4 Wheel Drivin on Fraser Island

We made some wonderful friends these past three days on Fraser Island. Team C, as we were called, was ourselves, Chris from Germany, Genevieve and Erin from Canada, and Nick, Lee, Jack and Gill from England.

I've lost track of days, yet I believe today is Thursday. On Monday morning, we packed up an old Landcruiser with 4 tents, a shovel and toilet paper, food supplies, a map, water, tarps, our 7 new friends, and of course beer and wine. Not to mention "howz it hangin." So chalk up another epic adventure!

We took a barge from Rainbow beach to Fraser Island and as I pointed out in the last blog it is the largest sand island in the world. Before we left we were warned not to go into the ocean bc there are tons of sharks and deadly jelly fish.

Our first stop we drove 5 kms inland to Lake Mckinsey. Of course, Oren and I swam across the entire lake, a little over a mile. Oren said it felt like ten miles and I would agree. When we would get tired we would dive down and drink the water.

On our drive down from the lake we encountered a little problem. 3 of the 5 bolts on our back left tired had sheered off the tire bc they hadn't been tighted enough... the verdict was that it wasn't our fault. So Mickey, Oren, Jack and Nick headed back up the road to l0ok for help. We weren't very optimistic that they would bring back help, but we were fortunate to get a mechanic within an hour. Mickey had to use the SOS rescue line at the lake. The operator said do you need the police, hospital or fire department, and giggling he replied, "i need a mechanic." So she transfered him to the police! And it worked out in the end. The mechanic said we were one of his top 3 groups, but not 1 or 2 bc we were too self indulged...lol.

On Fraser Island you have to allways check the tide charts bc to get to most places you have to drive on the beach and you can't drive when the tide is high. After our little incident, we had to make camp bc the tide was coming up.

The first night we cooked chicken stir fry on our little stove. It was the night before the full moon so we all had a little moment on the beach before we hit the sheets. Oren and Chris entertained us with backflips.

On our second day we woke up early and Oren and I made eggs and toast for everyone. We had to wait til 11 to hit the road, so we passed the time with a little howz it hangin.

Incident #2, we let Lee drive! Stuck in the sand just 300ft from our campsite. Took us a good 45 min to get our car dugout and we were on our way. First we stopped at shipreck, then headed to Indian Head, and back to Eli creek. Oren and Mickey trecked up the creek and used a big stick to scare the girls into thinking it was a huge snake...and it worked!The boys and girls really took to the Carlton draft and the goon(wine) throughout the day. Oren was doing backflips off the back of the other trucks, Mickey was slapping the goon and the boys were wrestling. The night got a little crazy when a few of our canadian friends, that we had met a few days earlier playin ball, showed up and wanted to hear Oren play. Soo fun! Everyone had headlamps and we went NUTZ!

Took us a little while to gather ourselves and clean up in the morning. We then drove up to lake Wabi. Absolutly breathtaking. We were boogey boarding down the sand hills.
This weekend was crazy fun. We'll miss our 7 new friends. Just a sidenote, we finished all but 10 cans of beer, not that I was any help, I may have finished a six pack.
A little aloha to everyone back home. Oren and I were sitting on the beach yesterday morning and were were saying how it makes this trip even better that were are going home to a place as beautiful as Maui. Everyone we've met is dreading going home to work, we are stoked!
We are now in Airlee beach. Tomorrow we are leaving for a 3 day 2 night sailing adventure on Sisca, a 80ft monohaul sailing rig, with 22 people around the Whitsunday Islands. Sweet as mate!

A few notes from our friends...
Chris wrote:
ok guys, this is it! I had an awesome time on Fraser...playing how's it hangin, gooning everybody in and imaginable position, jumping off sand walls and backfliping! Group C just handled every situation, we got stuck after 1.5 hrs of driving, our wheel was broken...thanks for entertaining us, Oren! Anyways thanks to the crew, hopefully see you again someday!
Lee wrote:
First of all, I would like to take a chance to apoligise to the crew for getting us stuck! I'm sorry guys I was feeling pressure. And secondly, I would like to thank the most awesome group of people, hwo made my time on Fraser Island, unforgetable and now I'm gonna "put this shit to bed."
Jack wrote:
First impression of the group, way good ("beer") we were all thinking the same way, I like that.
The first day was probably one of, if not, the best day of my trip so far, everything seemed to go well and even when we broke the truck, we all got through it and had a good time. To be honest my two favorite times were breaking down and getting stuck in deep sand, there was definatly a big sense of unity and success in the group.
I will never forget this trip and the people that made it amazing!
Gill wrote: (condensed, jack you can back me=))
While our trusty mechanic fixed the very dodgey loose wheel, the group really bonded over a sing-a-long sess and the creation of the game "extreme goo" - the rules are complex...you have to drink a shot of goon while either playing the ucalaylee or standing at the top of a ladder held by your trusty friends?!
We exhausted ourselves on day one and pretty much went to bed at 9 (so much for a party night?!).
After another incident, I realized that there is nothing "team C" can't solve and with a bit of sweat, blood and tears we were on our adventure again. From beginning to end I have laughed, I couldn't have wished for a group of better people, i have never known so much energy, karisma, wit, humor, support, piss-taking, banter throwing, insult making, to be in one place at one time!
Love you all! Long live Goon shots!! Cheers to you and you all for managing (somehow) to get all of our deposits back at the end of the trip. How we managed that after beaking the seat and the wheel and losing that all important cereal bowl I never knew!!