Fraser Island

Well i got picked up 2 hours late which wasn't helpful - i could have had 2 more hours in bed! we drove to Rainbow Beach where i got on the 2 day bus as opposed to the 1 day bus, a total of 10 people on a 30 seater bus. 5 Japanese, 1 Korean, 3 Germans and me. great! The bus was a huge 4WD with biiig wheels. although it was automatic, which i thought was weird. not that i know much about 4W driving.
anyway so we got on the barge across to the island and drove up the coast along the beach before heading inland to Lake Wabby, the driving was pretty mad along these teeny sand tracks! got out and had a 1.8km walk across the sanddunes before getting there, very hot indeed and everyone was very ill prepared, including Jurran the Korean who seemed to wear high heel wedge flip flops for the entire 2 days. After about an hour there swimming in the freshwater with lots of catfish and one of the Japanese girls almost drowning as her friends decided to swim across and just leave her and she started panicking as soon as she tried to turn around, not even trying to swim. After an all you can eat buffet lunch at the Eurong beach resort where we were staying that night we went on to Lake Mackenzie, which was apparently a top 7 beautiful place, or something. i have to say it wasn't that great, but i have been spoilt i think by the beautiful beaches of Fiji. however the water was very clear and the sand almost white. Then a short rainforest walk (imagine that - rainforest on a sand island!)where i was convinced i was going to be eaten by a spider, alongside a 'ghost stream' water that fell as rain 16 years ago and had been slowly filtered by sand and charcoal and was now so clear you could hardly see it, and because there are no rocks to go over, it makes no noise. So we stayed the night at the Eurong beach resort, the best bit being the mexican buffet and apple crumble, and then me having a whole apartment to myself! bliss! managed to get the Japanese and the Korean down to the beach bar where they enthusiastically said they loved beer. the next morning we were delayed yet again by another 1.5 hours as the bus was broken. then we drove up the beach (its a bit like a motorway with no lanes) to Indian Head, a look out point, then saw some multi coloured sand (very exciting) and the Maheno shipwreck which had a long life as a cruise ship, troop carrier, hospital ship then was sold for scrap and while being towed to japan was wrecked on the island. the air force then used it for target practise during WW2 so it was pretty broken up.
Got back to Noosa last night and checked in to the YHA here which is in an old colonial white wooden building, a very nice hostel. it always helps staying in a nice place!
will post another update in Darwin on thursday before i fly to Bali.