Arrived at Dingos Hostel in Rainbow Beach for my 3 day Fraser island tour. Fraser Island is the largest sand-based island in the world (75miles long, 15mile wide), a world heritage site, with wild dogs called Dingos and over 350 species of birds, including the sea eagle which I was lucky enough to see. The island has lush tropical rainforest, swamps and a variety of stunning fresh water lakes and creeks, all on sand! There are no roads on the island, instead the long beach acts as a motorway/runway and off road tracks cut through the island.

 
We are put into groups of 8 and assigned a 4x4 vehicle. Every group had tents, a gas stove and a supply of food for the next 3days. We had 2 cool boxes... as the tour guide said: “one for tucker (food), one for piss (alcohol)”.


After a ferry to the island we followed the lead car in convoy. Driving a 4x4 on the
beach was a cool experience. 
 


On the first day we had nice weather and went to Lake Macanzee, the most amazing turquoise
fresh water lake. It had the softest white sand and lovely warm water. It was incredible to swim in and relax in the shallow water, without having to worry about stingers (jelly fish). 
 


In the evening we set up camp in the sand dunes next to the beach. We cooked steak then sat in a big circle on the beach drinking and socialising.
 

 
On the second day we visited a natural lazy river, where you could float slowly down
stream to the ocean. This was amazing and certainly got rid of your morning hangover! After this the rain started and didn't stop all day. After taking shelter for lunch we visited an orange lake in the rain forest and then the famous Fraser ship wreck. By the end of the day everyone was soaked and getting back to find puddles in our tents wasn't fun. However, after dinner and a few drinks the mood was upbeat again, and everyone sat in a big circle under the tarpaulin playing drinking games (lead by the Irish!). Because every tents was wet no-one wanted to go to bed so it made for a great night of drinking. Great end to what could have been a bad evening.
 
 
On the third day we had breakfast and packed up in the dry, but the rain continued. We did a
2.5km walk to a beautiful green lake and had a morning swim/wash. After this everyone was happy to leave Fraser and get back to the dry. Fraser Island was incredibly beautiful and exploring it on a 4x4 was a lot of fun.

When we got back to the hostel we found out there had been very bad flooding in the
surrounding areas and the town was cut off. Coaches were suspended for 24hour. The next morning I got up early for the free pancake breakfast but the coaches looked unlikely. I went back to bed and accepted I'd probably have to wait it out for a day or two. At 11pm however a coach arrived and everyone got very excited. At 12.30pm my coach arrived and after
a bit of waiting, thankfully I had a seat.