Mike in Oz: Hervey Bay and Fraser Island

Travelled up to Hervey Bay from Noosa on Wednesday with a girl called Lotti from Sweden who is the first person I've met older than me. Spent the night in Hervey Bay meeting the group for the Fraser Island trip in preparation for a 6:30am start the next morning. We had all our food and booze bought including 2 boxes of goon for me.

I was booked on an 11 person 4-wheel drive van and was one of 3 nominated drivers for the trip. Everyone else was too young or couldn't drive. Made me feel a bit old to be honest but the chance to do most of the driving was one the best parts of the trip, which has been my favourite part of Australia yet. The island is completely made of sand, including the roads so it's all rough driving and I loved it. The inland roads were pretty ropey and full of dips and bends although the massive beach on the east coast (called 75 Mile Beach) got a lot firmer at low tide and we were able to get the speed up there. Amazing.

Over the course of the 3 days we covered most of the island it was possible to drive on. There are a number of stunning lakes and the headland at the north of the island has some shallow rock formations that the sea waves crash over creating a bubbling jacuzzi.

Three other vans went from the same hostel and one of them was driven by a lad called Davy from Glengormley, God's Country and he was good value. We tried to arrange communal camping but the island is so big it was impossible to keep track of each other and there was no mobile phone coverage.

We camped on the beach both nights as the main campsites are for families and have a 9:00 curfew. That curfew wouldn't allow for any games of Seven and a Half, which I introduced as learned from my Canadian friends. That went down well.

Feel asleep on the beach on the second night looking up at the stars, which were incredibly bright. The rest of the group sent out a search party as the sea is really rough and not to be swam in. And there are dingos about. One of the other groups left their food out on the first night, had it all eaten by dingos and had to buy it all again.

Bad news for the camera though. The sand is so fine that it's got into the mechanism and it's pretty knacked now although Laura, one of the girls from the trip, has put a load she took onto CD so will try to get them on here as well. Some photos I did get are worth a look.

Lake Mckenzie