One of the things we were really looking forward to was Fraser Island. Well, Jess was looking forward to it, I was more sold on the fact that I would get to drive a 4WD down the beach! Sweeet! Fraser Island is the world's biggest sand island and is about 30kms off the coast of Brisbane. All the roads are soft sand tracks, and only 4WD are permitted so we had to hire one. I was thinking of some kick-ass Mad Max style monster truck that would increase the size of my manhood 10 times!! oh yeah!! We got a Suzuki Jimmy. Not really much to say about it except Noddy and Big Ears would be proud.
Having said that the little beast did a pretty good job and we only had to dig ourselves out about 5 times. Jess' driving technique was pretty sweet - no matter how big the bump, sand dune, tree root etc. hit it at 50kmh and we'll make it! ;)
Jess found a coconut, which we tried to get the milk out off with little success:
.....still trying :(:
The Maheno shipwreck:
The remoteness of the whole island was pretty incredible. There were a couple of resorts with general stores but other than that not much else. The sea was off limits due to being a shark breeding zone, but in the middle of the island were some of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen. The water was crystal clear, white sand and freshwater which made swimming in them absolutely amazing. We also saw some wild dingoes which roam the island and also the Maheno shipwreck on the beach. We had to camp for 2 nights. Camping is shit. I don't care what people say. Maybe if we had one of those mungo 5 room tents, then it would be good, but 2 days of sleeping on a crappy camping mat and I was looking forward to getting back to the 5 star-ness that is our campervan.
Wild dingo:
Lake MacKenzie (yes, I'm wearing speedos....gay, but I'm fed up of my legs looking like they belong to a dead guy)
After Fraser, we chilled out in Hervey Bay for a day before heading to Bundaberg so that Jess could do her dive course. The Great Barrier Reef pretty much starts here and the diving is some of the best in the world! Bundaberg itself is ok - teeming with fruit pickers and backpackers. Diving has been pretty cool - Jess saw a massive leopard stingray with a span of about 2 metres. Also saw highly venomous sea-snake, turtles and a shedload of fish. Long story short, Jess is now qualified and we have some amazing dives to look forward to :)
I miss my bike. A 50cc 4-stroke hairdryer is a poor substitute, but 2 wheels are still 2 wheels! Plus we got to look like Poncherello for 2 hours. Booya!
Last night we stayed in Mon Repos which is one of the main site for turtle nesting in the world. The Queensland Wildlife Service offer night-time tours to observe the female Loggerheads coming out of the sea, up into the dunes to lay their eggs. The whole experience was incredible as we watched a 40 year old Loggerhead lady drop her first lay of the season, burying them and then heading back down the beach and out to sea. The little guys will hatch in about 6-8 weeks.
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