With a good night sleep under our belts we loaded up the 4 by 4 with all or our camping gear and departed for Fraser Island via the ferry ride. There were 5 groups of 11 people and at night we all camped right next to each other in order to maximize the noise and project the party outwards in the hopes of attracting others. For the next three days all we did was cruise around the island, go swimming in the fresh water lakes and party like it was our job. Since I hadn't been camping in awhile I wanted to show all the other countries what camping Canadian style was all about. I was the last one in bed both nights and unlike the others who wimped out and slept in "tents," I (being the ultra man that I am,) spent the first night with a blanket on the top of the 4 by 4 and the second one in the 4 by 4 with nothing but a bathing suit to keep out the cold.
Had to get the party hats going!!
Andrew weighs in at 230lbs. He wanted to drive first.... so we let him.
Others opted not to drive but to load up on enough food to feed a small African nation and to consume it in the span of several hours.
At night we slammed a few glasses of "goon" before cooking a little something gourmet. For those of you caught unaware, goon is the name of cooblah wine that's not really wine. It's made with the extracts of milk, fish eggs, fruit and a whole bunch of nasty shit that you don't even want to know about. The "wine" comes in 2 L bags stuffed into boxes for less than $14. Do the math and you can figure that it's the equivalent of 2 1/2 bottles of wine for the price of one. Not surprisingly, it makes for the WORST hangover I have ever had. It felt like a fat chick had me in a headlock from the time the sun came up until my first glass of afternoon goon the next day.
Our surf instructors from a few weeks back were in the neighbourhood so they popped by for a little beersbie, (a game involving three players per team where the object is to knock the opposing teams' beer can off a stick with a Frisbee which results in the chugging of goon,) and other forms of recreation. The night went downhill from there.
After briefly nursing some serious hangovers, the next day we made off for the sights and sounds of Fraser Island. These included an old rusted wreck of a ship seen bellow.
Big Deal!
Much better.
Near.......far......our captain hit the bar......
Goon o'clock came much earlier for some that afternoon.
True to form, I found out that cooking in the dark is more difficult no matter which continent you are on.
Don't spill!!! That sip cost $0.03!!!!
After another awful morning in which my body completely shut down we decided to sweat out the booze with a death march across Indian Head to see the Champagne pools. Made for some great scenery but none of us was up for stepping too close to the edge due to the previous night's activities.
While not recommended, you were allowed to go swimming as close to the edge of the pools as you wanted. A few of us even brought in some refreshments to quench our thirst from the death march and a good time was had by all.
This is why you don't go swimming in the ocean.
Instead you go swimming in beautiful Lake Wabby and Lake Mackenzie which are so clear you can see right down to the bottom even when you're swimming right through the middle.
After a long and exhausting few days I had a huge laugh at this sign when we got back to our hostel. Paddy and UJ, this one's for you.
On to rum town!!
After the debauchery in Frazer Island I decided to relax a little by heading to the town of Bundaberg with a smaller group of people. Apparently Bundaberg is world famous for being a producer of fine rum....I was not aware of this until it was too late.
By the time we were done the tour, our mouths tasted like molasses, our clothes reeked like a distillery and we were all a little worse for wear.
We also got free samples.
#%^*ing free samples!!!!
After realizing that this side trip was going nowhere I hopped on a ten hour bus and I arrived in Airlee Beach. Tomorrow I leave with 27 other people on a Whitsunday sailing tour for three days. It will be EPIC......providing no one gets sea sick with a stomach full of red goon....
