Fraser Island and Whale Watching

The trip to Hervey Bay went smoothly. It was 5 hours and we got to see a movie on the bus.
We had a stop at 11am for 30 minutes and there A-M and me went down to a little pond to have our picnic, accompanied by lots of birds, black swans amongst others.
Arriving at Hervey Bay we had a mini-van waiting at the bus-station to take us to Colonial Backpackers YHA.
We checked in and were asked to come back at 3.30PM to have our briefing about the self-drive tour we were gonna make on Fraser Island.

We stayed in a 5 bed cabin, which had nice, soft beds and shower/toilet inside.
When coming back to the reception we met Josh, who told us that we where the only ones booked to the self-drive. Ooopsie daisys…
He called around to the other places and found two spots at Fraser Roving, so they drove us there at 5.30PM.
We where 18 people on the self-drive which meant 2 cars. The briefing-guy (can’t remember his name) told us about all accidents that had happened on Fraser due to people not following the instructions, and he scared me quite a bit.
They asked for two credit cards because if something happen to the car, we would have to pay 1000Au$ between the 9 of us. Yikes…
He divided us in two groups and in our group was Sonia and her boyfriend Wolleck (Wolle) from Germany, Ruth and her boyfriend Richard (England), Jelle (Netherlands), Martijn (Netherlands), Ameli (Korea), A-M and me.
The briefing ended with two videos showing us what to do if we met a dingo, and one about camping. Quite shaken by all the accident-pictures, dingos and the insurance, we sat group by group and decided what food to shop the next day.
It seemed like a very nice group and we had lots of laughs. A-M and me got a ride back to our hostel and there we had some dinner.
We went off to bed early after some packing.

At 7.10 on Tuesday morning we went with mini-van to Fraser Roving and met up with our Fraser-gang. The guy told us about how to drive the car (4 wheel-drive) and then off we went to do some shopping. Of course our group shopped for less money and drove off much earlier than the other car: 🙂
Well it didn’t start that good, because the boat to Fraser had broken down and it took another 1,5 hours to fix it. So a bit late we arrived to Fraser (the worlds largest sand-Island) at 12.30 or so. Wolle was driving the car and he did a great job. Out to the beach to try to find a fresh water-tap which we missed twice before I saw it. :p

After filling up water we drove to our first stop, Lake Wabby. Some of the guys took a dip in the water, but it didn’t look that inviting to me, so I stayed on land. After taking some nice group-photos ( A-M has one of them in her photo album on http://www.backpacking.se/ShowPhoto.asp?PhotoId=119248&SubMenu=2 ) we went back to the car to drive to find a camping-spot for the night.
We set up the tents, started to cook and got some more clothes on. When the sun sets it gets darn cold in no time…Wolle wasn’t only an great driver, he also fried burgers and sausages like a King. 🙂
We played some drinking-games and had lots of fun that evening. When going away from the cars and lights you could see the Milky Way up in the sky. Was quite a sight but we also saw a dingo near our camp, so no one was allowed to walk away from the camp alone.

A-M, Ameli and I shared a tent and it was no problem sleeping. The sleeping bag I bought for 20 Au$ in Brisbane warmed me enough.:)
We went up at 7.30 and didn’t have time for breakfast because we needed to drive off to the next place before the tide made it impossible for us to drive on the beach. Off we went to Indians Head were we had a great breakfast. After the meal we went up to see the views from the big cliff and we saw lots of animals in the ocean. We saw stingrays, turtles, sharks and some whales (in the horizon).
After this we went to the Champagne Pools to get a refreshing swim. The pools are surrounded by rocks close to ocean. It is not allowed to swim in the ocean because of the sharks, but in the pools you are safe.
I went down and felt the water with my foot first and when feeling how cold it was, I just ran out and jumped in. Otherwise I would have never gone in. :p *brrrrr*
After that it was nice to sit in the sun and get warmed up again.

We stopped at the old wreck on the way back and also at Eli Creek. Then it was time to get off the beach again for the tide was coming, so we drove to the same place where we camped the night before and set up our things.
A-M, Martijn, Richard and Ameli made pasta bolognese and it was delicious. The rest of us set up the tents and washed the dishes.
We had another night of fun, but less beer this evening. 🙂
I took the opportunity to look at the stars some more and I saw about 5 shooting stars in just 15 minutes or so.
After cleaning up and putting all the stuff in the car (you cant leave food or stuff outside because of the dingos) we went to sleep.

Up at 7 the next morning and then organized a good breakfast in our group. Then Jelle and Martijn got the fabulous idea that they wanted to ride after the car…on the tarpaulin (the cover we sat on when eating=presenning in Swedish). They lent my washing-line, attached it to the safety belt and folded the tarpaulin and Martijn was the first to have a go.
He hold on tight and sat down on his bum and off we went down at the beach. We went through some water (the fresh water the runs down the beach to the ocean) and he just kept on holding on. We laughed so much and Jelle just longed for his turn. After stopping for fresh water refill it was finally Jelles turn. He signaled that he wanted to go faster so Wolle speed up to 70 km/h. Jelle slided from one side to another but after a while we had to stop because he had sand in his eyes.
After washing his eyes they decided to both have a go. It went great for a while but then my washing-line gave up and snapped so both guys and the tarpaulin stopped. Jelle and Martijn where both fine and they loved the ride. The tarpaulin wasn’t in that good shape though with lots of holes in it. :p
Then it was time for our last stop on Fraser Island: Lake McKenzie. A beautiful lake with white sand and their we had our picnic and also got some sun before driving to the boat again.
It felt sad to leave Fraser because we had lots of fun there, though I will not miss the sand I had everywhere. :p

We came back to Fraser Roving and then it was time for the inspection of the car. They warned us about driving in the salt-water and said that they would see if we had done just that. Well everything was fine and we didn’t have to pay the 1000Au$. 🙂
We said goodbye to some of the guys that were leaving and went back to our hostel for a shower and food.
At 8 we went back to Fraser Roving to have a farewell-evening with the remaining Fraser-people.

On Friday we woke up hearing rain…Well we where going whale watching, so we took all the warm clothes we could find on us and went with the bus there at 8. They forgot to pick Mark, Jelle and Pierre up, so the came with Fraser Roving’s bus to the marina.
We went upstairs to the captain place where we could sit down and warm up for a moment.
Then we finally went out towards the whales. It took us about 30 minutes out and then we saw the first one. Amazing is not even good enough to describe it. 3 of them played around the boat, and we tried to get their attention by waving our arms and shouting, because they are curious animals.
Read more about them here:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/whales/species/Humpbackwhale.shtml
One of them jumped high and twisted in the air. The guys on the boat told us it’s not every day you get to see that, so we felt lucky. 🙂
I missed it on camera though, because I was just changing the cameras battery then…

It was raining and kind of windy out on the sea, but it was a big boat, and I felt safe.
The whales was around us the whole time and did some shows like waving to us and sticking up their heads (spy hopping). 🙂
I got some really nice videos of it but only a few good pictures. A-M got lots of nice tail-pictures of them.
http://www.backpacking.se/PhotoAlbum.asp?TravelId=4800&SubMenu=2

I didn’t even feel the rain and wind because of being so amazed by these animals. It was a wonderful experience. After about 2 hours with the whales we went back to the marina. Cold but happy we went back to the hostel after saying goodbye to our Fraser-friends.

On Friday evening A-M left for the Whitsundays to do a sailing trip and I had another night in Hervey Bay before going back to Brisbane.

I arrived in Brisbane on Saturday evening and am now staying at Tinbillys, which is a hostel a bit closer to the city than the others we stayed at before. I have a bed in a room with 12 others but it’s quite large and doesn’t feel that crowded like Cloud9 and City Backpackers.
I have been walking at south bank with two girls from the hostel, shopping some warm clothes, gone up in the clock tower in City Hall, looking for a 60GB Ipod and had a lazy day. 🙂

A-M came back Wednesday evening and yesterday we got to paint our own boomerangs for free. I am not very artistic but fortunate for me they had stencils (mallar) for some of the animals and signs. Well at least I made it all by myself, even though it looks like a 10-year old made it. :p
It’s a great memory to have though and it was fun making it.
We could also have chosen to paint a Didgeridoo, but it is too big to ship home,. Too bad because they are very beautiful. Here are some examples:
http://www.wadidge.com.au/decorateddidgeridoos.html

Tomorrow we will probably start our trip towards Sydney, and the first stop is Surfers Paradise, which is about 1 hour south from here.

Hugs to you all!