Marc & Nora ROUND THE WORLD 2005/2006 - Join us!

Next stop on our tour of the East Coast was Hervey Bay. Nothing much here but it is the starting point for any trip to Fraser Island. We took a 2 day 1 night trip to this the largest sand island in the world! This was really fun even though we didn't get off to the best start. After crossing from the mainland over to the island itself we were loaded onto our monster 4-wheel drive bus with 46 other people. Soon after setting off we saw the drived from the tour in front running back towards our bus. His bus had run out of fuel about a km down the track (by the way there are no 'true' roads here as the like I said before the island is 100% sand so the roads are well....sand!). So as he went to fetch the only 'spare' bus we drove on. As we passed the unfortunate passengers of the ill-fated bus we took great pleasure in giving then big smug smiles and waves.....Karma is an evil thing! A few kms later and well in the deep sand tracks which cut through the rain forrests we heard a loud "Oh Sh*t" come from the driver as our bus struggled to climb a hill. "Ok guys" he shouted...."can all of the blokes get out and push please?". We all laughed at his obvious atempt at humour before we realised that he was actually serious...we had also ran out of fuel. Like I said...Karma = Evil! So out we got and about 20 of us were there pushing this massive bus back down a deep sandy track. You can imagine the smiles on the faces of the recently rescued passengers of the other bus as they passed us....B$@#*&DS! No fuel = walking so off we went down the sandy track for 3km where we went on a really nice walk through the rain forrest whilst Paddy the driver went in search of fuel.

Eventually he returned with a minimum of fuel which he hoped would get us to the one and only fuel pump on the island. Lucky for us we made it! So the reason for both busses running out of fuel....check this out....is that every full moon the tide is high enough to allow dodgy pikey stinking theiving fishermen up the creek which runs by the shed in which the busses are parked. They then break in to the shed and syphon every last drop of fuel from all vehicles and tanks before merrily cruising off into the night! Of the Luck of Marc & Nora brings us to the island on the only day of the month when this little 'ritual' has taken place. We soon laughed off this little set back and enjoyed the rest of our trip which included crusing up and down the officially named 'Great Sandy Highway' otherwise known as 70 mile beach on the East coast of Fraser Island. We did all of the tourist stops on the island which included loads of swimming in crystal clear creeks and lakes....really nice.