we came sooooo close to totalling our landcruiser on fraiser island one too many times for my liking. i mean, there's only so much abuse you can give a 4x4, isn't there? we drove over seriously uneven ground and thought we'd topple on our side, we had a few near misses on soft sand when passing oncoming 4x4's, we overtook another 4x4 at speed on sandy dirt roads, and last but not least, we hit a bump in the sand on the beach at good speed and managed to get all 4 wheels off the ground for a few moments! i mean, the crash down after launch was collosal. 11 people crammed into the thing and when we launched everyone was a foot about their seats aswell... and the thing survived... i think it liked it.
camping was as suspected, no sleep on very hard ground. no amount of alcohol could lull you to sleep, although everyone had a go anyway. it was 3 days and 2 nights in total. fraiser island is the largest sand island in the world. after our maniac 4x4 adventures (self drive - i did the majority of the driving) what i'll remember most is the fooking sand. you have to become at one with the sand, there's no other way. when you get over having sand in every orifice, then you have to come to terms with the food. sandwich takes on new meaning. everything we cooked; bolonaise, fry-ups, steaks, potatoes.. all had oodles of sand sprinkled on top like an african garnish. the cups were not immune either, so whatever you drank was the same; wine, beer, milk, vodka - all a very crunchy experience. i really hated sand before i went to fraiser and fiji, now i'm actually cancelling our trip to the islands we planned to go to in thailand... i just can't take any more!
all in all a good trip, but the beaches and lakes were a bit boring, as i just aint into sunbathing. one of the french guys insisted on wearing a banana hammock (or as ozzies call them: budgie smugglers) for the entire trip, and then also took them off while swimming and them swam with them on his face. huh... typical frenchies...
made 9 good friends - 4 frenchies and 5 english. good group, and i'm sure i'll bump into some of them on the rest of my travels somewhere.
