F Off Dingo

“You HAVE to go to Fraser!!!” It’s all you hear from any self-respecting backpacker when you mention you’re travelling down the East Coast!

And now we know why! A long and skinny white sand island with a rainforest growing in it and loads of crystal clear lakes and creeks, what’s not to like?

We took the Cool Dingoes 3 day 2 night tour meaning no cooking, camping or cleaning up. Rish just couldn’t handle any more camping, poor lad, so I had relented, despite really wanting to spend my time on the beach, digging holes to pee in and warding off dingoes that could attack us.. 😉 We had been pre-prepared though for these eventualities. If a dingo approached us we had to stand tall, and in our strongest, most manly voice shout back, GO AWAY DINGO, which we lovingly changed to F*@/ OFF DINGO. Equally if not more effective!

Just kidding, in fact, before we went on the tour, we were worried that we would miss out on the self-driving tour fun but having heard some of the stories from friends on those tours we were very thankful for our dorm rooms, hot showers and cosy bar in our Wilderness lodge!

Pissing it down with rain on the first day when the bus picked us up at our hostel, we didn’t have high hopes for our trip.. But a 55 minute ferry later we were basking in sunshine on Fraser Island… Someone really has been looking after us on this trip… Big G, we owe you big time!!

The first day we went on a trail through the rainforests and spotted a Goanna and a snake. Alright, so the snake was a practical joke by our driver Hayden but we were sufficiently fooled by the snake to want revenge on him!!

Lake Mackenzie was also on the Day 1 itinerary and it really is as stunning as it is advertised to be. But that wasn’t good enough for Rish and I, we didn’t want to share it with others, so we went and found our own patch of private beach land because frankly that’s how we roll! Flashpackers indeed!

After such a exhausting day, (Haha yes it is a good backpacker life) we had a bonding session in our Wilderness Lodge followed by a buffet dinner (which fyi is like winning a small fortune for a backpacker) and a bootylicious drinking games session. 😉

It didn’t stop there, if we thought day 1 was awesome, day 2 was even better… Mit had recommended to us the scenic flight over Fraser and not wanting to dissapoint him, we got on that plane! Spectacular views of a lake shaped like a butterfly, a brockley forest, humongous sand dunes and the great ocean. Not to mention taking off and landing on the beach! Super cool.

The sights we saw when safely back on land were absolutely beautiful too. We swam through Eli creek, climbed to the top of Indian head and sipped on the Champagne pools! But the highlight of the day has to be the best human pyramid you’ve ever seen.. I’ll let the picture show you how glorious it was. It was so good, that when Ben suggested we attempt to recreate it by the Maheno shipwreck, the awesome task overwhelmed us! Good attempt though guys! 🙂

Unfortunately, after day 2 some of our new Fraser friends had to go… We were obviously going to miss Manchester, young couple, Jess and Shannon, but hey it meant more cookies and tea for us!! Schweeet!

So Norway, Ireland, Korea, Italy and us (London) soldiered on. (-‘m crap with names so renamed everyone by the location!) The final day was much more chilled out but totally worth the extra dosh. Some of the sights were the best we’d seen on Fraser Island.

First up was Lake Wabby, an emerald coloured lake but to get to it you walk through a huuuuge desert… Ok not so huge but it was certainly an amazing sight. Unfortunately, the beautiful views came with its drawbacks, the stupid horseflies chased me around the bloody place as I attempted to sunbathe! Everyone time I posed for photographer Rishi to take a supermodelesque photo, those damn flies and ruined the shoot!.. I guess it’s nice to be wanted though?!

Lake Birabeen in the afternoon was a fabulous way to end the trip. An amazingly pure white sandy beach with a gorgeous lake which we adventurously walked through an underwater pathway to get to (and it even had little fishies in it)!! The best bit was how quiet the place was. It was just us, the mozzies and nature.

Despite having an awesome time on the tour, I don’t think we can fully appreciate how beautiful and fun Fraser Island is till we get home and reminisce over the photos… I’m sure a day back at work will do the trick?

The trip wasn’t all beautiful lakes and even more beautiful human pyramids though. The sand tracks you drive through are like an ongoing rollercoaster; the chocolate muesli bars were a big part of the trip too and not to mention bumping into people we’d met on other parts of the trip while in Fraser definitely provided some entertainment. Hearing about sleeping on puke in 4×4’s, plates being washed away to sea and fights between the German and Brits definitely made us appreciate our tour!

Back on flat land in Hervey Bay now, we have an overnight bus (leaving at 1.25am grr).. So we’ll do the same as what we did on our pre Fraser stay in Hervey Bay, hibernate in the cinema room and watch movies!! Trust me, there is not much else to do here!

See ya in Brisbane.