The inspiration continues! We were all having so much fun in Noosa that Lena and her husband
decided to continue up the coast with me! My next stop was Rainbow Beach which is where you take off for Fraser Island (but more on that to come). I already had a tour booked there, but Lena and Peter decided to come up anyway. They rented a nice house for 2 nights. After the first night however, it was sadly time for us to split. I went on my 3 day/2 night tour of Fraser and they booked in for a 1 day tour as they had to return to Brisbane, and work :(
FRASER ISLANDFraser Island is the world's largest island made completely out of sand! It is also covered with
Dingo's! Dingo's are kind of like dog's, slightly different in their DNA structure though. However, they appear very dog like and starving. I don't know why that is, but they always look like nothing but skin, bones, and hair. Like overgrown foxes, but with a dog's face and tail. Anyway, they are not scared of humans and will come right into your camp site. This is not good as they are a wild species and definitely are not as friendly as dogs. They are good little thief's too. If your tent is open, they will stick their head in their to find food, even if you are sleeping! But enough about Dingo's.
The island was incredibly gorgeous. I did a 3day/2night self guided tour of the island. When you sign up for this adventure, the organizers put you in groups of 11 to share the
responsibilities of all your camping & cooking gear, as well as, the 4X4! They give you each a lesson of how to drive on sand (since there are
no roads on this island). Can you believe
they actually land
planes on the beach here? Then you get a lesson on Dingo safety. Then off you go. Leaving from the inlet at Rainbow
Beach with all your gear and vehicle, you hop
on a quick 5 minute ferry to the island. The beauty of the island and the excitement of 4-wheel driving put us all on a high! As soon as we got there the attitude was, "Let the party begin"!
As you drive around the island you have to be very conscience of the tides and you are not aloud
to drive at night. For this reason, the company who sets you up with all your equipment also 
provide you with an itinerary that they feel will maximize your enjoyment of the island and what you see while there. We visited 
an old shipwreck and climbed a cliff on the first day.
The second day was our favorite though. The island is quite large and has 
several fresh water lakes in the center. Our favorite being Lake McKenzie. One of my travel buddies called it 'Heaven', and it was :) The smooth white sand and the absolute clearest blue fresh water! It was like a playground! We stayed there for several hours. You could only swim in these lakes and not 
around at any of the beaches because the island is also a breeding ground for Tiger Sharks! And if you managed to stay alive in the water, you would probably end up stung by the jelly fish. Therefore it was advisable to stay clear of all salt water while there; so we played at Lake McKenzie for the majority of the day. There are more pictures of Fraser Island at http://picasaweb.google.com/find.barlow/FraserIslandAKADingoLand#
BACK TO RAINBOW BEACH
I was not meant to stay more than 1 night back at Rainbow, but I was enticed to stay longer. It 
could have been the awesome beach, beautiful surroundings, the fact that it was not built up at all and therefore a very peaceful and serene place, but more than likely it was the opportunity to build a Didgeridoo (Didge) while I was there.
The Didge is a native Aboriginal Instrument. Many believe that females are 
not aloud to play these instruments in the Aboriginal Culture. However, I was corrected on this fact by Ken, my Didge master builder teacher. Apparently some tribes from the Northeast of Queensland did have women who played the didge during 
ceremonies! Anywho, I stayed an extra couple of days there to build a didge with Ken and his friend Howie. The first day was spent in his didge den scraping off bark, sanding, molding and 
so on. After which we went for a refreshing swim at the near by Tea Tree Creek, then a hike to see sunset, and I practiced my didge skill (or lack there of), that night.
It was on this hike to see sunset that I was bitten! "Oh no, I am going to die!" was the first thought through my head. The pain was something terrible, I couldn't imagine where it came 
from and was sure that after spending 2 years of my life on this rock that one of its' many poisonous inhabitants had finally got me. I screamed with agony as Ken and Howie chuckled a bit. They, of course, knew what exactly had happened. I was bit on the side of my big toe by a jumping ant! This happened when I got down from the tree I was sitting in (pictured below). Oh it was awful! But Ken and Howie, both 
being indigenous people to the area knew exactly what to do. within 5 minutes they had collected this 
red, thick, gooey sap from a nearby tree. I later found out it was called a Bloodwood tree. They put just a bit on my toe and within five minutes the pain had subsided. I could still feel it in my stomach for 
another 20 min or so, but I felt much better and could walk again. By the time sunset ended, I had forgotten all about it. Later that night I was telling this story to a friend in my hostel and she told me that she had also been bitten by a jumping ant and that she had been in agony for four hours! I could not imagine that, I was so lucky to have the Aboriginal knowledge shared with me. *Interesting fact, the Aboriginals used to use these ants, voluntarily, to bite the elders who had arthritis. Apparently is cures arthritis pain for a while.
My second full on day of working on my didge consisted of painting it. I did 
this with a local artist named Ze. She was an awesome person and so fun to be with. She took me back to the Tea Tree Creek where we spent the day swimming, snorkeling, and painting! What a great day! My didge artwork came out completely different than I originally thought. It told me how it wanted to be painted. I used a beautiful piece of the bark that I did not shave off, to be the trunk to my tree of life :) Then there are iconic Australian animals around it. There are more pictures of each part of my didge up 
close (and the rest of Rainbow Beach) at http://picasaweb.google.com/find.barlow/RainbowBeachBaby#
several fresh water lakes in the center. Our favorite being Lake McKenzie. One of my travel buddies called it 'Heaven', and it was :) The smooth white sand and the absolute clearest blue fresh water! It was like a playground! We stayed there for several hours. You could only swim in these lakes and not 
red, thick, gooey sap from a nearby tree. I later found out it was called a Bloodwood tree. They put just a bit on my toe and within five minutes the pain had subsided. I could still feel it in my stomach for 
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