My friend Show and I sent off on mini road trip, destined for Moreton Island. On the way, we stop at Noosa which is beautiful, but manage to stay in a rat infested, party hostel. We wake and get out of the hostel as fast as we can and stop at Maroochadore, which is just lovely. We decide that we’re going to camp, after being let down by someone who promised we could stay with them, then subsequently sped off up the road. Til this day, I’ll never know what happened then. Maybe it’s for the best we didn’t stay with him, he did seem like a bit of a psycho, but Show knew his family and was sure he’d look after us. Luck escape perhaps? Afterwards, Wolf Creek was flying round my head. For you guys back home, Wolf Creek is an Australian film about backpackers getting tortured in Australia. The worst part is, it’s actually a true story, don’t worry, they got the guy in the end.
The last time I camped, I was in 13 years old and in Air Cadets. I have to say, I was slightly apprehensive. The campsite was lovely though with good cooking facilities and a nice shower block. Naturally, we couldn’t get the tent to go up and had to be helped by some of the long term residents, how embarrassing! I dread to think what they thought about these two crazy girls who’d come camping but didn’t have a clue what they were doing. When we eventually got set up, we had a great night and woke up totally refreshed and excited about Moreton Island, this camping business wasn’t so bad after all.
We drive to Brisbane to get the ferry to Moreton Island and yes you’ve guessed it, get lost on the way, with 45 minutes before our ferry departs. Again helped out by some friendly locals who practically lead the way all the way to the ferry port for us – even though they weren’t going that way. The Aussies have been absolutely fantastic since I’ve been in Australia, and I just want to say, I think you guys are great!
We arrive at Moreton Island relieved initially, to have caught the ferry and eager to embrace life as Australia’s newest, happiest, bestist ever campers. As I walk on the Island (tent strapped to my back bear in mind) I shout to Show, how far away are we from the campsite? Erm, I think this is it, was her reply. I mistakenly thought that all campsites were going to be like Maroochadore with lovely facilities and a flat, safe place to put your tent up, away from the mosquitos. My dreams of being the queen of camping were slowly fading. We set up camp and I have to admit, I was feeling quite scared. We had to collect wood to make a fire, to boil a pan of water, just so we could have a cup of tea, this was camping in it’s truest form. Just to make things worse, it stared to get dark and we realised that we didn’t have a torch or any form of light and of course, there wasn’t any lights around us. I stared to get very scared. Especially since we had to gather more fire wood to light the stupid fire, just so we could have some food. This was going to be an experience! I’d convinced myself that I was going to stand on a brown snake which was just lurking in the darkness, waiting to bite me, or that the guy from Wolf Creek had escaped from prison and was waiting on Moreton Island to do unspeakable things to Show and I. The worst part was when I wore in the middle of the night, dying to go to the toilet. I tried to hard to ignore it, but I just couldn’t get back to sleep. I took a deep breath, grabbed my phone to use as a torch and stepped outside the tent. I’m ashamed to admit this, but I stood as close to the tent as possible and dropped my drawers, whilst holding my phone to my bum to use as a light, just incase that snake was still lurking around and decided it wanted to take a chunk out of my backside, and of course, it was the longest wee in the world, my legs were starting to give way and I nearly peed on my phone. Try explaining that one to the insurance company, "Yeah I’ve broken my phone." "How did you do that" "Erm, I peed on it." I don’t think so.
It wasn’t all hard work though. We went snorkelling on the old ships wrecks which lay just off the island, which was fantastic, seen some amazing corals and fish. When we’d finished, we sat on the shore, chilling out, only to be greeted by some wild dolphins. I nearly burst into tears. There was about five of them, they came up so close to us, it was like they were showing off, I’ll never forget it as long as I live. I’d happily take my chances with the brown snakes, mozzies, and guy from Wolf Creek if it meant I could see that every day.
Then it was time to go home. As natures way of ensuring we don’t forget about out time on Moreton Island, it started to absolutely piss it down, just as we were packing up the tent to the ferry, I mean really piss it down, Queensland style. By the time we got to the ferry, we were soaked and covered head to toe in filthy sand. We weren’t allowed upstairs until hosed ourselves down with the freezing, cold water. What an end to an unforgettable experience.
