Life Down Under: Australia!

It's been a long time and I have done SO much since I last posted I don't even know where to begin!

I arrived to Australia on a hot summer day and we went straight to the beach because our accommodation wasn't quite ready. We ran right into the blue water with roaring waves, perfect for body surfing and then chilled under the hot sun on some white sand. I knew I would like Australia already!!

Since then, my group and I have volunteered on North Keppel Island and trekked through Fraser Island. Let me start with North Keppel:

We took a boat from Rockhampton to North Keppel island and camped there for a week, doing service work during the day. The service work ended up not being that long but it was very hot under the strong Aussie sun. For the project we recorded GPS coordinates of certain plants/trees/grass, planted trees, and cleared a fire trail. Plotting the GPS coordinates took the most time and it was a bit tedious. On the island there is also an environmental education program so there was a bunch of kids staying on the main beach in these cabins that we all wish we could stay in but we weren't allowed because they didn't have "background checks" on us... we had to stay about a miles walk away haha. Anyway, we got to spend time with the kids playing games and sharing our adventures. They were fun and it was cool to hang out with them. All the staff on the island was also great and I really enjoyed working with them. One morning they actually took us snorkeling and that was awwwesome! The fish were great and some people in my group even saw a shark (a small one of course). The sunsets were incredible on our beach but the mosquitoes were quite terrible unfortunately. In all it was a great week and I REALLY enjoyed my time on the island.

Fraser Island!
We split into two groups and backpacked around the gorgeous lakes of Fraser Island, the largest sand Island in the world. My group was Doug, Carolyn, John, James and me. The cool thing about this expedition was that we were totally on our own, without a guide or instructor. The paths weren't difficult to navigate at all but the fact we were on our own was cool (my instructor Leo was still on the island though and we did camp with her one night). The weather was unfortunately miserable and it rained pretty much every day. Despite this, my group and I found a way to make our experience very memorable. I might even say it was one of my favorite weeks! In the rain and bugs we managed to laugh and create life long memories. This was our journey:
Day 1: Ferry to Fraser Island and taxi to east coast, Dilli Village. We taxied along the beach in this 4x4, which was really cool (people usually always drive Fraser Island instead of walk but the trails were gorgeous!). We then walked to Dilli Village 6.4km to Lake Boomjamin. We swam in the lake after setting up tents and cooked our canned ravioli dinner... that night it rained : (
Day 2: Lake Boomjamin to Central Station= 15km. This was our longest day and it started to rain midday. We ran into another group around lunch time and went swimming together. Right as we started again it started to rain.. and rain... and rain. We luckily made it to Central Station and met up with our instructor. We made soup that night with some bread and went to bed early... more rain. Doug and James' tent was soakkked! They basically slept in a puddle. That morning we woke up to even more rain. It was crazy.
Day 3: Central Station to King Fisher Resort (originally to Lake McKenzie): We ran into Rangers who told us that we shouldn't camp at Lake McKenzie because the weather was going to get worse. He suggested we go to King Fisher and sleep inside"Great," we thought. We had to do 2 days of walking in one. Luckily the KM wasn't that bad, about a total of 16km. We ate lunch at Lake McKenzie instead and took a swim. The water in the lake was aqua and the sand was soo soft. It was awesome but it was too bad that it was rainy and not sunny. We still managed to have a great time and played a lot of frisbee until we decided we should move on before the weather gets worse. We walked to King Fisher to find a lovely resort waiting for us... now all we had to do was get a room with our "emergency" money. I mean, it kind of was an emergency we needed a place to stay! We got a room for $148 that slept 3 people but we snuck another two in and they slept on the ground. It was HEAVEN sleeping in a warm bed under a roof and finally being dry (I was basically wet THE whole time). When I got out of Lake McKenzie I just put my rain gear right over my clothes because everything was already wet and going to get even more wet. Anyway, the hotel was awesome and we all went to bed really early and got a great nights sleep. The next day we slept in, swam in the pool, and then took the ferry back to our hostal in Hervy Bay!
It seems like it would be miserable with all the rain and honestly at times it REALLY was but I had an amazing time and got really close with my group mates. We all picked each other up and kept one another going in hard times. I can definitely say it was one of my favorite parts of the trip!

Tomorrow (2/3) we head to Byron Bay to chill for a little bit and start surf camp! I am so excited to finally learn how to actually surf! Hopefully I will actually get good... : ) After that it is Sydney for a few days and then... HOME! It is so weird that the trip has gone by this far!

Cheers!!
Natalie