive, Jeff wanted a confident driver in each Jeep because the track to get up there was apparently quite tricky. I was the only lad in our car who hadn't got to drive over the tracks yet and was keen to do it. Jenny and Emma were happy enough driving along the beach, where it was a bit more road-like. Jeff then warned all the drivers of the dangers to watch out for on the tracks - namely tree roots that stick out and have been known to knock the tyres off. Bring it on!

The drive was awesome - so much fun. We were basically bouncing all over the place, while I was trying to keep it within some very skinny tracks. Really enjoyable but it also required a lot of concentration on my part. I was pretty pleased with my efforts because it wasn't easy.

Unfortunately, the driver in Jeep 3 (Dimitri) wasn't so lucky. He hit one of the roots Jeff was talking about and knocked one of his tyres off and came to a halt. As we were in Jeep 4, this also meant we were stuck behind them, while Jeff's lead Jeep and Number 2 drove off without us. It took him about 20 minutes to come back, when he sent a couple of us off to fetch the jack so he could change the tyre.

No Jack - he had forgotten it! This basically meant we were stranded in the middle of the island, blocking the track in both directions. Luckily for us, another guy turned up who had one and, after quite some time (not easy changing a tyre on a skinny sand track), they had it changed. That guy saved the day for us really because we would have had to wait ages for Jeff to go and fetch one and would have therefore missed out on Lake Allom, which we evetually made it to.

This is also a beautiful lake, surrounded by dense forest and containing water that has been known to heal wounds according to Jeff. Prior to us all getting in for a swim, we saw loads of small turtles coming up to the edge and Jeff caught a few so we could take it in turns holding one, which was awesome. We then went for a brief swim before heading back to camp with Dan at the wheel. He also did a great job navigating the tracks on the way back and also getting us along the beach towards camp before the tide came in completely. The tyre delay meant we were going back much later than planned and we only just made it before the whole beach was covered in water. It all added to the experience to be honest and we had a great laugh throughout the day in our Jeep.

Back at camp for another heavy night on the Goon. We got to know some more people on the trip, namely Sinead, Sarah and Cat (Rep of Ireland - Australia is swamped with Irish) and also Steph (Germany). We also spent the night calling Jeff ''Jack'' after his earlier calamity. Some revenge on all our parts after the snake stunt.

This day was without doubt the best single day of my entire trip. Our Jeep was awesome - all amazing people and we had such a good laugh throughout the day and into the night. We also visited some stunning sites and amazing scenery around Fraser and I love the island. Jeff / ''Jack'' also made a huge difference because he was brilliant, so laid back and had so many stories, making the experience all the more enjoyable for everyone. One more day at Fraser and I don't think any of us wanted the trip to end.

Day 4: (Fraser Island: Day 3). I managed to get out of the tent without falling on my face this time (but still feeling just as rough) and made my way to breakfast to be shocked by Jenny and Tasha boasting about getting up for the sunrise. I was pretty convinced they wouldn't make it so they were more than happy to rub that in my face.

After breakfast, we packed all the tents and equipment up and then headed to our final port of call on the island - Lake Wabby. Jones was back in the hot-seat for this drive and we arrived at the lake mid-morning. Prior to walking up, we had another briefing from Jeff, warning us against getting lost and against causing ourselves spinal injuries when entering the lake! To conquer this, he told us a sidewards roll into the lake was required. We were intrigued!

After a long walk, we reached Lake Wabby and were all blown away by it. It's amazing and in my opinion, the best site on all of Fraser Island. Huge Sand-Dunes cover one side of the lake and dense forest covers the other - it's so nice. Jeff's entry recommendation was because the sand runs into the lake at a pretty steep angle and has apparently caused injuries in the past. However, a slow walk would have been safe enough - the real reason he wanted the sidewards roll was to laugh at us trying to stand up after it. So dizzy and I regretted it after about 2 rolls with the hangover I had. It was funny though. We hung around there for a couple of hours, listening to more of Jeff's crazy stories. Then it was back on the Jeeps and off of the island, all pretty devastated about it as well.

Dave drove us back to Rainbow Beach, where we had to stop off for a quick clean-up operation and so the mechanics could check all the vehicles. No charges for anyone thankfully, not even Jeep 3, which had taken a bit of a battering across the 3 days. We then went back to the hostel.

I absolutely loved the 3 days we spent on Fraser Island and it was easily the highlight of my whole trip so far. The Island itself is amazing - so many beautiful sites and the trip was made even better by the people I met and a brilliant guide. We were all gutted to be back and I for one could have stayed over there for much longer. Although I'm not sure my liver would have been as keen. An amazing trip and I loved every minute.

Back at the hostel, our pain of returning was eased slightly when finding out that all 8 of us would be sharing the same dorm room that night, meaning we could delay everyone going their seperate ways for a bit longer. We took full advantage by polishing off our left-over Goon out the front of our hostel and singing the evening away to the sound of this random guy's guitar (he just turned up). A fitting end to a fantastic few days.