Lake McKenzie

Our final day started again with a didgeridoo wake up call at 6.30am as Dave was keen to us to get to Lake Mackenzie before the hoards. Matt is convinced a dingo was sniffing around our tent in the night (the tents aren't inside the dingo electric fence perimeter). I slept through obviously.

Lake Mackenzie is stunning. The water is so clear and blue and the sand so white. The water is so clear as unlike most other lakes there is no water flow in from another stream/river/creek, its completely closed, so all the water is rain water. There's also aluminium in the water which binds to all organic material and sinks it to the bottom. This is why the middle of the lake is darker blue and the organic material can settle in the deep part without being kicked around by human feet. The sand is so white as the surround plant life pulls any nutrients out leaving mostly silica. It's apparently a great exfoliant so we were all rubbing it in our hair (well apart from Matt) and on our skin. In fairness my face did feel very smooth afterwards. Lots of comedy sand photos ensued. This is also where Dave lifted anyone who wanted to be Dirty Dance lifted. I'm not sure my travel insurance covers injuries caused by film re-creations so I passed on that. Matt and two of the others decided to swim to another beach around the lake which I very much advised against as it was far but they cracked on and came back exhausted from the lake currents. I preferred watching from the sand and enjoying the amazing scenery with all the other sensible people (note from Matt - it was so tiring we had to walk back rather than swim and there was a point when we were swimming against the current when I thought I might be end up with the organic matter but we did see an eagle).

I was back in the Lead Car for the final day as some people wanted to switch out of it (more about the sideways seats in that one than the playlist from Dave's iPod I think) so I was back to sing-a-long songs. Matt stayed in the car from day 2 as a slight hangover and sideways travelling/loud tubeless singing do not mix. Being in the lead car also meant I learnt about the back catalogue of a band called The Beards who have 4 albums of songs about, you guessed it, beards. Very weird but kind of amusing. Look them up if you need a laugh (though some of the songs are a bit sweary and crass).

Our very final trip stop was at Central Station, a place on the island where bush meets rainforest. We had lunch there and Dave gave us a tour around. This is where he dead lifted a 250kg tram wheel axle. He also showed us what berries we could eat - always best done with advice - and we checked out a board walk over a creek where Butchulla women would give birth (and still could now if they so chose to). Sadly it was then time to leave and we travelled back to the barge home.

We had a bit of a queue for the barge so stood on the beach. I had a tiny jelly fish put on my shoulder though luckily not all jelly fish sting! We also spotted dolphins and another dingo before boarding our barge homewards and having to say goodbye. We had an incredible time on our trip to K'Gari. It was an expensive group tour but worth every penny. Better start saving to go back!

We had a quick drink in Rainbow Beach before heading to Noosa. It's supposedly an hour and a half drive but we hit a gravel road which slowed us down. We pulled over to check for a better route and luckily a helpful farmer was putting his bins out with his dogs (/saw us across his driveway and came out to investigate under the pretence of putting bins out) and helped us out with a route. We were very glad to arrive at the camp site as we were exhausted. The site is absolutely chocca with kids on scooters everywhere to try and dodge with the Sweat Box. We couldn't even muster the energy to go out for dinner so I cooked tuna pasta and pesto, the classic student dish, and we pretty much passed out after a shower. I pretty much emptied half the sand contents of Lake Mackenzie into the shower as post exfoliation it was all in my swimsuit. Whoops.Read more