A wee good time!

We woke up early the next morning to catch our tour to Fraser Island. The bonding the night before must have been very effective as our new best friend had expected we would be late, and was out at the bus stop holding it so it wouldn't leave us behind. Thank god for that. The bus picked us and a few others up and dropped us off at the dock to catch the ferry to Fraser.

Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island. Travellers have to use a 4x4 to move throughout the island and explore all of its hidden gems. It's over 70 miles long and stretching all along the east shore is hard packed sand that serves as a highway and a runway for all the tourist visiting by truck or by plane. Along the east shore is also some of the most dangerous swimming water in Australia. So dangerous in fact that no one actually swims in the ocean. This is not a problem however, as the island has over 30 freshwater lakes dotted through out with water that has been filtered by the sand over hundreds of years. The lakes are considered some of the cleanest lakes in the world.

We booked a two day/one night Cool Dingo tour which was recommended to us by various people we had met on the journey. Once on the island we met our tour guide for the next two days. He was a gregarious Aussie in his early thirties called Brad . He was extremely crude (even for Aussie standards) which made for a highly entertaining and hilarious tour. Within the first hour of the tour he was giving travel suggestions to a fellow Cool Dingo passenger that we had just befriended waiting for the ferry. She was from Bristol and traveling solo for a few months all around Australia. Come to find out later that she was only 19 years old and Brad had told her that the best thing to do in Oz was to take Ecstasy and go to the zoo. ?!?! Totally normal.

The first day started with an incredibly bumpy ride through the island. Fraser hasn't had rain in months which made for lots of soft sand and very difficult driving conditions. It was entertaining none-the-less to see everyone bumping up and down in their seat. Our first stop was a rain forest walk to a secluded lake in the middle of the forest. In true Erin fashion, our guide dropped us off in the middle of the rain forest to start the hike and I was desperate to go to the loo. As everyone was unloading off the 4x4 and getting ready for the walk, Brad convinced me to sneak off further down the road where no one could see me and have a cheeky squat. There was no one else around but our tour group and all the roads are essentially just sand paths through the forest so this seemed like a reasonable enough idea. So I ran along the road about 10 meters away and squatted. Not even 30 seconds had passed and I heard the sound of another 4x4 grinding its way through the sand and heading right towards me. Awesome. As I sat there trying to figure what the hell to do, I had images in my head of little kids in a bus with cameras ready and the tour guide saying, "and if you look to your right kids you will see the islands most primitive form, a squatting American female marking her territory on the side of the road."

With the overwhelming fear that I was going to make the next Fraser Island postcard, I did the impossible. I stopped peeing mid-way through and quickly made myself presentable. Meanwhile, the entire tour group is aware of whats going on and are having a huge laugh as the new 4x4 pulls up. Little did I know, Brad had stopped the new vehicle and told them to wait a second because there was a blonde having a wee further down the road. Classic Erin move..... and I still had to pee.

Eventually we began the hike through the rain forest. It was absolutely beautiful with colorful wildlife bringing it to life. There were massive trees all along the trail that made even Paddy look like an ant. The trunks were the width of an average car and they stretched high into the sky with their leaves capturing a view of the island that we could only dream off. The largest tree that we passed was estimated to be over 5,000 years old. The hike was just under three hours total..... and I tripped not 5, not 10 but more than 20 times. It got so ridiculous that we just stopped counting and everyone stopped asking if I was okay. (Corinne, Dac, I have no doubt that you would have had at least 40 falls each!) ha.

A few stubbed toes and scrapped knees later and we were treated to a dip in Lake McKenzie. This was my favorite part of the tour. Lake McKenzie is the most notorious of the freshwater lakes on Fraser Island. It is absolutely breathtaking and has all the beauty of Whithaven beach in the Whitsundays (sand made of nearly pure silica) but without all the danger. We were actually able to swim in the water without the fear of meeting a killer jellyfish or hungry reef shark. Something about the PH level of the lake prevents any algae or marine live from living in the lake. Kind of a bummer for the fishes but I will say that it is a pretty cool feeling to be swimming around and accidentally swallow a bunch of water, only to realize that you are not gagging because its freshwater and not salt water. We stayed at Lake McKenzie for a few hours. It was a perfect way to end the first day.