Living on island time

Wednesday 18th May

My alarm went off at 5:30am, causing me to stir, look out the window and see that it was still dark outside, and go back to sleep. I finally awoke at 6:30 and, the morning swim comprehensively overlooked, headed over to the food hall for breakfast. "Full" and "English" are two words that can never be combined without success (the exception to this rule is when the words are being mutilated by the BNP, but they're idiots and warrant no further thought) and today was no different. Sausage, bacon, egg and hash browns all made a welcome appearance on my plate this morning, followed closely by a strong black coffee. My morning ritual almost complete, I jumped in the shower and flung some clothes on and emerged from the room ready to rejoin the human race. Instead I settled for rejoining the tour group, and we set off on the next leg of our Fraser Island adventure.
The first stop on todays expedition was (Insert Name Here), a beautiful 2km treck through the island's rainforest. As usual Daniel and I lead from the rear of the group and arrived at the end of the trail about 10 minutes after everyone else, in our defence we were distracted by all the nature all over the place! From the track we walked along a boardwalk through the forest, seeing a few little kookaburras on the way, to our 4 wheel drive and then headed off to our next stop. We arrived at (Insert Name Here) Lake around 10am, after driving on some of the bumpiest track i've ever been on, and filtered out of the 4 wheel drive ready to plunge into the deeps. The water was phenomenally clear and cool, but not cold at all, and the colours were breathtaking; starting with the pure white of the sand and gradually fading into yellow, then green and finally into a dark blue towards the centre of the lake. We all splashed around for a while and messed about with a football, which was very entertaining. The lake was the last stop on the tour, so we headed back to the beach, ACDC blaring out, in the 4 wheel drive. Pretty much all that remained was to have a late lunch and then bid my very fond farewells to all the gang, Daniel especially as this was the end of our 2 and a half week travelling stint, but we have arranged to meet up when i'm in Europe next year and see what's Broing on.
Once everyone had left in the 4 wheel drive, Brisbane bound, I rolled over to the travel agents across the street to book my transport to, and accommodation in, Hervey Bay. All went smoothly until it was time for me to pay; their internet booking was on the fritz so I had to call up the bus company and book that way, which was not a problem. Unfortunately when the operator I was talking to tried to put my card through it just said to contactmy bank - worrying! This went on for another 15 minutes while I tried to figure it out, then I went to the computer and transferred some money between my English accounts so that I could try my other card. This done I called up the bus co. again, only to go through the whole rigmarole again to have my second card behave in exactly the same manner - bank contacting was suggested. In the end on of the guys at the travel agents suggested I try the other agents down the road and see if I could pay cash there. Finally my luck turned, when I arrived at Peterpan Travel they managed to get my ticket all booked up and, completely unprompted, the guy gave me $20 off my ticket price (Karmic balance is restored!).
So I hung around for a while at Rainbow Beach, in the hotel bar, watching Dances With Wolves on my laptop and drinking cappuccino - the ultimate combination, before jumping on my bus to Hervey Bay. I arrived in Hervey Bay at around 9pm and rolled over to my hostel and laid myself to rest nice and early.