October 14, 2010

Just got back from Fraser. Probably the worst trip I’ve had in Oz so far. Not in any way a bad trip, but not that good. Basically we drove around in an SUV for 2.5 days looking at lakes. Basically the trip is taking a 4WD car full of people all around Fraser Island, which is the biggest sand island in the world. So you drive through insane sand along the coast and camp at night. I’d heard so many great stories about it, but from my experience, it wasn’t that different from anything I could have done back home. Clearly there was an ocean and better/more trees, but other than that, nothing too special. SUVs, trees, lakes, sand. Our car had 8 people plus the guide. These are called “self-drive” tours, but some new rule says that you’re not aloud to do this kind of a trip without a guide so one of our 4 cars had a guide and our car was the one. I really liked the group when I first met them. 2 were from England, 1 from Canada, 2 Austria and 2 France. The Austrian and French were fairly quiet in the beginning but I really got on well with the English speakers. It kinda went downhill after the first day somehow though. When we first got there the weather was pretty shit and waves were insane so we couldn’t drive on the beach. We had to take inland trails instead. We managed to make the full 3 days without any rain, but day one was pretty cloudy. Since we couldn’t do any of the beachy stuff we just drove around the island looking at lakes. The island is pretty big, so it took a long time to get from one place to another. We got on the island at 9am, got to the campsite at 5pm and saw like 4 lakes and nothing else all day. I’d seen some pics of the lakes and they were awesome, but because of the clouds they weren’t very blue and the clarity wasn’t as extreme. The sand was the same beautiful white as Whitsundays, but the clouds ruined that too. That was day one. That night at the campsite we saw a dingo straight away trying to get into a tent. It was like rule number one to not have food in tents and to avoid dingos at all possible costs because they can be dangerous. I thought it was adorable. I wanted to play fetch with it and let it lick my face, but whatever. So, yay for checking another native animal off my list. Anyway, dinner was just easy pasta, nothing special, and then everyone sat around the fire. My biggest excitement for this trip was campfires and tents. Well, I’ve always been a huge fan of smaller gatherings and I figured with a self-drive tour you’d hang with your car and only your car, so I figured 8 people chillin around a fire. Nope. 4 cars, so 32 people chillin around a fire; car stereo blaring, drinking games galore… not my idea of a campfire. I did have roasted marshmallows, but their marshmallows are pretty shit here, so it wasn’t quite what I wanted. Tent wasn’t bad. I shared a tent with Rachel and Ben and we were given little pads to sleep on, but no pillows so my neck was uncomfortable all night. The temp was perfect for camping though so we woke up a little warm, but not sticky and hot and I only had a blanket but wasn’t woken up too cold. Next day was much warmer so we went to the west side of the island where the current wasn’t as bad so we laid out in the sun until after lunch and that was perfect. Then we decided we’d do more siteseeing so Brad (driver) took us inland again to more lakes. Crap. We managed to stop at Eli River, which was really refreshing, clear, and cool. Walked up that and went to the Mahara shipwreck. Basically a ship broke down or became useless so as they were towing it, it broke from the tow-boat and crashed onto shore on this island… not that cool and no one died, but now there’s this huge rusty boat on shore and it’s like the main attraction of the island. I’d think if it had a cooler history it’d be way cool, but it’s not. It was really cool and made for some cool pics. Back to camp, where I was bored with everyone sort of ignoring me. I’m not conceded, but I usually get along really well with strangers and I’m usually really comfortable with them for at least a few weeks before I start thinking they all hate me but for some reason I felt that way mid way through the first day. So strange. So that evening I sort of kept to myself. We had burgers and sausages for dinner (classic camp style BBQ), and I just sat at the fire then went to bed pretty early. Fairly certain I woke up at like 2am to Ben and Rachel fooling around, but if I did, they were just finishing. I heard a lot of rustling, breathing for a few seconds, then what I thought was elastic (as in getting clothes back on), then silence so I think I caught the climax and end. Awkward. And you know once you THINK you hear it, everything afterward is definitely something dirty. A deep breath becomes moaning. Someone pursing their lips becomes much worse.. it messes with sleep. Next morning we had to wake up at 6am to head out. It was meant to be a 3 day trip and yet I’m leaving bright and early on the third day, strange, right? Yeah, I thought so too. What BS! Don’t sell me a 3 day trip but day three is over by noon after we spend like 1.5hrs driving from camp to the ferry, then an hour getting from the ferry to the hostel and all cleaned up. SOOOO uncool, especially after the boring 2 previous day. Well, lucky for me, one of the cars got stuck in a creek we drove through, so we spent like 2.5hrs trying to get it out. Everyone was pretty stressed, but the way I saw it, there were like 20 people trying to help (way too many), so I got to lay out on the beach while the men tried to fix it. They broke the cage off the front of the car, and then had to call in help. I took some vids and paparazzi-stalked the super perfect male specimen from the other car. So day three turned into a mini beach visit and home. Not that cool. Weather was great on day 2 and 3, super sunny and breezy, and the guide Brad was super cool and informative, but basically, I could have skipped out and not been too devastated. Got nothing to do for the rest of the day, maybe some internet and beach. Leave early in the AM to head down the coast to Coolangatta. No plans for there, just see Adam and Deb and hang for a few days.