In the morning I took the YHA shuttle bus to Noosa Junction to catch Nomad’s shuttle bus. I’ve stayed at Nomads Byron Bay before, so I kinda suspected this one to be a bit of a party hostel as well. The set up of the hostel was kinda all over the place. I got placed in an 18 dorm with only 2 stand-alone fans in the room with our own toilets and showers. They do have a pool and a beach volleyball court as well. I’ve settled in and kinda started chatting with this group of German guys who were travelling together. They said they were friends back home but ran into each other out here by accident, not knowing that the other was travelling abroad as well. They were really nice guys. They wanted to play volleyball and was one person short so I said I wanna play, even though I haven’t played it since elelmentary school. Like I said the set up was bad where they had it that the ball was easy to jump outta court down to the rooms. I had to go pick up the ball several times that one of the guys told his friend to switch sides with me so I wouldn’t have to keep fetching the ball
.
Later on a Canadian couple Corey and Breanne joined our room. Finally!! First Canadians I’ve met since Sydney!!! Apparently they were going on the same Fraser Island tour as I am. Everyone going to the tour had to go to a safety briefing. Basically it was getting a stack of safety forms and watching a 20min video about driving in sand. Attached to the hostel was a bar and apparently it was “the” bar in town? We were allowed to bring alcohol onto the island and I wanted to get a box of goon before I go check out the bar but the bottle shop closed at 8PM!! The Canadians said they got a big bottle of gin and that I could have some if I want. We decided to go check out the bar, it was alright, not nearly as good as people say, but at least there was no cover. I got to sit with this table of Germans I think? They were all a bit tipsy and the music was so loud that the whole conversation was just a bunch of mumbles to me, I basically just smiled and nodded. Then at one point this local just came and sat down and started talking and you could tell that he was smashed. Later on when I went out to get a breather he came out as well and was just trying to hit on every girl who happened to be sitting out there and he ended on me asking if I want a massage blahblahblah. I quickly made my escape. Don’t need no more creeps on this trip!
The shuttle bus came to pick us up early in the morning as we still got a long way to go to get to Rainbow Beach where we launch off to go to Fraser. It also happened to be my stop after Noosa. Our tour guide gave us a briefing, checked our licenses making sure who were able to drive, and separated us into 3 cars. In my car we got an American and a German couple and a friend of theirs, Lewis from England, Viktoria from Sweden, and Bjork and Lisbeth from Norway. You gotta be 21 and know how to drive manual to be able to drive the 4x4 on Fraser Island. So basically there was only me, the American, and the 2 Norwegian girls that can drive. Lewis could’ve drove except his driver’s license expired. American took first dib. He was a bit of a show off since he’s done it before. He was driving quite fast at times when he should’ve slowed down and our tour guide had to radio our car telling us to slow down or else we’d get in shit!
We had a pit stop at a roadhouse half way between Noosa and Rainbow Beach to get some drinks or snacks, I got some hot chips. Then we drove to take the ferry across to Fraser Island. You could see immediately how nice the sand is on the island. Once we landed it was a bit further drive to where we’ll be staying for the next 2 nights. Me and Viktoria hit it off really well, although she’s only 18 she definitely was more mature for her age
. So us and the Canadians decided to share a room together. We were supposed to camp out but for some reason they put us into dorms next to the pub and to be honest I was kinda glad because I’m not too fond of camping. It’s funny how me and Viktoria were both secretly wondering whether Corey and Breanne were actually couples or just really good friends. Later on we found out that they were strangers who met each other at a hockey game with their own group of friends, and they’ve been together for 7 years so they were well passed the honeymoon stage. They seemed like the perfect couple. Both super nice, Corey gets a little goofy sometimes, whereas Breanne is always the calm motherly one.
Our tour guide was keen on showing us as much as he can so he kept us moving quickily. We were supposed to cook for ourselves but he just did the cooking himself and we’ll just do the dishes. We had a quick lunch then off we go to our first stop at Lake Wabby, a small lake surrounded by sand. To get to the lake you gotta trek down a sandy hill. Some of the guys just ran down and dove into the water. Me, Viktoria and the Canadian couple went for a swim and there were fishes in the water that nibbled at your legs. I also saw a couple full grown fishes swam pass me. Me and Viktoria went off to the side and were just fooling around where we tried taking pictures of her doing the Herbal Essence hair flipping thing
. I also took a video of Viktoria running down hill into the water where she kinda did a face plant. All around there were these huge insects, I forget what they’re called, but you should always avoid them because they bite!!
Second day we went to Eli Creek where you could float down the creek. There I ran into Emma from Noosa. I knew she was doing a Fraser Island tour as well. She left a day before me. She told me how they did the campgrounds and the set up was really shit and everyone just got smashed drunk. Then we went to the Maheno Shipwreck, went to look at some rocks that I forgot the name of, had picnic lunch, then on the way to Indian Heads we saw a Dingo on the beach, it looked really sad and scrawny. The American’s girlfriend and her friend were both underage, but the American just let the friend drove without asking/telling the rest of us. I actually didn’t realize till afterwards, but the Norwegian girls were quite upset. I was more worried about our safety because she didn’t seem to know how to drive standard and she was driving bit fast as well. To get to Indian Heads we had to climb up some rocks to the top and it was quite windy. Then I got to drive to our next stop, Champagne Pool, where a few of us went for a swim while some others just sat by the rocks looking all bored. I was super excited to be driving manual 4x4 on the wrong side of the street in sand!
! I haven’t driven stick in about 4 months so it took me a moment to familiarize myself, but once I got the hang of it people said it was smooth riding as everyone was starting to doze off. I also happened to have to drive through some tough spots where the sand was quite deep and there were other cars driving around us. On our way back we got some extra time so we stopped by Eli Creek again and people just sunbathed. It was our last night on Fraser Island so our guide wanted to get everybody down to the pub and just have some fun but we had a pretty boring group. The Germans just kinda stayed in their own room doing whatever. Our room was kinda the only group that may be up for something. Corey really wanted to go see the dingos, though there were only 4 of us and that’s against the rule because we need at least 5 people to go together. Our guide kept coming in and outta our room to coax us to go drink at the pub with him. We were just sipping on Corey and Breanne’s gin. Our guide showed us his “pet frog” Bruce, who’s actually just a green wild tree frog but comes to him when he calls it. Later on we also found a baby gecko in our room. Corey tried to catch it and it lost its tail, but I got it on my arm. Corey felt so bad for the guide that he offered to play a game of pool against him for a pitcher of beer. Apparently the guide was good at pool and he won, but he still bought us a pitcher of beer.
I didn’t wanna leech any more gin off Corey and Breanne, so I went down to the pub and grabbed a drink for myself and started chatting with the bar manager. He ended up giving me the happy hour price the whole night, though I’m only able to have a couple beers because I was getting really bloated. I sat outside and chatted with this group of asians, a Korean and a couple from China. The pub was pretty dead but the manager and our guide was having hell of a time dancing to Gunnam Style
. I was ready to leave but the manager just handed me another beer for free, so I accepted and just sat outside. There’s an outdoor pool and a group of drunken young people came running in and started jumping into the pool and making a rukus. Though technically it would’ve been prohibited, but I think the manager wouldn’t mind a little liveliness around the pub. It was getting late and I really just wanted to go to bed but the manager came out with another beer for me before running off to work. I said I really can’t have anymore and offered it to the guide when he came by but he didn’t want any. I just left because I also had to pee really bad. When I got back to our room some of the other guys had came in and we were all just chatting. Lewis apparently had been playing King’s Cup in their room and he came in quite tipsy, sipping his jug of goon because he lost. We were gonna start playing another game but ended up not because ome of the girls just started asking Corey and Breanne questions about their New Zealand trip.
Next morning I woke up with what seemed to be bed bug bites because I had a line of rashes from my neck all the way down one side of my arm and they itch like hell!! We packed up and headed for our last couple stops, first to Lake Mackenzie where the white sand was supposed to be so fine that you could brush your teeth or shine your jewelries. The water was so clear and I wish I had a waterproof camera because the Norwegian girls had one and we took some underwater photos. Then we stopped at the Central Station Rainforest for lunch before we made our way back to Nomads in Noosa. Me, Viktoria and the Canadian couple got to stay together in a 12dorm together. That night the hostel held an “after party” at the pub attached to Nomads for those who went on the Fraser Island tours.
They put out some bite size sausage rolls and meat pies and pitchers of sangria. The pub was packed that night. I went out for some air and met this group of Japanese students in town for a visit. I’ve had a few drinks so I was in a good mood. I found out that it was one of the girl’s birthday and that she’s never had alcohol before because in Japan their legal drinking age is 21 and I said in Australia it’s 18 and I insisted on buying her a birthday drink. She was hesitant to try but her friends rooted her on trying. So I just dragged her to the bar and had a shot of jager bomb with her. Jager bombs always tasted like nothing to me, but that might have been a bad idea for a virgin drinker because she thought it was too strong for her. It was a fun night though!
Next morning I went to have cereal for breaky and found out that couple fridges had went off overnight so my milk wasn’t cold at all! Thank goodness I’m leaving this hostel because I’m going back to YHA for couple more nights. The Canadian couple left early in the morning, me and Viktoria were both catching a bus at Noosa Junction. I could basically leave anytime, so I decided to walk around town with her because she was looking to buy a hat. Her greyhound came first so I bid her farewell, then I caught my shuttle bus back to YHA.
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