Rainbow Beach/Fraser Island: Sunday 16th January - Friday 21st January

After a pretty long Greyhound bus ride north we arrived in the sleepy little town of Rainbow Beach to stay for 2 nights before our trip to Fraser Island. There really isn't a massive amount to say about the place, it has a pretty awesome sand blow (a huge wave of sand the size of about 20 football pitches, stuck smack bang in the middle of the forest with a cliff on one side and some amazing views) which we trekked up to with some people from the hostel to watch the sun set.

Our Fraser Island tour began with a meeting with the owner of the company, a dude called 'Merv' who had very little hair, even less teeth, an incredible beard and some of the best Aussie banter I've ever heard. I still regret not taking a picture with him or making some sort of recording of the man because he really was something else and when he's the guy who is in control of your next few days then you know it's gonna be awesome! We were split up into our groups, the other 6 people with who we would be sharing a car and generally living with over the next few days, and praying for a decent crowd. We got lucky; there were 2 English girls, two German girls (of the cool German variety not the 'I want to punch you in the face every time you open your mouth you moody b******' variety) and a Dutch couple who would become our travelling companions for the remainder of the East Coast. I was also more than happy about the fact that there were only 2 guys in the group as it meant more food for me, and as Janine points out 'a full Sean is a happy Sean'.

The day after the meeting, and with an awful nights sleep courtesy of two snoring Swiss guys who also managed to keep us awake in Brisbane and who we would continue to run into the whole way up to Cairns but never actually know their names (you can't ask after 3 conversations, its just the rule), we awoke early to pack the car. As a team we must of packed and unpacked that car about 20 times over the course of the trip and its like a jigsaw trying to fit in the camping gear, food and bags whilst the car is about a million degrees and the Queensland tropical humidity hovers around 80%! With the car packed I took the reigns for the first driving stint, along the coast, onto the ferry and then along the Fraser Island beach. Driving along at 80kmph on the white sand with the ocean lapping at the wheels and the sun lighting up the bright blue sky was without a doubt one of the most amazing experiences of the travels to date. It's an incredible feeling of freedom and an experience that is hard to find anywhere else in the world. (Janine kept telling me not to say this though as it only reminded her how she can't drive at the moment). Once we'd driven for a while along the sand we turned off, engaged the low-range gearbox and made our way up into the hills for some proper off-road action on our way to the famous Lake McKenzie. The lake is situated on top of a hill and is pretty much the definition of 'idyllic' - an oasis of turquoise water surrounded by white sand and tropical forests, even more inviting when it's so hot.

After lunch we made our way to what would be our base for the next couple of days, a campsite just off the beach. The term 'campsite' is generous, the only things that set this particular area of sand apart were 2 large plastic sheets suspended from the trees to pitch our tents under and a portaloo to be used only by the ladies - blatant sexism! To be fair, all a man needs in times of number two's is a shovel and some bog roll and the whole of Fraser Island is your portaloo, and the views are a lot better than the inside of a portable toilet. You do, however, have to run the Dingo gauntlet - Fraser Island is infamous for it's Dingo population, they're pretty well behaved but you have to be sure to not leave any food out at night or they'll go to town on it. We awoke one morning to find a youngster sitting on a sand dune in the camp, they've become so accustomed to humans that they just don't care anymore!

After an evening of playing footy on the sand with the Dutch boys, cooking up our dinner 'a la gas burner' and drinking Goon we had a difficult nights sleep in a boiling hot, sandy tent and resolved to drink more the following night so as to soften up the sand mattress a little. Day 2 started with a visit to the wreck of a huge old steam liner that ran aground on the shores of Fraser whilst being toed to Japan by it's new owners - schoolboy error, ships are for sea not for sand everyone knows that. Second on the itinerary was Eli Creek, a freshwater creek that flows into the sea and is nicknamed 'Hangover Creek' for its ability to refresh after a night of excess. It's also full of Carp and its traditional to kill a Marchfly (like a normal fly but on steroids and with a taste for blood), the scourge of Fraser Island, and feed it to the fish - sweet revenge on the little winged b******s. Our penultimate stop for the day was the Champagne Pools, a couple of rock pools named because of the bubbling effect created when the waves crash against the rocks and produce small bubbles in the pools. We actually got some rain at this point but it added to the atmosphere as we soaked ourselves in the pools and swapped stories with the crazy Dutch guys who have some seriously awesome drinking games that I fully expect to import back to the UK - one involves a bottle of Vodka and a tampon and drunkenness is achieved by means of suppository, we named it the VT Rocket but any better names are welcomed! The final stop of the day was a climb up to the summit of a clifftop called Indian Head to spot sharks and stingrays in the waters below.

For our final day we awoke early, packed up the camps and drove to the base of a walking trail to Lake Wabby, another freshwater lake at the base of a huge sand dune, before boarding the Ferry back to the mainland, driving the 4x4's back to the workshop and clearing 3 tonnes of sand from inside them.

That evening, after possibly the best shower ever and again feeling more man than sand for the first time in 3 days, we splashed out on a restaurant meal with the English Girls and reflected back on what had been a brilliant adventure.