Fraser Island, where do we begin?! It was definitely the highlight of our Oz trip so far :) it is the biggest sand island in the world, the beaches are the main roads and even the areas of rainforest have evolved to grow in the sand. Very few people live on the island so apart from the odd convenience store for tourists and fishermen it was just beautiful, unspoilt land. We had to get the greyhound bus to Hervey Bay and stay a night there to get briefed and prepared for the two nights away. When we arrived at the hostel we were taken to the supermarket to get supplies, but having camped in South America we pretty much had all the insect repellent, toilet roll etc so we just had to get food. They advised getting into groups to make it cheaper which is how we first met Jeremy and Mia, our new cooking buddies. We then headed back to pack and get an early night as we had to check out by 6am to catch the ferry over to Fraser. We ended up being in a dorm with two crazy Americans, Mark and Devin, who'd been on our bus from Noosa and are hilarious! For the trip we were split into groups and each group had their own Jeep for the trip. Our Jeep was made up of us 2, Jeremy (from our cooking group), Mark and Dev and 2 funny Danish girls, Signe and Laura. There were 46 of us altogether which was their biggest group size ever as they had double booked. They usually have group sizes of around 20! Everyone was loaded into the jeeps as 4x4s are the only way you can get around on the island, sadly you had to be over 21 to have a go at driving them so Mark was our nominated driver. This was a little scary as he was on the wrong side if the road for him and used to driving an automatic. It was actually his first time driving a manual car and his driving definitely made the whole trip more exciting! We got the ferry across to the island and then made our first stop for a swim. It's not advised to swim in the sea there because of the sharks etc so the tour was mainly made up of stops to lakes and pools we could swim in. The first lake was stunning. It was secluded, a 30 min walk from the main track over sand dunes and it was warm and clear. Over the three days we swam in Eli Creek (a.k.a hangover creek) where you could just let the water carry you as you float downstream. We went to the famous champagne pools ( salt water rock pools ) and Lake Mckenzie, the biggest lake on the island and a nice place to sunbathe. We also went to see a beached ship wreck, the Maheno. It is one of many on the island but the most impressive. The evenings were spent at the campsite watching the sunset on the beach, barbecuing and drinking until late. The night sky is awesome here, so many stars! We mostly socialised with the people from our jeep and got quite close by the end. Going to the toilet was interesting. They didn't have any loos at the campsite (something we didn't know before the trip!) and you had to go in groups with sticks for self defence from the dingoes (wild dogs) and a shovel. It was sad to go back to the mainland but the thought of showering and eating something other than sausages got us racing for the ferry. We only just made it after a very very bumpy and crazy ride to get us back in time! We spent the next day recovering at Hervey Bay on the beach and at the hostel till our night bus to the beautiful Airlie beach. These few days were the first we'd had without rain. Yes, after 2 weeks of constant torrential rain we finally had some beautiful weather! We absolutely loved our time on Fraser, from the crazy Jeep rides to the chilled out evenings on the beach. We'd heard so much about the island before we went, as literally every backpacker to Australia goes there and we are glad to say now we know why!