Solo Travelling

It has been a while since my last update, so I’m just going to lump in all the big things- Amy moved north of Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast. I went house hunting with her, and we found an adorable townhouse in a town called Maroochydore, which is right on the beach and close to the University she will be attending in July. Brooke stayed in Brisbane for a week to wait for her friend to arrive, and I kept going on my own, not wanting to waste a weeks worth of money to wait for them.
Here’s what’s happened since.
I went to Fraser Island through a company that does “self guided” tours. Essentially what this means is that they set you up with a bunch of people also going to the island, outfit you with a 4WD truck (that seats 10), all camping supplies (tent, stove, dishes) and a map and a loose itinerary and send you on your way. I originally wanted to do a guided tour, but the guy at the travel agency convinced me that self guided was the way to go. I wish I hadn’t listened to him. It took the better part of the morning to get all the gear together and go shopping for food with 9 other people on your group, all trying to decide on what to eat for 2 days. Then we had to drive to the ferry- we got lost. The ferry was late, which meant that we got to the island later and had less time to spend before setting up camp. I was in a group with 2 guys and 6 other girls, and we voted to let the boys handle the driving. The roads were really bumpy and all of them are sand, as it’s a sand island. As we were trekking and bumping along, we realized we had no idea where we were going. Fortunately we made our way to the first lake on the itinerary, but only had time to view it from the lookout before setting off for camp. It’s a really big island, and the slow traversing made it really time consuming to get anywhere. We finally got to our “campsite.” It was just a stretch of dunes on the beach. Turns out we were roughing it big time. “do it yourself” Hole in the ground toilets, no fresh water, it was super hot, there were dead jellyfish lining the beach, and huge massive bitting horseflies. Did I mention that there are wild dingoes? We all cooked meat the first night, which attacted about 15 dingoes, who decided to ravage our camp and rip up any and every thing we didn’t put back in the truck. Including a plastic bag that held our used toilet paper that was tied to a tree. Nasty cleanup the next morning!!! It rained that night, and I spent the evening with a busting bladder and a huge fear of going outside and having a dingo bite my butt while squatting in the bushes to pee. But soon it became too much and I really had to pee. Lo and behold, out somes a snarling dingo, forcing me to leap, pants around my ankles back into the tent, still with a busting bladder. It was around this time that I began cursing the guy who convinced me to buy this tour.
The next few days actually turned around- we managed to find a freshwater lake that we all bathed in (the weather was swelteringly hot, and we were all covered in sweat, sand, and sunscreen) before heading north to Indian Head. The bay was gorgeous, and we went to these massive tide pools (think water deeper than I am tall) that we warm and filled with fish and super salty, making you really buoyant. That night we all cooked pasta, and saw only one dingo. It did rain in the middle of the night however. We had set up a tarp as a rain fly, but kept the windows and door open, since it was so hot. I woke up soaking wet, with one of my tentmates sitting in the middle of the tent. She told me “Its raining.” No kidding! She just sat there, so I was forced to jump into action, by myself, to go outside in the pouring rain and undo the ties holding all the flaps open. I spent the rest of the night soaking wet and covered in sand. Did I mention that on the guided tours you sleep in a hostel?
The last day, we went to Lake McKenzie, which is a MASSIVE freshwater lake with water so clear it looks like a swimming pool. You can open your eyes underwater and see up to 10 feet away, clear as day. It was AWESOME!!! Unfortunately the sun refused to come out, so we didn’t see it in all its glory, and it kept raining in spurts on us, but it was still one of the best things I’ve seen on this trip so far.
Overall, the Fraser trip was enjoyable, but if I ever go back I am 110% doing it guided- you learn more about the island from knowledgeable guides, stay dry at night, and have toilets to pee in. I did enjoy the social aspect of my trip though- there were 50 people total, so even though I went alone, I left with a bunch of friends. Most people are also headed up north, and I even bumped into a few of my friends in the next town- Airlie Beach.
To get from Hervey Bay, where Fraser is, to Airlie Beach by Greyhound you have to take an overnight bus. Mine left at 12:30 am and arrived at 2:30 pm the next day. It was brutal, but it comes with the territory, I guess. Airlie Beach I known as the “Gateway to the Whitsundays” and is where you have to go to catch tours to the islands. I went out on a catamaran called Wings II, which holds 25 people and is geared toward diving vacations. I went on 5 dives, including a night dive. I had a great time- it was so great to be out on the water, and to be able to stay in your bathing suit, even after the sun went down, it was that warm! The crew took tons of pictures, the food was great, everyone was really friendly, and I even got to drive the boat- twice!!! Coincidentally, I had applied to work for that company before I booked that trip, and the skipper introduced me to the owner of the company after we got back. In order to get to know me and get a feel of how I am on boats, he took me out on his trimaran for a race against 4 other boats. We didn’t finish the race, however, because a massive downpour rolled in, like something out of the movies, soaking us to the core, and forcing us to head home. I didn’t mind the rain though, cause it was warm, and the ocean itself felt like bath water, it was awesome.