sand. sand. sand. sand. sand. sand. sand. sand. sand.

30th July-4th August

My second day in 1770 was pretty action packed. In the morning I had a surf lesson at the beach, and I was told that I had really good paddling skills – just needed to work on the surfing bit! However, I did manage to stand up quite a few times, none of which were captured on camera. At the end of the lesson, we all got a certificate for safe surfing level 1, and we were all very proud of ourselves!

surfing!

It was then back to the hostel for lunch before going on a kayaking tour around the beaches of 1770. IT was quite sunny, and the water looked sooo clear! We were in double sit-on kayaks, and I was sharing with our tour guide. Her dog also came along for the journey, and sat on the front of the boat like a little figurehead! We kayaking about 2km to the viewpoint, where we could see the landing place of Cook in 1770 (how the town got its name) On the kayak back we stopped to watch the sunset with wine and cake.

where captain cook landed in 1770

And then my camera met its end.

I then went back to the hostel for dinner before going to the one and only pub in 1770 with some of the girls in my room. It was a bit of an old man pub, but we met up with some of the others that were in our surfing lesson, and sat around for a bit, listening to the questionable people playing on open mike night. We headed back to the hostel at about midnight (where the hostel provided a courtesy bus service – which was thought was very nice of them so we didn’t have to walk for 10 minutes in the dark!)

It was an early start the next morning, as the bus came at 6:30 – and it was on time! I was sitting with about 5 other people I had met on my surf lesson, so after a nap, we sat around chatting for the 6 hour journey. We arrived in rainbow beach at about 12:30, where I checked into my hostel and had another nap.

At 4  I had the briefing before fraser island, where we were also put into our groups that we would be sharing a car with. There were 11 people to each 4×4. After the briefings, we went shopping for food for the 3 days, and managed to spend $220! But we did have heaps of food. After shopping we went back to their hostel for some dinner and getting to know each other. We ended up sitting about in the bar until about 10:30, where my feet got really cold, so I decided it was time for bed.

So, we all met up at 8:30 to start packing up the 4x4s for fraser island. We had to check that everything was there, and then load all the food into crates and eskies before putting everything up onto the roof of the car. The back was filled with 6 crates of beer, and about 7 boxes of goon under the seats! Eventually we set off at about 9:30 to go to the hire place to get further briefings. We collected our maps and itineraries, along with a few other bits a pieces and then were on our way to the barge to get to the island. We decided to travel as one big group with the two cars, so then had to wait for the others.

We drove to the beach with no problems, but as soon as we hit the beach it was rather soft sand, and the other 4×4 got bogged, and had to be rescued by a tour guide driving a bus, who drove it across the beach for them. We also decided that it would be best to get out and walk, so we ran behind the car onto the barge. We made it onto the island without any further issues, and then had about a 90 minute drive along some very bouncy roads to lake MacKenzie. We had lunch before getting our swimming stuff and heading to the lake. The lake was amazingly clear, and looked awesome! A few of us jumped straight in and went for a swim, and the water was soo clear, it looked like you could stand up, but in fact it was about 5m deep! We stayed at the lake until about 3, and then drove along some very bumpy tracks to get to our campground for the night. The journey was pretty funny, as every time we went over a bump the guys would start cheering at the girl melissa who was driving.

We got to the campground at about 4, and set about finding a place to camp, eventually we found a spot that was big enough for the 8 tents, and not too close to other people. Once we had got the cars unloaded and the tents up, it was just about dark, and time for dinner of spag bol. We had about 3kg of pasta between the 11 of us – and there was heaps left over, although we did manage to eat an awful lot of it!

We then spent the rest of the evening chilling out, sadly without a campfire, as there are big fire restrictions on the island. We went to bed at about 11:30, as it started to rain.

We woke up at about 7 the next morning to the sound of rain, so no-one really wanted to get up. Eventually the rain eased off a bit, although being in a rainforest meant that we still got dripped on every time the wind blew. We had breakfast and loaded up the cars before getting going at about 9ish. We headed back out to the beach, and drove along the beach for a while before heading inland to Lake Wabbi. The lake had a 2km walk in, so we took lunch with us. To get to the lake you walk across a massive sandblow, which is where the sand has been blown in from the beach creating massive sand dunes. We reached the lake, and were rather warm so jumped straight in , and the water was freezing! The lake was at the bottom of the sand dune, so was quite well shaded, espcially where there was a rainforest on the other side! There were also catfish living in the lake. After having a quick swim, it was time for lunch, where we started with normal sandwiches, and then reverted to crisp sandwiches when the cheese got a bit too sandy.

It was then time for the walk back to the cars, and another 20km drive along the beach to our campground for the night. We got to out campground a little bit before 2, as we weren’t allowed to drive on the beach after that time due to the tides. It was spitting slightly when we arrived, so we set the tents up as quickly as possible. Thankfully, the sun came out, and we went down the beach a bit to play some volleyball. We played 7 on 7 volleyball, with some questionable rules, although we did start rotating players when we remembered! We stopped playing when it started to get a bit chilly, and started on the goon.

We started cooking dinner at about 5, just as it was starting to get dark. We were told that there would be a barbecue, so we bought burgers, but there wasn’t one, so we had to fry them instead. We had about 60 burgers, and heaps of salad between the 22 of us, so we ate pretty well. By the time dinner had finished it was dark, and we sat around chatting and drinking. The irish lads built a fire so we spent the rest of the night around the fire, listening them singing irish songs. Being int he middle of the beach, there was no toilet block, so we had to dig a hole in the sand dunes. We were also told to go in groups, in case there were dingos around. So going to the toilet became a bit of an expedition, with about 5 of us going together, and finding a spot along the sand dunes.

We eventually headed to bed at about 11ish, as we were too lazy to collect more firewood.

We woke up at about 6:30 and it was clear and sunny. For breakfast we had heaps of scrambled eggs, bacon and sausages along with cereal. We were far more motivated to get moving as it was sunny, so were ready to get on the beach at 9. I got a chance at driving the car, and it was really fun. I drove for about half an hour along the beach. Driving was quite easy, apart form when driving through soft sand, where the wheels pretty much had a mind of their own! On the drive up the beach we stopped at the maheno shipwreck before continuing up to indian heads, the most northerly point we were allowed to drive to on the beach. We walked up to the top where there were some really nice views, and then it was back in the car for the 60km drive along the beach back to the town of Eurong.

The drive was ok, as it was along the beach, and apart from a close encounter with a plane that was going to take off as we were driving along, it was quite uneventful. W stopped in Eurong for lunch before going along the inland track back to the barge. We got on the barge at about 2:30 back to the mainland.

We then had to unload the cars and clean all the stuff before getting back to the hostel for a much needed shower! We then all met up for dinner before going back to the hostel bar for a drink. We all headed to bed at about 11, as we were all shattered!

Today I’m getting the bus to noosa, where I’m off kayaking int he everglades for a few days.

Phew – updates finished!!