Rainbow Beach & Fraser Island - Chillin with the Dingos!

Rainbow Beach
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I arrived in Rainbow Beach at about 10am and got a room after just a half hour wait. I was pretty tired after, once again, not really sleeping on the bus, so I crashed for a bit of a nap. Not matter how hard you try, there's no way to get a good night's sleep on those Greyhound buses! Trust me, I've tried everything!

After awaking from my nap and feeling much more refreshed, I decided to see what I could spend my night doing. I walked down the main street of Rainbow Beach, which isn't really comprised of that much! But I got some good food so that made me happy. I then decided to take the free shuttle to the Carlo Sandblow to watch the sunset. I met a group of people who were doing the same and we headed out. The sandblow looked pretty cool, but it got couldy really fast so there was no sunset to speak of, it just got dark! (Basically the opposite of the sunrise on the Whitsundays!) After hoping a little bit more for even a glimpse of color in the sky, we started the walk back to the hostel. This proved to be a bit of an adventure, as none of us really paid attention to where we were going in the first place! Eventually we found our way back, though I'm still positive that we took the wrong roads the whole way back! It was time to head to bed at that point so I crashed hard. After all I had a big day the next day....you ready for this?

That's right, I threw myself out of a plane at 14,000 ft in the air!

The whole gang getting ready to head to Fraser Island in our trusty 4x4
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I WENT SKYDIVING!! That's right, I threw myself out of a plane at 14,000 ft in the air! It was by far the coolest thing I've ever done in my life! (Though I'm sure if something had gone wrong, I would have thought it was the stupidest thing I'd ever done!) I even got a personlized DVD so I can show everyone the film of me doing it. Proof that I'm not making it up! I went up in the plane with one other guy who, as it turns out, is from Edmonton! What are the odds hey? But I survived and was back at the hostel at 10:30am. After starting the day with such an adreniline rush, I really wasn't sure what else I could do with myself. The rest of the day was kind of a lazy one. It comprised of heading to Rainbow beach, buming around the main street and then attending the 4pm meeting for everyone going on the Fraser island 4x4 adventure. Our groups were picked (I ended up with Ryan from my skydive and his friend Korey, Lynne and Robbie from Scotland, Myka and Merlin from Holland, Randi and Jenny from BC, Amit from Israel and Erin from Seattle.) It seemed like a really great crowd so I was pumped! The rest of the evening was spent organizing our booze and figuring out what to bring, ect.

The girls posing in the beautiful Lake Mackenzie
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Early the next morning we got our speech and started to pack up our 4x4. Then we were off to Fraser island for the next 3 days! Fraser is awesome because it's all made of sand and it has some really awesome sights on it. Plus, you use the beach as the highway! It's the only main road on the island so you can't drive around unless you're in a 4x4! you also have to time your driving time with the tide so you don't loose your vehicle to the sea! It was such a cool experience. The first stop was the most beautiful lake I have ever seen, Lake Mackenzie. It almost looked unnatural with its deep blue water and pure white sand. We hung out here for quite a while swimming and chilling out. Then it was off to the Maheno wreck, a preserved shipwreck right on the beach! Then we made up camp and had some steak and potatoes (good old home cooking!) That night we had a bit of a party, that is, until we did exactly what our guide had warned us not too do....run the radio and headlights in the car until the battery was dead! Then of course, in our somewhat drunken state, we had a huge 2 hour long discussion about what our plan would be to get ourselves out of the situation. After a failed push start attempt we just went to bed and hoped for better in the morning.

Having a bit of fun in the Sand dunes
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I woke up at 6am to a car battery that still didn't start (some unanswered prayers!) So me and Myka embarked on an epic journey to find some jumper cables, boost the car, return the cables and make it back to camp, all before the tide left us stranded! It was a bit of a stressful morning but my mom has always said that I thrive on stressful situations! With the car running again we had a relaxed breakfast, washed our dishes in the sea, and then headed for a day of relaxing in Eli Creek. It's a cool freshwater stream where you can float all the way downstream. It makes you feel like a crocodile! After some lunch we packed up and I got into the drivers seat! This is really interesting considering that in Australia, the drivers side is on the other side of the car, and you have to drive on the left side of the road! Mind you we were on a beach so that was a bit easier, but shifting with my left hand was quite a learning experience! We headed back to the shipwreck for some photos and then off to Indian Head, a really cool lookout point where we saw mantarays and tried to spot sharks, though we had no luck in that department. We ran out of time to see the Champagne pools, which are rock pools that are fed by ocean waves, so we headed all the way back down the beach to make camp. On the was there, we hit some crappy weather, which unfortunatley stuck around while we had to set up camp. As everyone who had ever been camping knows, setting up in the rain SUCKS! This was no exception although the "A-Team" as we were called, did a great job working together and had a camp up as soon as possible. Then, just to prove how adaptable we really were, we cooked a huge Asian stirfry, complete with chopping veggies and boiling rice, all out of the back of our 4x4! Come on, you have to give us props for that!

The Canadians giving the 'maple leaf'! It's gonna catch on, just give us time
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After a bit of an early night for me, (I apparently slept through a huge loud party right outside the tent!) we all woke up and packed up for our last stop. We made it to Lake Wabby after a bit of a hike and found a huge sand dune leading into the lake. needless to say, this made for a ton of fun and the potential for some paralysis for some of the boys! Luckily we all made it back ok, limbs in tact and all! After we were done at the lake, it ws time to pack it in for good. We started the long drive back to the barge, and even overcame a few obstacles that threatened us catching the last barge! But we made it back and got our 4x4 all cleaned up. A chunk of our group headed out on a bus that night, so we said goodbye and parted ways. I had plans of sharing some drinks with the rest of my group, but I ended up falling asleep to my iPod before I knew what was happening! I guess all that 4x4ing can really wear a girl out!

a close up of some of the native wildlife (Ahhhhhh!!!)
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Now I'm off to Brisbane for a day so you'll hear from me then!