HUIIT BRAH

That's Swedish for "good shit" which is the only way to describe the experience that was Fraser Island.

Also I could describe it like this: AMAAAAAZING.

After 2 very nice and relaxing days in Noosa, I boarded a bus for Hervey Bay en route to Fraser Island.
Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island and there are tons of tour operators along the coast who promise you a memorable experience, so there's not really a wrong way to see it.
But I'm pretty sure the way I saw it was the most right.

After meeting some of my group mates (the hostel/tour operator throws together groups of 9-10 people at random) we drove our pink 4 wheel drive Landrover to the ferry, arrived on Fraser and began the journey.
My group consisted of me, 3 Chilean Jews who spoke Hebrew and Spanish, and 5 Swedes.
Because I missed the obligatory info session the day before and because I've never driven a stick-shift, I wasn't allowed to drive so I was able to sit back and enjoy the whole experience.

But there was one piece of information I was able to glean thanks to my new amigo, Jose Ignaki from Chile:

"There are too many sharks so you cannot swim in the salted water. Too many, which means, you will die."

So, I didn't swim in the salted water but I did swim in Lake Wabby, Eli Creek and the most beautiful place I've ever been, Lake McKenzie.
Holy mother of pearl, Lake McKenzie.
The water was so clear you could actually drink it, and the sand so clean you could brush your teeth with it.
And I did.

The whole experience was really amazing--we camped and cooked our own food and because my group was just so good, everything went swimmingly.
The Swedes were expert campers, the Chileans were expert jokesters and I am an expert at retroactively warning the driver about bumps.
We all got along great, pulled our own weight, and were just generally happy to enjoy the experience, which is unfortunately more than I can say for a lot of the other cars.
Observation: Some people don't like diversity, and most of those people are English.

In addition to some of the most beautiful landscapes I've probably ever seen, I made some really great friends from all around the globe.
And! I may or may not have met a distant cousin of mine from Chile.
Of the 3 Jewish Chileans in my group, all of them were wonderful.
They were all absolutely hilarious and while they didn't like Argentina, they were very warm and treated me as one of the guys.
I was quickly nicknamed La Gringa and they included me in all of their conversations, probably 90% of which I was totally able to keep up with.
So after getting to know one another better and exchanging favorite phrases (all of which are just not appropriate to recount here), we started comparing Jewish customs.
One of the Chileans, Daniel, asked me what my last name was and I said Lerner.
Well, Gabriel, another Chilean, nearly shit a brick:

D: "What's your father's last name?"
Me: "My father's last name is Lerner."
G: "Spell it! Spell it with letters!"
Me: "...L-e-r-n-e-r?"
G: "EN SERIO? ES POSSIBLE?"
Me: "What the hell? Why is he freaking out?"
D: "Because he's also a Lerner!"
G: "PRIMA!!! LA GRINGA ES MI PRIMA!!!"

And so, Gabriel, who greeted me with "what's up my brother from another mother? Where is the Cheesecake Factory?" after I asked him if he spoke any English, became family.
He invited me to his house for Passover and told me where to find the afikomen, so now I basically have to go.

As well, there was an Italian guy who could only say "I fart now" and did, all the time.
There were Germans and Scots galore and the nights around the boxed wine and iPod docks were absolutely perfect.

I can't think of a better way to spend 3 days and 2 nights.