Anyway we got a bit of advice from a couple of people in Airlie which was to go to a place called Rainbow beach to get the ferry across to Fraser Island. First piece of travel advice I'm going to give on this blog - do not ever go there. We landed in at 9 on a Friday night and were literally the only people on the street. We weren't even able to book our trip on Fraser until the following Tuesday so we bailed out of there the next morning and headed back up to Hervey bay and checked into Palace Backpackers. We had to get up at 6 30 the following morning to get our briefing on the island and get the lowdown on driving a 4x4. Cue cheesy photo number one of Mark Canning with the van.
Fraser Island for the uninformed happens to be the largest sand island in the world measuring 120km in length. You basically get into your jeep and drive across it on the first day, up and down it on the second day and back across on the third day. There were 3 jeeps leaving the hostel containg about 12 Irish people, an Israeli, a couple of English (Simon and Louise) and a smattering of Europeans including some Frenchies who thought they were on a guided tour/holiday (everyone else being the staff). We pitched up for the night at the Cornwells camp site. It was more of an area of sand dune zoned for camping than anything else so the nice hot showers, toilet facilities and camp kitchen were absent. That didn't really bother us too much as we cracked into a feed of burgers and hotdogs cooked up by the resident chef, Darragh O' Keeffe aided by sous-chef Natasha. 
In fairness to Darragh, while we all had some reservations at the start of the roadtrip, his cooking is improving and he may even be thanked someday for feeding us. The goon was then unloaded (see previous blog entry for definition of goon) and the classic campfire singsong was had. There were a few Dutch songs busted out at one stage which left us quite impressed. The rest of the night passed without incident save for a pack of dingoes who decided to tuck into the other Irish guys food for the trip. Second piece of travel advice - don't leave an esky full of meat out in the open with about 20 dingoes sniffing around the place.
The next day we got up and began our trek along the beach. The sand is rock hard at low tide so you can go as fast as you would on a road. The convoy stopped at a couple of places including the ship wreck of the Maheno and also a spot called Indian Head
Indian Head is famous for being the breeding ground for Tiger sharks, Bull Sharks and Hammerhead sharks.......that's too many sharks for one headland if you ask me. We also spotted a giant manta ray and a humpback whale so it was worth the climb up the hill and the view ain't bad either.
All deadly marine life aside, the jeeps can't swim too well so you have to negotiate a stretch of soft sand inland to get to the next section of beach and the wonderfully overhyped champagne pools (they are in fact a couple of rock pools). The trick to getting through the soft stuff is to go into low range, stick it into second gear and go hard at it. Now this is fine if you're in the front seat but if you're stuck next to the door at the back then you're in for a bumpy ride. Kevin took it upon himself to break the bypass land speed record and I was suspeneded in mid air for about 5 seconds. I can however claim to be the first Corkman in space though!
We headed back to base then and ate the remainder of the burgers and sausages before having the usual early night in. Our last day on the trip consisted of us packing up all the gear and
heading back to the ferry via Lake McKenzie. FYI - It is a "perched" lake sitting on top of compact sand and vegetable matter 100 metres above sea level. It also happens to be absolutely freezing but that didn't bother Kevin "The 'Hoff" O' Sullivan as he braved the icy cold. They're made of different stuff down there in Beara alright! We caught the ferry back across then and dropped off the jeeps in one piece. Our new friends from the trip, Simon and Louise, cooked up a fajita storm then back in the hostel (I'm mentioning food a lot I know) and we all pretty much passed out in advance of our trip to Brisbane the next day.
Fraser Island for the uninformed happens to be the largest sand island in the world measuring 120km in length. You basically get into your jeep and drive across it on the first day, up and down it on the second day and back across on the third day. There were 3 jeeps leaving the hostel containg about 12 Irish people, an Israeli, a couple of English (Simon and Louise) and a smattering of Europeans including some Frenchies who thought they were on a guided tour/holiday (everyone else being the staff). We pitched up for the night at the Cornwells camp site. It was more of an area of sand dune zoned for camping than anything else so the nice hot showers, toilet facilities and camp kitchen were absent. That didn't really bother us too much as we cracked into a feed of burgers and hotdogs cooked up by the resident chef, Darragh O' Keeffe aided by sous-chef Natasha. 
In fairness to Darragh, while we all had some reservations at the start of the roadtrip, his cooking is improving and he may even be thanked someday for feeding us. The goon was then unloaded (see previous blog entry for definition of goon) and the classic campfire singsong was had. There were a few Dutch songs busted out at one stage which left us quite impressed. The rest of the night passed without incident save for a pack of dingoes who decided to tuck into the other Irish guys food for the trip. Second piece of travel advice - don't leave an esky full of meat out in the open with about 20 dingoes sniffing around the place.The next day we got up and began our trek along the beach. The sand is rock hard at low tide so you can go as fast as you would on a road. The convoy stopped at a couple of places including the ship wreck of the Maheno and also a spot called Indian Head
Indian Head is famous for being the breeding ground for Tiger sharks, Bull Sharks and Hammerhead sharks.......that's too many sharks for one headland if you ask me. We also spotted a giant manta ray and a humpback whale so it was worth the climb up the hill and the view ain't bad either.
All deadly marine life aside, the jeeps can't swim too well so you have to negotiate a stretch of soft sand inland to get to the next section of beach and the wonderfully overhyped champagne pools (they are in fact a couple of rock pools). The trick to getting through the soft stuff is to go into low range, stick it into second gear and go hard at it. Now this is fine if you're in the front seat but if you're stuck next to the door at the back then you're in for a bumpy ride. Kevin took it upon himself to break the bypass land speed record and I was suspeneded in mid air for about 5 seconds. I can however claim to be the first Corkman in space though!We headed back to base then and ate the remainder of the burgers and sausages before having the usual early night in. Our last day on the trip consisted of us packing up all the gear and
heading back to the ferry via Lake McKenzie. FYI - It is a "perched" lake sitting on top of compact sand and vegetable matter 100 metres above sea level. It also happens to be absolutely freezing but that didn't bother Kevin "The 'Hoff" O' Sullivan as he braved the icy cold. They're made of different stuff down there in Beara alright! We caught the ferry back across then and dropped off the jeeps in one piece. Our new friends from the trip, Simon and Louise, cooked up a fajita storm then back in the hostel (I'm mentioning food a lot I know) and we all pretty much passed out in advance of our trip to Brisbane the next day.
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