Hi-di-Hi Campers

I have just returned from a trip that is a must do for all backpackers travelling up the East coast. That is, camping on Fraser Island. I know most of my friends reading this will do a double take at this as under normal circumstances I do not camp. But Fraser Island is apparently the closest thing to paradise I'll probably see, in fact it's aboriginal name, k'Gari, actually means paradise, so how bad could it be I thought?,

Fraser Island is one of the biggest sand islands in the world which is amazing to think considering it is covered not only with beaches but also rainforest. It is one of the top 20 world heritage sites in the world which means it is protected and so certain things are not allowed on the island- you can't introduce any new species of plant or animal onto the island, and devlopment of building on the island is greatly restricted. In order to preserve the island, flushing toilets are also very rare and this was the first obstacle I had to overcome. Although the campsite we were staying on had flushing toilets, everywhere else on the island were long drop style toilets. They actually weren't that bad- just don't look down! For that matter don't look up either. This is a lesson I've learnt in Australia, as you're almost guarunteed to see something you don't like. Our guide, Kirk, had told us that 7 out the 8 most poisonous snakes in Australia live on Fraser Island, along with a whole host of deadly spiders. Great. There are also wild dingoes roaming around the island, and lucky for us it was mating season so they were particularly active while we were there.

Our first night on the campsite was very interesting. As I said, wild dingoes roam the island, and on our camp there were 5 that had made it their home. Under normal circumstances they are fine if you just ignore them. We were taught about dingo safety which basically meant stand up tall, don't look small, don't wave your arms around and shine a torch in their eyes. If you fall over or run, you're basically screwed. In the evening when everybody was around the camp fire they didn't bother us much, they were just looking for food. I did have a mildly terrifying moment in the middle of the night though, when I had to make a toilet trip. I had to wake up one of the people in my tent to act as my dingo buddy and we started the 5 minute trek to the toilets situted on the other side of the camp site. Almost as soon as we stepped out of the tent, we bumped into a dreaded dingo. We desperately tried to blind it with my tiny little head torch, and backed away slowly. It was having none of it however, instead proceeded in stalking us round the cars until we made it back to the safety of the tent. In the end I just had to go in a bush- something I haven't done in a while. I learnt my lesson for the second night and drank enough cheap wine (aka goon) to knock me out for the whole night.

Despite the fact that it seems like everything on Fraser Island is trying to kill you, it is actually one of the most beautiful places I've been to. We were really lucky with the weather, and managed to sit in our bikinis for 2 out of the 3 days we were there. We saw some amazing sandblows- this is where masses of sand are steadily being blown over the island, and are beginning to engulf parts of the island, trees and all. We paddled in some of the purest water you'll find anywhere and swam in some beautiful lakes. We even spotted sharks and sting rays from Indian Head. It truly was paradise. I would definitely recommend it to anyone. And although I'm still not convinced by camping, by the end of the trip I was definitely getting into the swing of things. I even started to enjoy it!