After
leaving Brisbane we headed to a tiny little place called Rainbow Beach.
Although it seemed really nice it did have a kind of inbred feel to it. We were
really going there because of a camping trip to the largest sand island in
Australia which left from Rainbow but we also had our first surf lesson booked
there. Gwenda and I were panicking big time about surfing as we thought it
would be really hard and we'd end up just shivering in the sea for hours.
When we got there our instructor was nice but he seemed about as enthusiastic about teaching us as a wet fish. We had to practice standing up on our boards on the beach for a while then we were straight in the sea. My first few attempts were terrible but I managed to stand up which I was pretty happy about before I landed on my face into the sea. I was able to stand up quite a few times but would definitely say that the waves were riding me more than I was riding them.
We'd had a few nice days of sunshine but, of course, when we were leaving for our camping trip the rain started to come down. The trip we were going on was called a tag along tour where there were four groups and each group has their own four wheel drive. We were going to a place called Fraser Island where we wouldn’t be alone because the place is also teaming with dingos- wild dogs that are kind of a cross between dogs, wolves and foxes. We were a bit unsure about what to do if one approached us because we watched a one video that said to back away, one guy told us to talk to them (!) and another said to take a spade if you went to the toilet and use it as a dingo basher if necessary (this would have been my preferred method). We were also told that we wouldn't be allowed to swim in the ocean on our trip as the waters around us were completely shark infested.
With all this in mind we set off in our 4wd to catch the ferry to the island. As well as Luce, Gwend and myself we also had a German girl, two Danish girls; Anne Sofie and Pernille and two Canadian boys; Chad and Matt in our car that we would be sharing the drive with and also cooking all our meals together. Luckily everyone was really nice (with the exception of the German who was a bit mental from time to time).
The first place we were visiting was Lake Mckenzie. Even in the rain this lake was beautiful and we all jumped straight in. We were also told that the sand was a really good exfoliant and as we wouldn't be washing for the next three days we made the most of it.
The rain really started to get worse then so our guide, Brendan, took us to a rainforest which he thought would look cool in the rain. It was pretty good but I quickly found out that my waterproof was not very waterproof (mum and dad you were right). This didn't really matter as I think we had already resigned ourselves to the fact that we would not be properly dry again for a few days.
After this we went and set up our camp- our tent had about six pegs and the outside didn't close, so that was excellent. Luckily we managed to get another outer layer to double up and make a super waterproof tent. As there wasn't much else to do the group more or less decided to start drinking at about five o'clock. We had all bought the cheapest drink available- GOON which is a cheap nasty wine that apparently contains dairy products and traces of fish. It did the trick though and we soon forgot about the rain lashing down. Our guide Brendan had also set up the cars around our little shelter so we could have light and music. Our group were all really nice and we soon had some drinking games going in a huge group.
We went to bed in our extremely cozy tent! Our zip was a nightmare and wouldn't close so I was going mental struggling with it and trying to yank it down, swearing etc, then I looked up and saw that I was literally nose to nose with a dingo. "I said girls there's a dingo" and Luce said "no way", to which I replied-eye to eye with the wild dog- "come and look". After that there was a fair bit of shouting and clapping as we tried to scare the thing away. The girls next to our tent said this was pretty funny to listen to.
The next day we visited a few places including a creek which we all floated down and a point called Indian head where you could see sharks, dolphins, turtles and stingrays from. We managed to see a few stingrays and some massive fish. After eating dinner and seeing plenty more dingos we headed back to camp where it started pouring down with rain again. Brendan had told us that the weather we were experiencing was as bad as it ever got and if we wanted to go to a hostel then we could. There was no way we were doing this but four people did go, including this loud mouth scouse; he hadn't stopped showing off since we got there so it was quite funny that he chickened out of camping.
Just
when we thought we had the worst of the weather one of the rangers came to
speak to Brendan to tell him there was a cyclone on the way and they were
shutting down parts of the island. Of course we decided to still camp. One
problem was the fact that our tent had completely collapsed so Luce, Chad,
Matt, Anne Sofie and I ended up piling into the car. Matt was a massive
backseat hogger so Luce and I created a unique sleeping position where we lay
on our backs with our heads on each others’ shoulders.
The following morning when we were due to leave the sun came out- typical or what? We visited another lake called Lake Wabbi which was fantastic as it had a massive sand dune running down to it where you could do a roll down called the crumbed sausage, landing with a massive splash in the lake.
We headed back to Rainbow Beach that day a little more damp and tired than when we left but having had a fantastic time. We were so lucky that we had such an enthusiastic group as we heard a lot of other groups had ended up at the resort. We had also met a lot of other people travelling the same route as us up the coast so all went out that night and were on the bus together the next day.
When we got there our instructor was nice but he seemed about as enthusiastic about teaching us as a wet fish. We had to practice standing up on our boards on the beach for a while then we were straight in the sea. My first few attempts were terrible but I managed to stand up which I was pretty happy about before I landed on my face into the sea. I was able to stand up quite a few times but would definitely say that the waves were riding me more than I was riding them.
We'd had a few nice days of sunshine but, of course, when we were leaving for our camping trip the rain started to come down. The trip we were going on was called a tag along tour where there were four groups and each group has their own four wheel drive. We were going to a place called Fraser Island where we wouldn’t be alone because the place is also teaming with dingos- wild dogs that are kind of a cross between dogs, wolves and foxes. We were a bit unsure about what to do if one approached us because we watched a one video that said to back away, one guy told us to talk to them (!) and another said to take a spade if you went to the toilet and use it as a dingo basher if necessary (this would have been my preferred method). We were also told that we wouldn't be allowed to swim in the ocean on our trip as the waters around us were completely shark infested.
With all this in mind we set off in our 4wd to catch the ferry to the island. As well as Luce, Gwend and myself we also had a German girl, two Danish girls; Anne Sofie and Pernille and two Canadian boys; Chad and Matt in our car that we would be sharing the drive with and also cooking all our meals together. Luckily everyone was really nice (with the exception of the German who was a bit mental from time to time).
The first place we were visiting was Lake Mckenzie. Even in the rain this lake was beautiful and we all jumped straight in. We were also told that the sand was a really good exfoliant and as we wouldn't be washing for the next three days we made the most of it.
The rain really started to get worse then so our guide, Brendan, took us to a rainforest which he thought would look cool in the rain. It was pretty good but I quickly found out that my waterproof was not very waterproof (mum and dad you were right). This didn't really matter as I think we had already resigned ourselves to the fact that we would not be properly dry again for a few days.
After this we went and set up our camp- our tent had about six pegs and the outside didn't close, so that was excellent. Luckily we managed to get another outer layer to double up and make a super waterproof tent. As there wasn't much else to do the group more or less decided to start drinking at about five o'clock. We had all bought the cheapest drink available- GOON which is a cheap nasty wine that apparently contains dairy products and traces of fish. It did the trick though and we soon forgot about the rain lashing down. Our guide Brendan had also set up the cars around our little shelter so we could have light and music. Our group were all really nice and we soon had some drinking games going in a huge group.
We went to bed in our extremely cozy tent! Our zip was a nightmare and wouldn't close so I was going mental struggling with it and trying to yank it down, swearing etc, then I looked up and saw that I was literally nose to nose with a dingo. "I said girls there's a dingo" and Luce said "no way", to which I replied-eye to eye with the wild dog- "come and look". After that there was a fair bit of shouting and clapping as we tried to scare the thing away. The girls next to our tent said this was pretty funny to listen to.
The next day we visited a few places including a creek which we all floated down and a point called Indian head where you could see sharks, dolphins, turtles and stingrays from. We managed to see a few stingrays and some massive fish. After eating dinner and seeing plenty more dingos we headed back to camp where it started pouring down with rain again. Brendan had told us that the weather we were experiencing was as bad as it ever got and if we wanted to go to a hostel then we could. There was no way we were doing this but four people did go, including this loud mouth scouse; he hadn't stopped showing off since we got there so it was quite funny that he chickened out of camping.
Just
when we thought we had the worst of the weather one of the rangers came to
speak to Brendan to tell him there was a cyclone on the way and they were
shutting down parts of the island. Of course we decided to still camp. One
problem was the fact that our tent had completely collapsed so Luce, Chad,
Matt, Anne Sofie and I ended up piling into the car. Matt was a massive
backseat hogger so Luce and I created a unique sleeping position where we lay
on our backs with our heads on each others’ shoulders.The following morning when we were due to leave the sun came out- typical or what? We visited another lake called Lake Wabbi which was fantastic as it had a massive sand dune running down to it where you could do a roll down called the crumbed sausage, landing with a massive splash in the lake.
We headed back to Rainbow Beach that day a little more damp and tired than when we left but having had a fantastic time. We were so lucky that we had such an enthusiastic group as we heard a lot of other groups had ended up at the resort. We had also met a lot of other people travelling the same route as us up the coast so all went out that night and were on the bus together the next day.
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