Full of the Christmas Spirit...

So after the overnight bus to Hervey Bay we were picked up at 7am on Sunday 23rd by our Fraser Island guide, Jason in a giant 4x4 minibus. Coincidentally in our small group of 9 was a couple, Gemma and Rich, one Welsh and one English and both with connections to Canterbury and the university so we chatted away like we had known each other for years (more on them later!). We got the ferry safely across the sandy straits to Fraser with some dodgy looking clouds above us, jumped back aboard our 'truck' and we were off. Now I knew that Fraser was a giant sand island but I had no idea that would mean we were literally driving over sand (!) and it was very bumpy, but brilliant fun. We made it across the island to the 75 km beach which is the main highway on Fraser and joined the many other 4WD going up and down surprisingly fast! Our first stop was Eli Creek, the fastest following body of water on the island. Despite the overcast weather we donned our swimmers and walked up the creek and floated with the current back down, past a couple of Aussie blokes sat in the water with their cans of beer! After climbing back aboard the truck and filling it with sand, we continued up the beach whilst listening to Jason's brilliant commentary (the guy really knew his stuff) until we reached the wreck of the Maheto, washed up during a cyclone whilst on route to its new Japanese owners (and coincidentally later used as target practise by the Australians when preparing to attack the Japanese!) Next stop was the coloured sand that formed the rocks of the Pinnacles, either created by different mineral deposits or by the Aboriginal Rainbow Spirit! After a lunch prepared by Jason, we headed further up the beach to the volcanic rock formation of Indian Head, which we climbed during the hottest part of the day (and the only sunny part of the day as it turned out!). But it did give brilliant views over the island and coastline and some people even managed to spot a turtle and sharks! Our final stop of the day was to be a 2km walk for a dip in lake Wabby which after the heat of Indian Head sounded like a good idea, however as we raced back down the beach so the weather turned. We ended up in the lake whilst the rain was bucketing down on us and then as we walked back to the minibus it got heavier and we got even wetter! That night we were staying in a rather nice mini apartment which we shared with Gemma and Rich, and since they were also in Hervey Bay for Christmas and like us, unsure how to spend the day we planned to meet up and have a BBQ on the beach to celebrate Christmas!



On our second day on Fraser, and also Christmas Eve, we went back across the island until we reached Central station, the former logging headquarters, and walked from there along an amazingly clear water creek and into the rainforest where typically it rained! Luckily Jason had gone on ahead and by the time we reached the minibus he'd boiled up some water and we had a nice warm cup of tea with biscuits, very civilised! Our final stop on the island was to be the highlight of the tour, a trip to the famous Lake Mackenzie which in all the pictures looks stunning, however when we got their it was still overcast and drizzling and didn't look quite as good but we still waded in and enjoyed the clear waters until it was too cold. We returned to the minibus to find that Jason had rigged up an awning for us to enjoy a rain free lunch of snags from the barbie! And then we had our encounter with the island's famous baddie when a dingo, smelling the food, wandered over to try and scavenge. So being the scared tourists we all jumped up on the bench and tried to make lots of noise, which didn't scare it away so instead we kept a safe distance and took photos! After a fairly long and very bumpy ride to the ferry terminal we made it back to solid land and Jason returned us to our accommodation and I spent a fair bit of the evening trying to locate internet that I could use on Christmas Day to phone home cheaply!

And so I've made it to day 51 of the trip and its Christmas Day, sadly no Christmas presents to open but two cards from home which was just as good and a great day to look forward to! We begin with some food preparation (using a penknife!!) at Gemma and Rich's motel room before relocating to the seafront where handily there are free electric BBQs available for anyone to use. And we begin our feasting with a celebratory toast of sparkling wine before the boys head off to cook and we open the next bottle before our first course of skewered prawns and corn on the cob, followed by some good old steak and finally bananas baked with chocolate and marshmallows (BBQs for Christmas are definitely the way forward for me!). Luckily the weather held out and although not very sunny it was still pleasant and after a good sociable few hours we moved to the beach for a paddle before retiring to the motel room again to watch the video Rich had made of Fraser island and to finish a brilliant day with more food and drink and some films! So although I missed being at home with family, I had a really good day with friends and it will be one of the best memories from the trip..

Came back down to earth with a bit of a bump the next day as we said goodbye to our new friends (although we will be seeing them in Brisbane on the 29th!) and went back to our hostel to nap and to enjoy a very lazy Boxing Day (and do some laundry!).

Thursday the 27th and time to say goodbye to Hervey Bay and continue our trip down the coast this time to Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, only we have yet to see the sun here. You may have already heard that we are suffering some of the worst summer they have seen here, yes that's right before we turned up there was the worst drought for 100 years and n0w its like a British Summer, although not as cold!! We've settled into yet another YHA, this one even has a surround sound cinema! Sadly our plans have had alter whilst we're here due to weather and we haven't been able to do as much as we'd planned, but today (friday) we have managed a fun cruise around the canals and harbours, getting a bit of history of the area and gawping at the luxury houses, including Steve Irwin's former holiday home and his boat the Croc 1. So tomorrow we will gladly leave behind wet Maroochydore and get back aboard the Greyhound for the short trip to Brisbane where we will be spending New Year.

Happy New Year everyone and I will blog again in 2008!