Momentum is your friend

Fraser Island continued...we made it to the barge with a big jolt and some directions and we were on our way, 5 minutes later we were on the Island...let the games begin! Immediately we got bogged in the sand - reverse reverse, forward, reverse reverse, forward, "everybody out, everybody push". This ended up being our first of many experiences of standing in the hot dirty sand pushing the 4x4 out of a hole - that's it, no going back now we all look like sand monster (hot dirty ones ;) Fortunately we didn't look too stupid because another truck got bogged a lot worse that us!!

"Momentum is definitely your friend" until you have to sit in a queue for the high tide track. Another car up ahead had gotten stuck, an older couple who clearly hadn't had the "don't keep trying to drive out of it if you get bogged" speech because sure enough the dude continued to plough himself into the sand and cover his wife in sand in the process...well if she will be silly enough to stand right behind the front tyre?! She got a few facefuls of the hot dirty sand and Madtin thought this was the funniest thing ever :) Since all the other trucks had driven past us when we were bogged and jeered at us we didn't feel too guilty about sitting back and watchig the spectacle from afar! Fortunately for that couples health and safety the car in front of us was feeling a little more saintly and got out and helped them push!

From the bumpy high tide track we hit the bumpy beach and Ariane took over the driving. It wasn't long before we needed a pee stop (pee status about a 8/10) since Alex, Jim and Mark had started drinking about three hours previous! We discovered many things on our trip - Arianne liked to soar towards washouts with no sign of stopping and Martin did the same with potholes!

Our first stop was Lake McKenzie - up the most awful track you've ever seen...we all know they are 4x4's, I am not sure the theory needs to be tested that badly!? All thoughts of this being a relaxing weekend go straight out the window! Somehow Arianne had managed to sneak a bag of condiments onto the roof-rack, things like; jam, peanut butter, salt, cinnamon (all the necessities!), unfortunately the bag split and before we even realised I think we left a trail of bread crumbs/condiments all the way to the lake! It was totally worth it though - Lake Mckenzie may possibly be one of the most perfect places we have seen on our entire trip so far, words and photos will never do it justice.

We bathed and ate and sat and bathed - we left that beach all clean and shiny which lasted all of 5 seconds once we got back to the truck. We picked a prime spot to set up camp (prime:- defn.; a spot that doesn't smell too much like pee) - four tents , two eskys (one for food, one for drink), two crates of pots and pans (wine tastes so good from a metal cup!), a lot of spare alcohol and a lot of spare food and we settled in for the evening - what no-one was expecting was how tired we would be and when we all started thinking it was midnight when it was actually 9pm - we realised there wasn't much hope for the evening!

Early the next morning we were forced out of our tents which had miraculously transformed into saunas...another feast of bacon, sausages, eggs and beans and we had a plan!! The Plan: to walk to Lake Wabby for the morning. Fortunately Arianne had seen a sign which said Lake Wabby this way -----> off we trot and about 45 minutes later we reach the end of this pretty tough driving track up the side of a mountain/large hill. Turns out we had walked to a lookout - since Lake Wabby is supposed to be a short distance from the camping area across a relatively easy walking track we figured we had walked in the wrong direction! We felt like we'd come too far to turn back and that the other track from the lookout would definitely lead to the lake....luckily Madtin was being ever-encouraging with his "we are doomed" and "either way you look at it we're screwed" comments! Another hour or so later and we gathered once again to discuss our plight. Is it best to continue up this really steep hill or head to the campsite that we saw a sign for five minutes ago which is only another 2.5kms through the woods. It was a unanimous decision to head for the woods. We contemplated the For Your Safety sign before heading into the woods...and realised we were breaking about 7/10 of the recommendations...no thongs, tell someone where you are going, bring plenty of water, not in the midday sun (the list went on).

Eventually we met another track going to Lake Wabby and after crossing the burning sand dunes we all crashed into the water. Another spectacular sight - this greenishly clear lake surrounded by forests and sand dunes - we even spotted an eagle or two! We stayed long enough to recover our breath and some senses - there was no hope for our feet by this point, another 1.8km back to the beach (the right way!) and up to the campsite - we think we walked over 10kms that morning.