Fraser Island- Squad Goals

Hello Dear Readers!

Oh, where to start with this? I view my trip to Australia as being in two parts. One, by myself, and two, with my amazing new friends.

Now I don’t want them to get big heads or anything, since I know they’ll be reading this, but basically I made the best friends ever and hanging out with them truly made my trip.

Or whatever.

So! How did I come to meet this fantastic group of people?

Well that…is a little less exciting.

After my days in Brisbane, I caught a train up to Airlie Beach, where I crashed in (yet another) hostel before getting up early to catch an overnight trip to Fraser Island.

Now, the brochure for Fraser Island mentions four wheeling from one insane natural wonder to the next on an island made entirely of sand. And you know what, that brochure was freaking right. Fraser Island is super cool, with tons of things to see, and its only population being tourists and a single beach resort.

That being said, one of the coolest things about traveling alone is getting to meet new people.

Right?

So it was with no little amount of hostility that I moved to the front passenger seat, alone, because the tour guide wanted to make sure that everyone else had a seat first. This meant that I got to sit up front in silence while the entire rest of the bus chattered and made new friends.

Yes, I’m still bitter.

Anyway, our first stop on Fraser Island was a place called Lake Makenzie, which is simply breathtaking. It’s the only lake of its type, and I made sure to get in and swim, despite the water being approximately freezing.

After our stop, I climbed back in the front seat and we headed down to the resort for lunch.

Luckily, at lunch, two people happened to sit down next to me. Two Scottish people.

You all know that I love Scots.

So I immediately introduced myself and quickly decided that we were going to be best friends despite any evidence to back this up. (Hi Katie! Hi Shuaib!)

These two were traveling up the East Coast, the same as I was, and we bonded over our shared interests while continuing to journey around Fraser Island. Late in the second day, we met Katie and Cassi, when we attempted to break into the bus and accidentally ended up breaking the bus instead.

Oops?

Anyway, Katie (the second Katie) is from Brighton and Cassi from New York, and we all ended up sitting together at dinner, spending several hours chatting before heading off to bed.

I’d like to note here that the rooms were advertised as quad rooms, but with the exception of me, every other group had two to a room. I’m sure my roommates were pleased when I third-wheeled on.

Yay!

Tomorrow I’ll bless you all with more extraordinary photos of Fraser Island’s extraordinary features.

-Carissa “I Have Friends!” Rawson