Last Weekend was Spring Break, or should I say “study break” for my University. For some international students we had an option of going to Fraser Island or to the Outback during this week. With my University back at home Fraser Island was included for free, and to go to the outback I would of had to pay $700 for a plane ticket. The Outback would have been cool to go to but I decided to go to Fraser instead, and I don’t regret my decision at all. Fraser Island is the worlds  largest sand island, with crystal-clear lakes, spectacular colored sands, immense sand blows, lush rainforest and an abundant wildlife.

This by far was and still is my favorite trip I have gone on since I have been in Australia. We were there for five days and four nights. Saturday-Wednesday. I also was leaving for Sydney on thursday for the weekend so I had quite a busy week planned out.

I also should mention that the Wednesday before I left for Fraser Island I had received a care package and a letter! My friend Kylie and her mom sent myself a package with some of my favorites that I had been missing from home: swedish fish,starburst jelly beans, jerky, popcorn, macaroni and cheese, and lemonade kool aid packets (lemonade here is a form of soda, very similar to sprite or 7up). I also had received a letter from my cousin Melanie. The package and letter itself truly made my day!…The past week I was starting to get a little home sick, so it was perfect timing to receive these.

Also before I left for Australia my friends and Family members had all written myself letters to open while I was overseas. I was told not to open them until I was starting to miss home. I am truly blessed to have such amazing friends and family in my life. The letters brightened my day and are a little piece of home that I now have here with me.

 

 

Back to Fraser Island…

 

There were 14 of us that would be going. At 9:00am on Saturday we were picked up in front of our college by our two tour guides. Our first night we would be staying in a town called Noosa and camping on the river. I should also mention that this trip was also a camping trip. After a few hours of driving we got to our camp and set up our tents. I would be tent mates with my friend Nicole for the week. After setting up camp we then were driven into the main part of the town of Noosa. Here we were dropped off for three hours to go exploring. We walked by the ocean, there was a man there carving this beautiful sand castle, and then we also walked around the streets and shopped as well. I can say that Noosa is a very ritzy town in Australia. Everyone walking around was dressed up in fancy clothing, and the prices in the shops were pretty spendy as well. After walking around for a bit, myself and my friends Danni, Torrey, Nicole and myself decided we wanted to sit down and grab a few drinks. We ended up going to this place called Rococo. It had a moroccan theme to it. I also happened to be happy hour when we were there, meaning they had $5 drink specials. Who could say no to that. Typically when I go out or to go get food and look to order a drink it is around $15 and higher. Too much for this girl who is on a budget and wants to go exploring everywhere.

It was a great time just sitting there and chatting the night (or should I say happy hour) away.

 

We got picked up around 6:00pm to head back to camp. There we had dinner which was burgers, and they were pretty good! We were going to have a bon fire too that night but the firewood was still wet from all the rain we had before. So we all sat around the table chit chatting.

The next morning we packed up camp and headed our way to Fraser Island! We had lunch on the beach and then hopped on a Ferry over to the island.

 

Off to go explore the island we went! It was so cool driving on the sand right next to the ocean.

 

Again we set up camp, this time it was on the beach! Afterwards we went to Eli Creek. It was a long creek that you could walk, swim, and float down. It was so cool. I felt like I was walking through the jungle.

 

This is also where we had to rinse and clean off. We weren’t allowed to shower, or use shampoo conditioner ect, so the ocean, and lakes were our forms of cleaning ourselves. We also were limited on bathroom use as well. From where we were camping the bathroom was a half an hour drive away, so if you had to go you had to go outside. And I can now say I have gone to the bathroom outside, and peed on the beach…..never thought I would be saying that!

Later that night we ate dinner, we had ratatouille and it was sooo good! A warm home cooked meal was just what I needed. Afterwards we had time to just sit back and relax. Some people went to bed early, the rest of us :Torrey, Nicole, Danni, Brett, Eric, and myself stayed up and put our lawn chairs on the beach and looked at the stars. It was a great night. We were out there for probably a good hour or so and then out of no where I spotted a Dingo! Dingo’s are Australia’s wild life dog. For the most part they are super friendly, but you’re not supposed to feed or pet them. They are still wild animals.

So not knowing what to do we all started freaking out and watching it. All you could really see was it’s glaring green eyes. It was drinking from a water hole and then moved to lay on the walking path we had to take back to camp. We all were like “great, looks like we’re sleeping on the beach tonight!” We watched it for 20 mins and then it disappeared. We decided at this point that it was best to go to camp and go to bed.

The next morning we had another fun filled day. We woke up had breakfast, and went off to the Champagne Pools. This was one of my favorite spots to visit.

 

We stayed there for a few hours and then headed off to Indian Head.  The headland was named by Captain Cook when he passed it on the evening of 19 May 1770, for the aboriginal people he saw assembled there. The term “Indian” was used at that time for the native people of many lands.

(Brett and myself being dare devils and climbing )

 

The view from up there was amazing. And it was so pretty to look off and stare into the ocean. Im so glad I decided to climb up to see these beautiful views.

On our Fourth day on the Island we went to Lake McKenzie and went to go swim in the clear blue waters of it. It also is a freshwater lake.

 

 

(Trying to Spell out Australia..at least we tried!)

After the lake we drove through the lush rainforests to visit Central Station. There we learned about the development of the island.

 

On our last and final day on the island we woke up early to catch the sunrise, and to have as much of the day at our final destination Lake Wabby and it’s sand dunes. This was another favorite spot of mine.

 

Here we got to go swimming and play and roll around in the sand dunes! It was so much fun…and I had sand everywhere on my body.

 

Also on this trip I woke up every morning to wake up and watch the sunrise….I may have been a little bit of sleep..but the views and pictures I got were so worth it…Overall this was my favorite trip yet and I can’t wait to see what happens on the other trips I have planned in the near future.