Oz XX - Cool Bananas

I have spent the past month in the little town of Agnes Water next to the even smaller town of 1770. 1770 is named after Captain Cook landing here in 1770. The place is so small that you need to phone the bus driver on his mobile to make sure he is going to pick you up. There is one pub in Agnes Water and a bar in 1770. The bar in 1770 doesn't have any toilets of its own, you use the public toilets in the park. The road here was only made passable to cars without 4 wheel drive in 2000 and the Greyhound bus only started coming here in 2003. When it arrived the town came out to welcome its arrival.

I have been staying in a great little hostel, Cool Bananas. I have been working here for the past 3 weeks, my job titles ranging from Dish Bitch to Yard Boy ( very 19th century romantic novel). It feels at times like I am in the middle of a sitcom with the characters around here. The guy who runs the hostel is eccentric but he is the main reason for it being such a great place. You can buy dinner each evening for only $5 and the food is excellent. I have met a great bunch of people here. The only bad thing about the place has been the weather. It has rained a fair bit. This has been the wettest June in Queensland. They also had their coldest week in 80 years.

There are a multitude of activities to do here like most places on the East Coast. The great thing here is because it is off the beaten track it means that these activities are much cheaper than anywhere else. For instance I did a scenic/aerobatics flight for $65 (about 25pounds). Great views but a slightly terrifying experience. There is a Scooteroo tour where you ride motorbikes, without any prior experience, at speeds of 50mph. Surf lessons and surfboard hire are cheap as chips. I've been playing golf whilst trying to avoid hitting Kangaroos.

Oz XIX - We made a full moon party on Fraser

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. It is world heritage listed and they let backpackers hire 4x4s, drive around on the beach and the inland tracks and camp in the dunes. Going to Fraser Island is a must do on the East Coast trail. The thing that concerns people is who they end up with in their group when they do the self-drive trip. Unless you know people you want to go with then the hostel will randomly assign a group of 11 a Toyota Landcruiser and some them on to the island. I was delayed by a day because Dingo's (the hostel I was staying at in Rainbow Beach) needed someone to drop out as they had too many people. They gave me free accommodation, internet, dinner, beer and $60. The next day I wandered around Rainbow Beach. When I got back to the hostel a new guy had arrived in my room, he was an Irish guy who was instantly chatty, funny, and friendly, if suffering from ADD. It turned out he knew a guy who had met some girls in his room. Another couple joined us based on me chatting to them the night before. Group C was formed. The eleven were two English guys, two Irish guys, two German girls, three Dutch girls, one French girl, and one Irish girl. We all got on really well. During the evening we were asked for someone responsible to look after the map from each group. For some reason everyone in Group C pointed at me. I somehow look responsible, I think it must be the glasses. I was then christened Captain, a nickname that stuck for the rest of the trip. Starngely enough the Revue wrote a sketch about a character who was a Captain using my full name a few years ago.

The first day of the trip involves loading up the vehicle and get having the briefing. The two guys who run the 4x4s for Dingo's do seem to be slightly mental in a country way. The convoy of five vehicles (each with eleven people on board) then headed off. To say it was cosy in the back is an understatement.The start for Group C was not auspicious. We got stuck coming off the barge. We then had some hairy driving around Hook Point, with the Dublin taxi driver deciding that the speed limit of 60kph meant 100kph was acceptable. We arrived at Indian Head the northern most point that we are allowed to drive to. It is a stunning spot with great views. Lunch consisted of sandwiches. The food for the trip was really good. You don't choose what food they give you, you just pay a set fee and they supply you with food and a menu. We had steak on the first night with potato salad, scrambled eggs for breakfast on the second day, wraps on the second day for lunch, and chicken stir fry for dinner. All the food was given extra texture with generous amounts of sand. We washed the dishes in the sea, and cooking once the sun had set was smart because it stopped you seeing how dirty everything was. We camped behind the dunes with the other Dingo's 4x4s. If you do visit Fraser and decide to go for a wander just be careful you don't fall in any pot holes behind the dunes. There are no toilet facilities if you camp on the beach so you have to dig a hole for yourself. As far as I'm concerned doing a poo on Fraser is required. It is slightly unnerving though when a troop of big ants start marching towards you in your vulnerable state. People scurrying up into the trees with a shovel and toilet paper in hand becomes part of the scenery.

One of the things you have to be careful of whilst on Fraser are the dingos. They are the purest breed of dingos in Australia and they have been known to attack children. When on the island you are under strict instructions not to feed or approach the dingos. You must make sure all your food, cooking equipment, and rubbish is secured in the vehicle. Rangers patrol the island and we were advised not to feed them or give them beer as they are Australian. They will fine you if you leave any rubbish out. I did my best impression of a big game hunter by continuously pointing out dingo tracks, you seem them around quite a bit and they will generally keep away from you. You are meant to go in groups when going to the toilet in case you stumble upon some dingos. None of the guys did this. I have heard of groups of girls singing Happy Birthday together to avoid hearing the sound of each other urinating. Apparently if you are male and a meat eater then you canscare dingos off by urinating around the tent to mark your territory. Cockatoo Paul in Byron told a story of how he was camping on Fraser with his girlfriend at the time who was on her period. In the middle of the night he awoke to find a dingo attempting to have sex with her. The relationship ended because he laughed.

On the second day we headed for Lake McKenzie and it was my turn to drive. On the way we stopped in Eurong. For the first day we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere apart from the 4x4s hurtling up and down the beach. Eurong is a settlement of about 100 people with a shop, toilets, a hotel and cafe. It felt very strange to be there. The drive to Lake McKenzie is through the rainforest along tracks. It is a really good drive and can get a bit tricky at times. Lake McKenzie is beautiful. After driving for 45 minutes and walking along a track you emerge into a clearing and the crystal clear waters of Lake McKenzie emerge. In the evening we dug out a table and chairs for the Fraser full moon party. At one stage we had 27 people playing the drinking game Kings, culminating in the rule that everyone could only stand on one leg leading to 20 minutes of dominoes.

On the final day we packed up the tents and headed off to Lake Wabby. Half the group went driving, the other half including myself walked the 45 minutes to Lake Wabby. Apart from scratches on the soles of my feet it was well worth the effort. Lake Wabby feels like you are in the middle of the rainforest with a dune towering overhead. It feels more remote and I preferred it to Lake McKenzie. We then headed back to the ferry with the final driver very nearly rolling the 4x4 and then nearly side swiping another car. We managed to get stuck trying to board the ferry. As Captain I was assigned the task of getting us out. I managed this, though I did start the recovery process by pressing the brake peddle rather than the accelerator. It was only until the girl sitting next to me pointed this out that we got moving. We expected to have an argument with the 4x4 guys to get our deposit back but we didn't have a problem. Everyone scurried inside the hostel to have a shower after waiting for a wash for three days, excluding swimming in lakes. My feet were a sorry state after no flip flops for the best part of three days.

Rainbow Beach is a pretty little town, like every place I've been to since Sydney, the locals are friendly and smile alot. The beach stretches for miles in both directions. There is a great spot called Carlo Sandblow. It takes 10 minutes to wander through thick forest and suddenly appear on top of a huge sand dune with views across the Great Sandy National Park. Dingo's Hostel is a very good hostel, with clean facilities and friendly staff (one is from South Woodham Ferrers). The only trouble, as with all hostels in Rainbow Beach and Hervey Bay, is that people only stay one night go to Fraser, stay another night, then leave. So there is a bit of strange atmosphere there during the day.