As part of the standard East Coast Australian places to see and tours to take part of, you have to do the Fraser Island safari, which involves camping and self driving (usually in a group of 8 people) a 4X4 Jeep car!
I have to say, that the agency didn't think very well about sharing the groups being thoughtful about how many women/men and drivers/non-drivers in each group! There were 3 groups...and we were 7 women and 1 man (not really) :)
And most of these women were from Europe where we drive on the right side...not that matters so much on a island that only has space for one way drive...but still!
Anyway, the adventure started and at the beginning, Frances was the only driver "willing" to give a go! The first 5 minutes on the island, we got stacked in a huge hole on the road...very scary!!! We thought we were going to loose the car all the passengers!
Panic over, thanks to some men on the other groups, we moved to the first spot recommended: the Wobby Lake...It was literally stunning! I've never seen something like that before: endless dunes of sand with a green lake where to swim and refresh! Absolutely amazing! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, so no visual memories of this place until I get the pictures from my companions of adventure!
Speaking of which, in my group there were: Suzana, Valeria, Frances, Trine, Helen, Anne and the guy (kind of :))...I don't even remember his name!
The most remarkable things at Fraser Island are: Dingoe's...pure stray dogs that apparently attack people - mainly kids - to get their food! Unfortunately for someone, we didn't see any...but we always accompanied each others to the public toilets :) ...mh...open toilets, sand toilets with free ocean view! You can't swim in the ocean as there are sharks!
Food: I was mainly travelling with young backpackers, meaning that food for them is just a way to fill in the body and don't starve...so, I had to shut up and go with the flow and buy the cheapest meat and ingredients in the supermarket! The only thing I managed to do was to take over and cook the BBQ and the pasta the day after! At least...
Prohibit signs: everything is prohibited at Fraser Island...unbelievable...there are signs everywhere about not using water, using water only for drinking or washing, not smoking, not diving, not swimming, not touching...I was surprised that I hadn't seen a sign that prohibits to breath! :)
I guess this is the big difference between Australia and Thailand: here in Australia every place is protected and treated with the best respect (nature becomes priority to human acts), while in Thailand money wins on everything, and nature is forgotten, with the consequence of pollution, died coral, ruined beaches, etc...
Fraser Island is great and it was a real adventure, but we all had the sensation that 3 days were enough...especially after the last night when it rained and, having the tents a few holes, we got all wet and pissed off!
It was good fun, though...also meeting and chatting with other people in the other 2 groups: 4 really fun Irish boys and 4 really German, German girls :)
No comments:
Post a Comment