Fraser Island (part 1)

Good day mate-

      Myself and 6 other friends took a road trip 12 hours north to a very cool and unique place called Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the worlds Largest sand Island and is sonly a short fairy ride from the mainland.  One cool thing about this island is that it only has a few minor little communities on it mostly for camping but besides that the island is pure nature.  Despite hardly any housing on the island off road trails for cars criss cross the island making it an excellent playground for 4 wheel drive vehicles. The interior has trails through the thick forest connecting its many lakes and lookouts. On the shore you can drive for miles down the beaches with lush forests on one side of you ocean on the other side and nothing but sand beneath you, it is really quite neat!

      We left right after classes at around 5pm, despite getting lost right off the bat we drove straight through the night and arrive perfectly on time to get briefed about the Land Rover we would be renting.   After a few quick do's and dont's from the company (there were many more dont's than do's) it was time to set sail.... literally though we had to catch the fairy to the island. We waited in line and backed our truck onto the boat along with about 20 other cars.

We arrived on the island and were greeted by a few pelicans just chilling out on the beach. We drove down the winding sand path through the forrest for a while until we came to our first lake. We ate lunch here and explored around. The lakes in the island are pretty unique, you may think how can a lake be on a pure sand island wouldn't the water just leak out? Its true it would but with a great amount of vegetation on the island over the years the old and dead vegetation has settled into the low parts of the island and made an impervious layer the water can not get out of. Over the past 3 years the island has gotten massive rains so these lakes have risen to about 5 to 10 feet above their normal state. This means that all the visitor board walks and plaques are underwater which is a pretty neat sight. This was the case at our first stop. We embraced the high water levels tossed on our bathing suits and went for a swim to get a better view. It was a really treat to swim in fresh water and it was quite warm! With the flooding theres some unique trees growing out of the water, we found one and decided to climb it.

After that we ventured down the shore where there was more of a beach. We hung out here for a few more hours. Myself and two of the other guys brought blow up rafts so we pulled those our of the truck and went for a float in the lake. It was great getting to explore all around and just hang out on a bright beautiful sunny day!

         We hopped back in the truck and back tracked a little to get out to the beach. We drove north for a few km just taking in the sights. As darkness moved in we found a camp sight just atop a sand bank right on the beach. We watched the sun set set up our tents and cooked dinner. The dingos were really out that night, we saw two on our drive up the beach, 2 more came running through our campsite and while we were out stargazing on the beach we had one walk right at us and one sneak up behind us. The ones we saw stargazing came up really close so we shined our lights on them and tried to scare them away. The dingos took off in a full sprint running a bit of a half circle around us before disappearing off into the woods. It was very cool to see these animals up close and personal!
-Evan